The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-13
RAU WAy STATISTICS

RAILWAY STATISTICS.
WASHINGTON, Dec 12-The fourth sta
tistictal report of the inters ate commerc
commission. prepared by its statistician
Mr.. Case, gives a complete epitome of rail
road progress in the United States for th
period covered.
The railway mileage in theUnited States
June So 1891, (not counting double tracks,
was 16S. 402 A miles. Connecticut had Il
every 100 square miles of territory owe
twenty miles of track, Delaware siXJeeI
| miles, Illinois eighteen miles Iowa ffteel
miles, Massachusetts twenty-five miles
| New jersey twenty seven miles New Yorl
sixteen miles, Ohio nineteen miles, Penn
! sylvania twenty-five miles. The ONLY
countries in Europe which have an exces!
of ten miles of railroad per 100 square mile,
| of territory are Germany with twelve
miles, Great Britain with sixteen miles
| France with eleven miles, Belgium with
| twenty-ei2ht miles, Holland with thlr eel
miles and Switzerland with twelve miles
! No country in Europe, Sweden alone eX
cepted, has ten miles of line per $1,000 in
! habitants, while in this country but two
| states have less than ten miles of railway
/ per 10, coo inhabitants.
! The increase in railway mileage during
| the year was f. ,S05 miles. This is less THAI
the average for several years past. The
I 5LtdlGSG dCblNIbl III IdlIhdl ltuluS ScSlils
to have been in the states lying south oI
! the Ohio and Mississippi
There were ], 7S5 railway corporations, oi
which $50 were independent companies
for the purpose of operation and TAI Were
subsidiary companies, the remainder being
private lines. There were forty-two COM
panies each of which controlled a mileage
in excess of 900 miles. and nearly One-half
OF the mileage OF the country Is the property
of these forty pOnDaUipS
The total number OF locomotives used by
the railways WAS %, 139 showing an iu-
crease of ,999 during the year, and the
total number Of cars, the property OF rail
ways. was l, ,2l5, Gil, showing an Increase of
45,94 during the year. The number Of
men employed on railways IN the United
States during the year covered by the report
was 7S4, ,2S5, being AN increase OF "a 9S4.
The extent to which organized industry
has Increased the efficiency of labor is
shown by the fact that every engineer
during the year has on an average carried
3G9,O0 passengers one mile and :, ,329, 639
tons OF freight one mile.
The total capitalization of the railways
of the United States was So, S29 475, ,0l5, or
$50, S42 per mile of line. This shows an
increase in outstanding capital Of 1902 per
mile of line, as compared with the pre-
vious years report Equipment trust OBJ
legations have increased from SAG, ,416, 2l5
to $54, 755, l57.
The gross earnings from operation dur
ing the year were 81 ,096, ,76l ,595, or Sc, SOL
per mile of line Operating expenses were
S131, ,SS7, 1913, or 81 53S per mile of line, leay-
ing net income from operation of S364, =
S13, ,502. or s., 262 per mile of line The net
income per mile of line was less than the
net income of the previous year by S37.
The number of passengers carried dur
ing the year was 53l, 1873 9SS. The number
of tons of freight carried WAS 675, ,6JS, 323
The total number Of miles run by passen-
ger trains was 307, 627, ,92S, and the mum ber
of miles run by freight trains was 446, Pa,
sos The average Journey per passenger
WAS "a Is miles aud the average haul per
ton of freight was 120 miles The average
number of passengers in a train was
42, and the average number OF tons of
freight in a traia was ISL The average
revenue per passenger per mile was 2.142
cents and the average revenue per ton per
mile was $50 cent. The average revenue
per train mile, passenger trains, was
81 .06, and the average revenue per train
mile, freight tralus, was 81 81.
The report shows that casualties during
the year were greater than in any previous
year covered by reports to the commission.
The number killed during the year was
7,u29, aud the number injured was 33 SSl.
OF these totals. the number of employees
killed was > 663 and the number injured
was %, $40. The number of passengers
killed was 293 and the number injured
1872.
This report emphasizes more strongly
than previous reports the necessity Of
legislation compelling railways to adopt
train brakes and automatic couplers, aud
also suggests that some steps be taken be-
sides the adoption of the train brake to
prevent the frequency of casualties from
falling from trains and engines. The
large number killed and Injured from col
lisions also brings prominently into no
tce the necessity of some extensive use of
the block system in'the handling of trains
aud a more perfect application of the
principle of personal responsibility in the
case of accidents. An investigation into
the matter of handling trains IS recon-
mended.
1t is recommended that express COM
panies and water carriers engaged in in
state traffic be required TO make reports
to the Interstate commerce commission
similar to those now made by railways,
and that persons, companies or corpora
tiOns owning rolling stock used in inter
state traffic should be obliged to make an
nual reports so far as may be necessary for
II complete statement of the kind Of rolling
stock used 10y railways.