Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1893-01-26

some Figures and Compositions made By
Poors. manual Of Railroads.


Poor's Manual Of Railroads.
Poor,s Manual of the Railroads OF
the United States for 1892 contains
as usual vast amount of informa-
ton inaccessible from other sources. 4
Some OF the figures are mere words,
however. unless comparison Is made
with familiar amounts. 1t appears,
for instance, that there were 170,6
miles of railroad track In the United
States at the close OF 1891. This
would nearly encircle the world seven
times IL laid in straight lines. If all
the tracks were laid between Chicago
and, New York there would be over
200 complete through lines between
the cities. They would take up
ground space over half mile wide
and about 900 miles long,
The liabilities of these lines amount
| to S1o, 1856, 626, O41 and their total as
sets to S1l,110335, 276. The rail-
loads Of the United States owe more
than six times as much as the gov
eminent but hold property worth
| e344,7O9, 235 more than their debts.
According to the Vanderbilt stand
ard 81, 900 is not a great amount OF
money, but 1t means comfort In old
age to almost anyone. If every man,
woman and child of every age, sex or
previous condition of servitude in
| Chicago were to make an outright
present each of 81, 900 in cash to the
| railroads, it would just about pay
their debts. Poor's Manual doesn't
say so, but other figures show these
vast assets and liabilities involve the
bread and butter OF over six millions
of persons In the United States. One
person in eleven in the United States
gains his living through railroads.
They furnish employment to more
persons than any other industry ex-
cept agriculture. 1t makes a person
wonder what in the world this vast
number Of people could have done for
a living had railroads not been In
vented.
1t appears there was total train
mileage during 1891 of 831, 202, 376.
In other words, if the running OF all
trains had been done by one train 1T
would have travelled S3l, 2O2, 376
miles. This would complete the cir
cult OF the earth "a, 633 times year,
or in the neighborhood Of a hundred
times a day. The New York Central
flyer between New York and Buffalo
made the distance of 436 miles in 425
minutes. Had the hypothetical mile
age train started on a parallel track
with the New York Central train
when it made it's world-beating rec
ord it would have logged around the
world and passed the New York Gen.
trail train nearly forty times before
the latter reached Buffalo. The hypo-
thetical train would have made forty
times 1000 miles while the more
than a-mile-a- minute flyer was max
436 miles. Pretty fast travelling
that.
During 1891 there were $50, OILS, 80:
people carried distance Of 1896,
925, 239 miles by railroad in thu
United States. That Is equivalent
to every human being in the United
States having travelled 200 miles by
railroad during the year. Have you
\ ridden your share? Suppose ever,
person in Chicago, including Captain
Streeter and Commodore Yattaw, haC
each shouldered a ton Of miscellane
: Gus stuff and started around tn
y world with it. Grant that ever,
y centenarian and babe in arms within
: the city limits was able to carry TIN
e ton equally with the balance of tn
q 1899, 99S people. Grant also tina
l they could carry the ton nearly tw
q and half times around the worl'
n during the year. AS result OF thes'
o two drains on the imagination yo
4 will have the equal OF the Sl,2lO,
: 154, 523 tons Of freight carried on
/ mile.
IS Railroads showed revenues Of $45T
b 5O4, O66, with balance of $40, 25O, Y:
L during the year. How much of tn
Il balance Is profit is question whic
s the payment OF floating debts, vouci
!. ers, commissions and rebates ca
W alone decide. Probably not half an
) possibly not tenth Of the forty mil
J. ions Of balance can be counted as M
3 profit.