The record-union., 1893-10-06
INTERSTATE COMMERCE.
Statistics of Railways in the
United States.
Mileage, Equipment, EMPLOYEES, Cap
ftaliZation and Valuation. Public
Service, Earnings and Expenses
Railway Accidents.

state Commerce Commission, prepared
by it's statistician, being the complete re-
port for the above-named period, for
which preliminary income account was
issued in December, 1892, has just been
submitted, of which the following is an
abstract:
The total railway mileage of the coun-
try on June 80, 1892, was III ,563.52 miles.
being an increase during the year of
3,l6O.78 miles. This is the smallest in
crease in railway mileage reported for
mum bers of years. The only groups OF
railways which show an increase in rail-
way mileage in 1892 greater than the in
crease in 1891 are Groups l. and VI, that
is to say, the railways lying i'll the New
England States and in the territory east
of the Mississippi River and west of
Michigan and Indiana; but this is due to
the fact that the increase in 1891 was alb
normally small. The State of North
Carolina leads in railway construction,
showing an increase of 212.92 miles. The
only other States which show an increase
in excess of 150 miles are Louisiana,
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wis
consin.
CLASSIFICATION OF RAILWAYS.
The total number of railway corpora
tions on June 30, 1892, was ,S22, being a
net increase of 81 during the year. OF this
number S99 maintained independent Op-
Grating accounts, and 7l2 were independ-
ent operating companies. OF the 76l SUBJ
sidiary companies 800 were leased for
fixed money rental and 1S6 for a contin-
gent money rental. the remainder being
operated under some form of traffic
agreement not easily subjected to clasSih-
cation. There have been fewer changes
the organization of railways during
The year ending June 80, 1892, than dur
ting any previous year. During the year
8 roads were abandoned, 10 were merged
into larger corporations, IL were reorgan-
lied and l6 were consolidated. The clas-
sification of railways according to length
Of line operated shows that there are 43
companies in the United States having a
mileage in excess Of ZOO miles, "A COM
panies operating a mileage between 600
and l 900 miles, "A companies operating
mileage between 400 and 800 miles, 80
companies operating a mileage between
go and 400 miles and S7l companies oper-
ating mileage under 80 miles.
The total mileage controlled by the
fOrty-three railways operating over 1000
miles was 99, ,23l.74 miles, being 81 86 per
cent. of total mileage. The railways
which during the year were added to the
class OF railways operating mileage III
excess of 900 miles are the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad, the Atlantic Coast
Line Association, and the Union Pacific,
Denver and Gulf Railway. The Lehigh
Valley Railroad, having been leased to
the PHILADELPHIA and Reading Railroad
Company during the year, was dropped
out of this class. The roads added to the
list OF railways operating mileage of 600
miles and less than 1000 miles are the
Old Colony and the Philadelphia, Will
mington and Baltimore Railroads.
EQUIPMENT.
The total number of locomotives on
June 80, 1892, was 80, 136. OF these 8,S49
were passenger locomotives, II ,559 loco
motives were assigned to the freight serv-
ice, 1855 were switch locomotives, and
2,314 we're unclaSSIhed and leased. The
increase in passenger locomotives during
The year has been l30, and of freight loco
motives $50. The total number of cars
reported by carriers as their property
was 1,215, ,092. Of these 966, ,99S were in the
freight service, 36,90l were assigned to the
company's service, and 30, ,97o were as
signed TO fast freight line service. In ad-
dltlon to the above cars owned, the COM
panies report 146,339 cars leased. 1t
should, however, be remembered that
these figures are exclusive of cars owned
by private companies and leased to ship
pers for the purpose of transportation.
The average number of locomotives per
100 miles of line is 20; the average num-
is Is; the average number of cars used in
the freight service per 100 miles of line is
70S.
The figures show decided increase in
density of rolling stock over the previous
year. The number of passengers carried
per passenger locomotive was 63, ,399, and
passenger mileage per passenger loco
motive was l,5l0,273. The number of
freight cars per 1000, 900 tons offreight was
1,627. This is a decrease of 80 as COM
pared with the previous year. There has
been an increase during the year in the
number of locomotives and cars fitted
with automatic couplers and train brakes.
The report shows a total increase in
equipment of u, ,l39, and an increase in
equipment fitted with train brakes of
6S,537, and an increase in equipment
fitted with automatic cOuplers Of 10, ,299.
EMPLOYEES.
The total number of employees in the
service Of railways on June 30, 1892, was
81, ,4l5, being an increase of 81, ,130 over
the previous year. Assuming an increase
in the total number of inhabitants during
the year of ,250.000, it appears that the
ratio of increase in railway employees to
the increase in population was l to a.
The ratio of total railway employees to to-
tai number of inhabitants was l to 79
The railway industry makes each year
larger demands upon the labor of the
people. 1t is significant. however, to no.
tice that the most of the increase in rail-
way employment is confined to Groups
l., H., Ill, l. and ", that is to say, to
the territory east of the Mississippi and
north of the Ohio Rivers and to the Pa
cihc Slope. In Groups ". and VIII
there has been only, slight increase,
while Groups V, VII. and IN. show
small decreases in the number Of men
employed by railways.
CAPITALIZATION AMI. VALUATION.
The capitalization of the l62, ,397. 80 miles
covered by the report was, on June 80,
1892, 0,226 74S. .134. OF this amount
81, ,633. los, 763 were represented ny stocks
and s, ,053, ,03S, $50 by funded debt. Mort
gage bonds amounted to S4,302, SIC, ,993, as
compared with 81, ,0Sl ,62l go for the pre-
vious year. The above figures show an
increase in capitalization during the year
1882 of 1897 ,273, ll9. In view of the slight
activity in railway construction, this in
crease of capitalization is worthy OF es-
pecial notice. In large measure it is due
10 investments by large corporations in
minor companies and TO reorganization.
In quite a number of cases also stock
dividends or their equivalents have been
issued.
OF the total stocks and bonds outstand-
ing, railway corporations on June 30,
1892 held as their corporate property ST.
s9I, ,451, ,053, being an increase of SI0S, ,53I,-
337 over the previous year. Nearly one
fourth Of the total railway stocks out
standing are the property of railway COM
panieS. The amount of stock paying no
dividends during the year was S2,OS7,-
403,326, or 60.G0 per cent. of the total
amount OF stock. The aggregate amount
paid in dividends was S97. .6l4. 745, being
an increase for the year covered by the
report of 81, ,496, $50. The amount of
funded debt exclusive of oo,1iopoenf