New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-19
PATHWAY PROGRESS,
complaint


MANY of tho great railroads have been max
ing annual or other reports which nave SHOWN
surprising increase III the volume of traffic
Generally the increase has been so great as 10
cover the large addition to current expendi-
lures and heavy OUTLAWS for repairs ana I'M
movements and additions to rolling stock and
nj the same time give larger returns 10
shareholders. But now there begins COM
parison with year or remarKapie pros
neritv From this time forward the traf
flo OF the roads will be contrasted with
that of last fall, when the unprecedented
foreign demand for wheat and corn together,
for animal products and for cotton made the
business heavier than ever before. III IS Dy
many expected that in comparison with last
tall and winter much less striking gains will
appear than were shown in the same months
n veor ago In comparison with the prostration
during and for some time after the Presidential
comnaign. To many minds this change is likely
to hiring the impression that the earning power
M railroads has been exaggerated through COM
parisons based on an exceptional movement
md that prices have been lifted too high. To
determine whether or not this is true other
conditions which are frequently overlooked
have to be taken into account
Ono of these Is that the growing prosperity
NJ tho nooplc makes new business for the trans
porting lines every day. New establishments
are being planned or rapidly pushed toward
con,plction all over the country, more men are
finding cnployment and have to be fed and
clo,bed and housed, and all this means work
for transporters. The movement OF building
materials and machinery for the new estaD-
l,sbments means more work. The increased
freigh, thus provided. being largely mer-
chandse or finished products. will be OF q
higher class and will pay higher rates of freight
than the grain and provisions taken long dis
tances at the lowest possible cost. Thus the
EXPANSION resulting from one year OF full pros
,crity will tend In itself to make larger and
more profitable traffic. not in one year only. but
permanently.
Another feature Is worth notng-namely. that
the more important lines are now for the first
time in some years In position TO avail them
selves OF great improvements which lessen the
cost Of transportation. During the four years
of depression only the richer and more fort
unate could extend their facilities greatly. but
Ia those same years the progress Of invention
and the Improvement Of manufacture In order
10 place cheaper products within reach Of con-
sumcrs made great difference in the situation.
For illustration. Chicago dispatch reports that
the general adoption or automatic coupling by
railroads has an important influence on the de-
mand and prices for bar iron. The extensive
adoption Of steel instead Of wooden cars secures
another and important reduction in the cost OF
transportation Yet these are only samples OF
changes In great number.
Evidently there are to be enormous crops
handled this year also, though perhaps moi
with such urgency of foreign demand. But in
most parts of the country the extension Of
railway systems through concert of actor
by those financially interested in dReren
lines begins to clear away much Of thu
destructive competition for low-grnde freight'
which has proved so costly TO the railroads
When the same group Of capitalists has beer
associated in one great enterprise, and Its mem
bcrs fnd that they have large individual inter
ssts In other connecting or competing lines. thel