The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-10-29
Employ $4,000 Persons at Average
Annual Pay Of 1855.
INTERESTING COMPARISONS.
The Investments in These Roads IAN
safely BE Placed at Sff .5oo'ooo.-
000-Thirty-six Thousand Lo-
comoiiycs in Use.


mans Palace Car Company, cannot put
be Of interest 10 all men engaged IN
TRANSPORTATION An instantaneous pho
tosraph Of any domain OF human activ-
ity." SAYS Mr Doty, constitutes an m
structivc study. and especially So when
Il includes our own field Of effort From
twenfv-fvo miles Of railroad IN 1890, and
in less time than the Biblical span OF
three. score years and ten allotted TO the
life Of man. our railroads have reached
their present magnitude, though stiii In
the morning time OF their evolution. Had
our country today. exclusive OF Alaska,
as many miles OF railroad proportion
ately as the state OF Illinois. IT would
have 10000 miles Of such roads, or con-
sidcrably more than three times its pres
ent mileage, or, really, a greater mileage
than that Of an the existing railroads
Of the world. 4 good laborer. able 10
earn So q day. working as a carrier OF
freight does in Africa, could transport
one ton. say Of lead. one mile by work
INK hard for four days. In other words
s. would be a fair price for the work that
would have % be done. But our rail-
roads now carry one ton OF freight one
mile for oirht-tenths OF a cent. or for
one ouc-thOusandth of the cost of doing
that amount by work by muscular ef-
fort alone.
THE WORLDS MILEAGE
Had the whole population Of the globe
the same amount OF railroad mileage
prop0rtlonatoly that we have in the
United States the worlds railroad mile
age would be four and a half millions
e.50.WO instead Of one-tenth Of that
amount as now. Our periods Of exist.
enco may we'll be looked upon as the
childhood OF the race. A retrospective
review Of our railroads, a glance at their
present condition and glimpses Afforded
of their probabilities and possibilities
fully illustrate the truth that we are
only in the dawn Of our material deycl-
opment. The habitable portions of the
earths surface. comprising only about
two-hfths OF us land masses. even with
our present very imperfect agriculture,
can easily support four times the pres
ent population of the world or 600, Co.,
0ep human beings and this number will
be reached $50 years hence. or by the
year HJ0 a. D.
Length Of roads now owned By 1000
corporations. 500 miles. double. triple.
quadrupie and yard tracks, sidings and
turnouts. $500 miles Total OF all tracks
IN the United States to-day. 2ii500 miles.
The average value Of our railroad is usu-
ally placed at S6O000 "a mile though Il is a
AINNIf ElhAt imam llNh. AA AiilN rate lnrf1'N
miles of road is worth ll9l 0o0. DO The
investments I'm these roads. including
capital stock, funded. unfunded ana cur
rent debit can safely be placed al
Su.Jnn0wN our population Is now 49,.
e9e0H ~ The wealth of our country has
increased in the past eight years pro-
porti0nately with the increase between
l~O and 1890 the wealth Of the whole
country to-day is $1,000. 900. 900, or 81 $50
f0r every MAJ woman and child of the
population. . .o average wealth i'm 1850
WAS only s2N per capita. the increase
being nearly fouIfOld since then. The
wealth of our country is now increasing
$40 the rate Of SGtU0.0o0 a day. one sew
'rth Of our wealth Is I'm railroads or
$3.50 for every member Of our population.
MEN EMPLOYED.
The railroads of the United states now
employ $4,000 persons. and the average
ANNUAL pay of each is 500. \ few Off.
cials receive large salaries but the
$1,000 station men and track rcpairers,
and the 5000 switchmen. nagmen and
vatchmen all get small wages. though
their pay Is sure and their employment
S.. as a rule. uninterrupted. There are
row $50 employees 10 every one hundred
miles o. road or - TO every mile.
Exclusive Of sleeping cars. our rail
roads now have $4,000 cars Of all kinds,
or 81 cars 10 every locomotive, OF seven
cars 10 every mile of road Inclusive OF
sleeping cars. there are now 5000 passen-
ger. mail and express cars in use, Con
sidering the life OF a freight car, twelve
years. and its earnings after that length
of service viii barely keep IL in repair,
IL Is clear that about 10000 OF these
cars now annually 90 into scrap. IN
other words 10000 new freight ears are
needed every year to replace those which
are worn ont. 10 say nothing of the
additional cars required for the new
roads and for the natural increase Of
freight business. The following tabular
statement is full OF interest as well as
of significance 10 car builders. 1t is e.
record OF the freight cars built I'm the
United States for the years indicated.
This table was revised by the editor OF
tho Railway Age.
Freight cars built in the year 1890 num-
bered 10000
Freight cars built in the year 1891 num-
bered 5000.
Freight cars built IN the year 1892 num-
bercd 5000.
Freight ears built in the year 1898 num-
bcred $500.
Freight cars built in the year 1894 num-
bored 1900
Freight ears built in the year 1895 num-
NfftU nNt''f.
Freight ears built in the year 1896 num-
Freight cars built in the year 1887 num-
hered 5000.
n is interesting 10 note in this cOnnec-
iion that nearly 10 per cent Of the total
freight cars constructed In 1897 were for
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
LOCOMOTIVES.
For the years preceding the Worlds
Fair We built the normal number OF the
number Of cars needed. but since 1892.
through the years Of business depression,
or for the five years ending 1897. we built
on the average only 4l0o0 freight cars a
year There are indications that the year
1888 viii show much greater activity IN
this line The railroads OF the country
could use 10 advantage 10000 more
freight cars than they now have II is
clear that renewed activity in freight
car building must continue for some
years
There are now 5000 locomotives in use.
10000 of them being IN passenger service
All these passenger engines are fitted
with train brakes. and over half of them
with automatic couplers. Each passenger
engine handled upon an average over
5opo0 passengers during the year and ran
nearly million and a quarter of miles.
Each Height locomotive on average.
drew 5000 tons OF freight.
"Onr frcight trains for the year ending
September lst, carried 760 eco tons OF
freight and every ton wGs carried on an
avetaGc ~ miles making I'm ali 95OO,coo,-
Ve1 tons OF freight carried one mile
While the average cost OF carrying a
ton OF freight one mile was eight-ten,h s
OF cent II was only six-tenths OF a cent
I'm some OF the States. The cost of carry
Ing freight has steadily fallen from two