The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1898-11-11
RAILROADS IN SPAIN:
Fetal Mileage Equal to One of Our wsst-
ern Companies.

anything in Spain this year, but IL
there was, she might celebrate the
Bemi-centennial anniversary of the
opening of the first railroad in that
kingdom. In 1848 the Barcelona Rail-
road. so called. extending eighteen
miles from Barcelona to Mataro, was
opened to traffic. Mataro is a small
town on the Mediterranean northeast
of Barcelona, and these eighteen miles
Of road constituted at that time SPANS
only contribution to the railroad mile
age of the world, the neighboring
country, France, having at the same
period railroad mileage of 1900 and
Great Britain 5000. Since then there
has been slowly intermittent increase
of what Is sometimes grandiosely call
ed "The Railroad System" of Spain,
two obstacles to the development of
which have been the unbusinesslike
methods of the inhabitants and enor-
nous engineering difficulties. Spain
has been wholly denuded of forests at
the headwaters of rivers, and as
consequence there are frequent over
flows, carrying with them railroad
bridges, trestles, and entertainments to
the constant peril and annoyance Of
passengers.
There are now in Spain 1850 miles
of railroad, less than one-third of the
number in Great Britain, France, or
Russia, and less than one-fourth of the
number in Italy. The relative insigni-
ficance of the Spanish railroad "sys-
tenn" appears best in comparison with
American railroads, single line, the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, hav-
ing an aggregate mileage of 7,400,
owned, operated, or controlled, or near
ly as much as all the railroads of Spain
combined. Spanish railroads are pro-
verbally slow, the rate of express"
trains being twenty-five miles an hour
and of way passenger trains from
twelve to fifteen. They seldom run on
scheduled time, and it is the testimony
Of all travellers that they never make
connections. The amount of baggage
allowed each first-class passenger on
Spanish railroad is sixty-six pounds,
but the railroads are not responsible
for it's loss, nor are their officials re-
sponsible for its Identification. The.
charges on Spanish railroads are re-
markably high, being at the rate Of
s cents mile on frst-class trains,
and 3 cents a mile on second-class
trains, about double the American average.
The railroad lines of Spain were
built partly by private capital, partly
from the proceeds Of governmental
subsidies. These subsidies have
amounted to over 2OO,000O0o (1.00O,-
100000 pesetas). Although the rail-
roads of Spain are directly under the
control of the Government, and al
though about one-third of their con-
struction was paid by the Government,
they are owned by private companies,
and about three-fifths of the stock Of
the Spanish railroads is owned in
France. French investors have grad
ually absorbed the securities, which,
sold at a depreciation, pay high rate
of interest. French and English en-
gineers supervised generally the con-
struction of Spanish railroads, but the
stations" or terminal facilities of the
companies are the products of domestic.
industry, as any obseryant but forbear-
ing traveller will admit.
The railroads of the United States
carry in year about 600,000,000 pas
sengers, and they transport about $780,
100000 tons of freight. There are 80
per cent. more tons of freight carried
than there are Individual passengers.
The Spanish railroads, despite the in
ferior facilities which they offer to
ger than upon freight traffic, carrying
in year a much larger number of
passengers than they do tons of
freight. In 1897 the Spanish rail-
roads carried 100000 passengers, bat
they carried only 100000 tons of
freight.
The difficulties of passenger traffic
on Spanish railroads are enhanced in
some particulars which are rather
amusing than serious. Passengers are
expected to arrive at the station at
least half an hour before the train
leaves, in order that sufficient allow
ance may be made for the dilatory pro-
ceedings of the railway officials Dur
ing part of each day land in some cit
les the larger part of each day., the
railway stations are closed and the
ticket offices do not open until an hour
before the time scheduled for the de-
parture of the train, closing quarter
of an hour before it is due.
Z The hapless tourist, in compliance
with Spanish railroad custom, must
have his ticket before he is permitted
to enter the waiting room, and as this
ticket must be bought fifteen minutes,
at least, before the train starts and as
the train may be anywhere from an
hour to three hours late, his oppor-
tunities for reasonable complaint are
numerous and are not diminished by