Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-10-19
! TmURsDAv, oCTonEIs 10, 1879.
The Statistics Of Our Vast Railroad System.


The latest report of the Interstate
Commerce Commission shows that
\ the vast railroad system of the Uni
ted States has settled down to steady
rate of growt.l which is in marked
contrast to the enormous and, as la
ter developments proved, disastrous
. additions TO its mileage which were
made in the last decade. That a
boom in construction which resulted
in the addition, during single year
of IL, 900 miles of new road, was al
together disproportionatc to the de-
mands of the situation was proved
by tho large number of roads which
went into the hands of the receivers
during and after the panic of 1893.
Of late years there has been decided
Improvement in tho railroad situa-
zion, for not only have many roads
been removed from the control Of re-
oSA'CAo, ou9 d Ccllaih uiitouile VI III"
construction has been undertaken.
The report for the year ending Juno
80, 1893, shows at that date 94 roads
operating 1874 miles of track
were in the hands of receivers, q
decrease of GIG miles. During
the year as roads were removed from
the receivers hands as against II
roads for which receivers were APP
pointed. The total number of rail-
ways in the United States was 2,047,
and the total number of miles of
track in operation, including side
tracks and sidings, was 247 ,523.
TO operate this system required
36,234 locomotives and 1,226,174
cars, an increase of 24S locomotives
and 28,694 cars as compared with the
previous year. The total number of
passengers carried was 0l,0G6,GS1,
which is II ,621 ,4S3 more than in the
previous year, while the number of
tons of freight carried showed an in
crease Of 1877, ,300,3G1 tons, the total
for the year being S79,00G,307 tons.
The gross earnings reached total
of 81, ,247 ,305,621, an increase during
the year of $125,235,S4S, while the
net earnings for the year were $780,
252,345, an increase of $50, 1886.
The amount available for dividends or
surplus was $140,319,421, and the to-
tai amount of dividends declared was
S96,240,864 The total amount Of
railway capital outstanding was Sl0,-
818,554,03l, and of this only thirty
four per cent paid any dividend.
We learn that out Of total Of
47,741 casualties there were G,S50
persons killed during the year and
4O,882 injured. Two hundred and
twenty-one passengers were killed,
or one for every 2,2G7,270 carried,
while the number of injured was
2,945, OF one for every ITO, I'LL carried.
The perils of "railroading," however,
are painfully manifest in the fact
that one out of every AIT employees
is killed and one out Of every 2S is
injured, the total number of killed
during the year being 1858, and of
injured 31,76l. We feel constrained
again to point on! that these statis-
-~ties of jihjnries and fatalities Indicate
that nj uch remains to be done in in
Producing safety appliance, for the
protection of employees. The Inter
state Commerce Commission has
done good work in enforcing the
equipment of cars with automatic
couplcrs; and it is to be hoped that
in its lenicncy toward roads which
are financially embarrassed it will
not lose sight of the fact that the life
and limb Of the vast army of en-
ployes that work our railroads are Of
paramount Importance. - Scientific
American.