The Arizona sentinel., 1899-06-03
Official Paper Of Yuma County
COL. PROUT ON RAILROADS.

In pregnant article on raIlroaos' Col H. G. Prout presents a num- her of facts and comparisons that show the tremendous magnitude ot the railway interests of the United States. and the part they play Tn the life of the community. After farming, there is more money in vested in railroads than In any other one interest in this coentry, and there are more people employed in railroad work than in any other occuoation except farming. In 1896 inc estimated value oflhe tota coa' production, the cotton, tobacco and grain crops of the nation-puttl"g coal at$l96, ,O0O,000, cotton at $259' GOO o0O and tobacco at $24,Ou0,0O' WAS S972,O0O,OO0. but eve" this prodigious aggregate was exceeded by the earniug+ of the United States railroads in the same year, which were $1,15O,GOO,000. In fact, the railroad earnings were Tn times as much as the total value of the coal produced in the country, and Tl'0,- 100000 more than the total value of all our grain crops.
 Itwould be dificrlt 10 make close estimate ct the number oi men whose labor goes to produce the things that railroads consume, but the workers directly employed bv railroad companies in 1896 num- Bered S27OOG, and the wages paid to them in that year amounted to nearly $5OO,OOO,OO0. The weight ofiron in the form of steel rails at this moment in the tracks ot the United States is probably 20,0O0,- OOO millions of tons Of the cut put of rail mills in this country In 1897, which was some 1.643,OOO tons. more than 90 per cent. went into American tracks. There IS about three and one-hajf million tons of iron in railroad car wheels, and certainly not less than two million tons more in the locomo- lives of the United States.
 Col. Prout calls attention to the surprising fact that one-quarter ot all the pig iren made in the country is consumed by the railroads. The railroads also swallow up one-slXtE of all the coal mined iE the country A few years ago a prominent rail- way company made careful expert ments in the use of petroleum as locomotive fuel The fuel itse. proved everything that could b' desired; but a very little computa- ton showed that the locomotives o that one road alone would cOnsum' all this country's crude petroleum production if they were fired witt oil.
 The figures as to railway cars ar' astounding The steam railroad cars running in the United States would cover about I0,O00,000 milet of track, and last year 500 miles o csrs were built. The building industry alone employs an army Of cross-ties there are in the track of the railroads of the United State about 624,O0O,O0O. These, put enC to end. would measure about on million miles, or enough to go fort, times around the earth. Probabl. one-eIghth of these, or enough t encircle the world five times, ar renewed every year.
 The number of individual rail road journeys made in the Unite States in one year Is about 5l2,OOO 900. or more than seven for eac man woman, child and baby in tn nation. But the real measure the public service of steam raiIread sin the freight business. Ever year the railroads of the countr carry 766.0O0,0O0 tons of freight, c ten and one-half tons for each ln habitaut The total freight move ment, tha. is, the number of tor multiplied by the average numb' of miles that one ton is moved equals 353-8,G0O,000 ton miles, figure quite inconceiqabls by u
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