The Washington times., 1901-12-30
PROSPERITY
OF RAILWAYS.
America Leads the World
in Their Building.
NEARLY 100000 NILES NOW IN use,
More Now Roads Constructed in
Year Just Past Than Ever Before
in United States Railroad History
Cost of Freight Transportation
Continually Decreasing.

The announcement by the Railway
made to the railway mileage of the United
| States in 1901 than in any preceding year
since 1890 lends special interest TO some
figures just published by the Treasury
Bureau of Statistics, regarding the rail-
ways of the United States and of the
world. According TO these figures the
steam railways OF the United States now
aggregate practically 100000 miles. and
those Of the entire world nearly 100000
miles.
To be more accurate, # may be said
that the figures of the Bureau of Stats
tics show the number OF miles Of rail
way in operation in the United states
at the end Of 1900 as 1882 and adding
the estimate of the Railway Age. 5,D5I,
the construction for the year 1901. brings
the grand total for the United States to
19e, ,35S miles.
Exclusion of Electric Roads.
This. it is understood. does not in
clude railways operated by electricity, Of
which the mileage. exclusive OF street
and suburban roads, is now considerable,
and rapidly increasing, so that it may
safely be said that the railway mileage Of
the United States. exclusive of those for
| street and suburban service. is fully 200,-
600 miles.
For the entire world. the London Daily
| Mall yearbook for 1902 estimates the
total miles open for traffic at 4S4.$is. of
which 220. .657 miles we're in North Ameri-
ca; 16s.s05 in Europe; $3.50 miles in
Asia: 2s 1854 in South America: l5s60 in
Africa, and 1882 miles in Australasia.
More Than Third of Worlds MiIcnge
Thus, the United States has two-hfths
of the railway mileage of the world. and
a larger mileage than any other single
country. Comparing the mileage of other
nations with that of the United States.
| the United States stands first. with 1e9,-
37s miles; German Empire. 81 .934; Rus
| sia, 1854; France. 26.s13; India, % OBS;
Austria Hungary 1913; Great Britain
and ireland. 2l,700; Canada. IL .657; Brit
ish Australasia. 1926; Argentina. TO- i19;
/ Italy. $50; Mexico. 96O3; Brazil, Sis.
and Spain, $500 miles.
! OF this half a million miles of railway
1 In the world ii is estimated that about
one-thlrd are owned by the Governments
/ Of the countries in which they are located
About nine-tenths of the railways OF Ger
many are owned by the national or state
! Governments about two-thirds of those
OF Russia are the property of the Govern
ment and nearly one- half Of those Of Aus
| tria Hungary are also owned in like man
ner. 4 large proportion Of the railways Of
/ France will become the property OF the
Government about the middle OF the pres
/ ent century.
/ Foreign Lines Under Governments.
In Italy nearly all Of the railroads are
owned by the Government. but are oper-
ated by private companies. which lease the
lines from the Government. In Australia
sia nearly all Of the railways are owned by
the governments of the various colonies.
and In India large proportion of the 25,
| 0s5 miles in operation is owned or guaran
teed by the Indian Government
II is especially with reference 10 the
railways OF the United States that the
Bureau Of statistics figures present de-
tails suitable FOR comparative purposes.
They show that the railway mileage Of the
United States sas. in 1880. % miles; in
1870. ISIS; in 1850. S.02i: in 1860 1926; in
1870. 81 800; in 1880. 90 262; in 1890, 16G, ,654
and in 1900. 1922 and :he addition Of the
mileage construction for this year. est-
mated by the Railway Age" at 5,G57
miles. brings the grand total for 1901 to
| 1879. .37s miles.
some Interesting Figures.
1t is only in more recent years that
statistics CT operation are available. Ac-
cording TO the Bureau Of Statistics figures
the number OF passengers carried was, in
1857, 423 millions: in 1890 $40 millions; in
1895, 529 millions. and in 1900. 5si mil
lions.
The growth in the freight business is
shown by the figures which state the num-
Der Of tons Of freight carried one mile.
These figures are: For 1883. 80 billions;
for 1857. 81 billions; for 1890. 70 billions;
for 1895, IS billions, and for 1900, 14l bill
lion tons.
While the length Of railways and
amount Of freight tonnage have been in
creasinR, the cost Of transportation has
greatly decreased. The average cost Of
freight transportation is given by the Bu
reau Of Statistics figures at L2i cents per
| ton per mile in 1852: 1G3 cents in 1887;
0.93 cent in 1890: 0.si cent In 1885; 0.SO
cent in 1887. and O.75 cent in 1900.