New-York tribune., 1901-12-30
RAILWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES
THE WORLD-INCREAsE ~
THE LAST YEAR

Washington. Dec. % (SpecaD.-The announce
ment by The Railway Age" that larger addi-
ton has been 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 Sta
tistics regarding the railways the United States
and OF the world According to these figures the
steam railways Of the United States now aggre-
gate practically 2Co00O miles. and those of en-
tire world nearly 10000 miles. To be more aCcu-
rate 1t may be said that the figures of the Bureau
Of Statistics show the number Of miles Of railway
in operation in the United States at the end Of
1900 9432l, and adding the estimate Of The
Railway Age" 5.057 the construction for the year
1901. brings the grand total for the United States
10 199 .S7s miles This. it is understood, does not
include railways operated by electricity, of which
the mileage. exclusive of 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 roads
for and suburban service is fully 100000
miles.
For the entire world. The London Daily Mail
Year Book" for 1892 estimates the total miles
open for traffic at 4Si, ,34s which 2O657 miles
IN North America, 15s sos IN Europe $3.50 in
Asia, 1854 in South America 1850 in Africa and
1929 in Australasia. Thus the United States has
two-ffths of the railway mileage of the world, and
a larger mileage than any other single country.
Comparing the mileage Of other countries with
that of the United States the United States stands
first with 1888 miles; German Empire, 81 934;
Russia % 894: France. 2sl3: India OBS; Austria
Hungary. 22919 Great Britain and Ireland, q 100;
Canada 1857: British Australasia 1926: Argen-
tina 10A9: Italy. $50; Mexico 9Gs; Brazil Sis.
and Spain, $500 miles
OF these half million miles OF railways in the
world il is estimated that about one-third are
owned by the governments of the countries in
which they are situated. About nine-tenths of the
railways of Germany are owned by the national
or State governments; about two-thrds of those
of Russia are owned by the government. and
nearly one-half Of those OF Austria Hungary are
also owned by the government A large proper
ton Of the railways of France will become the
property OF the government about the middle of
railroads are owned by the government but are
operated by private companies. which lease tho
lines from the government. In Australasia nearly
all Of the railways are owned by the governments
of the various colonies and in India a large pro-
portion Of the 25.035 miles in operation is owned
It is especially with reference 10 the railways
Of the United States that the Bureau OF Statistics
purposes. They show that the railway mileage OF
the United States was. In 1880. q miles in 1870
ISIS in 1850 sG2i @ IN 1850 S29 in Iao $50 s. s22 in
year estimated by The Railway Age at 5057
miles. brings the grand total for 1901 TO 1s937s
miles II is only in recent years that sta
ristics of operation available. According 10
the Bureau Of Statistics figures. the number Of
passengers carried was in 1851 423 10000 in 1890
500 900. in 1885 529000O00 and in 1900 5s4 600 COO
TIE growth in the freight business is shown by
freight carried one mile. These figures are for
1885 80 600 100000: for 1887 900; 1850 70
0oO 100000 tons. While the length of railways and
amount Of freight tonnage have been increasing,
the cost of transportation has greatly decreased.
The cost of freight transportation Is given
by the Bureau OF Statistics figures at IA cents
ton mile in 1882 l0S cents in 1887 ss-1oO in
1880 s1oo cent in 1885, oloo cent in 1897 and 75-1Oo