The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-31
U.S.A WORLD LEADER
MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF THE
WORLDS TRACKAGE is IN
AMERICA
TOTAL NEARLY 100000 MILES
Germany Is Second, While Russia,
France, India, Austria-Hungary
and Great Britain Follow
in Order Named.

The announcement by the Railway
Age" that larger addition has been
made to the railway mileage OF the Unit
ed States in 1901 than in any preceding
year since 1890 lends special interest to
some figures just published by the treas
ury bureau of statistics regarding the
railways 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 5eo000
miles To be more accurate, it riaY ne
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 as 194,321, and adding
the estimate of the Railway Age, oV1i,
the construction for the year l"W orlEgs
the grand total for the United States 10
199,37S miles,.
This, it is understood, does not include
railways operated by electricity, of which
the mileage exclusive Of street and SUI
burban roads is now considerable and
rapidly increasing, so that It may safely
be said that the railway mileage OF the
United States, exclusive OF hose for street
and suburban service, is fully "y9,ED miles.
For the entire world, the London Daily
Mail yearbook for 1902 estimates the TO-
tai miles open for traffic ut lS4,SiS of
lea; 1885, sos in Europe; $3.50 miles in Asia;
2S364 in South America; 1850 in africa,
and 1922 miles in Australia. Thus the
United States has two-ffths Of the rail-
way mileage of the world, and larger
mileage than any other single country
Comparing the mileage % other coun-
tries with that of the Uaited States. the
United States stands first With l9' ~
miles; German empire 31,'34; Russia, g.,
Ito a
Hungary. 22,919; Great Britain and Ire
land, 81 ,7O0 Canada, 1867; British AUS
tralia, Il, 266; Argentine, 10,419; Italy, $50;
Mexico 1903; Brazil, S,71S, and Spain, $500
miles.
OF these half a million miles of rail-
way in the world, it is estimated that
about one-third are owned by the gov
ernments of the countries in which they
are located. About nine-tenths of the
railways of Germany are owned by the
national or state governments; about
two-thirds 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 pro-
portion of the railways of France VIII
become the property of the government
about the middle of the present century
In Italy nearly all of the railroads are
owned by the government, but are opef-
ated by private companies WHICH ledso
the lines from the government In Aus
tralasia nearly all of the railways are
owned by the governments of the various
colonies, and in India a large proportion
of the 25,O35 miles in operation is owned
Or guaranteed by the Indian government
1t is especially with reference to the
railways of the United States that tho
bureau of statistics figures present de-
tails suitable for comparative purposes
They show that the railway mileage of
the United States was, in 1880, % mnes;
in 1910, 2,S1S; in 1850, 9,021; in 1860, 3d.
626; in 1870, 52922; in 1880, 93,262; in $780,
166, 654; and in 1900, 194,321; and the adj
dition of the mileage construction for this
year, estimated by the Railway Age at
b,O57 miles, brings the grand total for
1901 to 1898 miles. 1t is only in more
recent years that statistics of opera
ton are available According to the
bureau of statistics figures, the number
of passengers carried was, in 1887, 42S, OOO,-
OoO: in 1890, 500 10000; in 1895, 529,OOOO 600;
and in 1900, 5S4O00,000. The growth in the
freight business is shown by the figures
which state the number of tons Of freight
carried one mile. These figures are: For
1888 80 100000 O00 for 1887, 81 ,O0O 100000; for
$780, $4,000, 0OOOCO; for 1895, $4,000, 100000; and
for 1900. al, 0O0 100000 tons. While the
length of railways and amount of freight
tonnage have been increasing, cost of
freight transportation is given by the
bureau of statistics figures at 1.24c per
ton per mile in 1882; 1.03c in 1887; .93c in
1886; 75c in 1900.