The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-01-01
AMERICAN ROADS
LEAD THE WORLD
United States Has TWO-fifths of
all Mileage.
GREAT GROWTH is SHOWN
COST OF TRANSPORTATION Is
RAPIDLY DECREASING.

The announcement by the Railway
Age that a larger addition has been
made to the railway mileage of The
United States in 1901 than in any pre-
ceding year since 1890 lends special
interest to some figures just pub
lished by the treasury bureau of sta
tistics regarding tina railways Of the
United States and the world. Accord
ing to thess figures the steam railways
of the United States now aggregate
practically 200, 600 miles. and those Of
TIE entire world nearly 100000 miles.
This, it is understood, does not in
clude railways operated by electricity
OF which the mileage exclusive of street
and suburban roads is now consider
able and rapidly increasing.
Mileage of the World.
For the entire world, the London
Daily Mail yearbook for 1902 esti-
mates the total miles open for traffic
at AS .S48 of which 220657 miles Were
in North America; 1eS.605 in Europe;
$3.50 miles in Asia; 1884 in South
America; 1880 in Africa, and 1922
miles in Australasia Thus the United
States has tWO-hftas Of the railway
mileage of the world. and a larger
mileage than any other single country.
Comparing the mileage of other coun-
tries with that of the United States,
the United states stands first with
iS9. 27S miles; German Empire, 31,934
Russia, 1884; France, 26,613: India,
25.035: AustTia-H Hungary. 22,919: Great
P-itain and Ireland, p. ZOO; Canada,
1851; British Australasia, Is 266; Ar
gentina. 1o4iS; Italy, $50; Mexico,
9,6O3; Brazil, Sis, and Spain, $500
miles.
The service on American roads is in
finitely superior to others over the
world.
Governments Heavy Owners.
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 nineteenth If
the railways of Germany axe owned
by the national or state government;
about two-thirds of those of Russia,
and nearly oae-half of those of Aus
tria- Hungary. A large proportion OF
the railways Of France will become
tire PROPERTY of the government about
the MIDDLE of the present century.
IN Italy nearly ali of the railroads
are owned by the government but are
operated by private companies which
lease the lines from the government
In AustIaiasia nearly all of the rail-
ways are owned by the governments
of The various colonies, and in India
a large proportion OF the 25,035 miles in
operatiOn is owned oT guaranteed by
the Indian government.
Great Growth of Mileage.
It is especially with reference to the
railways OF the United States that the
bureau of statistics figures present
details suitable for comparative nur-
poses. They show that the railway
mileage of the United States was. in
sa1S30e % rnilsS;zil $780,. isis; in 1850
9,021; in 1860. 30.626: in 1870. 52,922; in
$780, 1892: in 1890. 1864; and in 1891
194.321; and the addition of the mileage
construction for this year. estimated
by the Railway Age at 5,05T miles
brings the grand total for 1901 to 199,3Tj
miles.
1t is only in mC re recent years tina
statistics of operation are available
According to the bureau of statistics
figures, the number Of passengers car
ried was. in 1887. A2S, 900 900; in 1890
520,COO.OOO: in 1895. 529,O00,OOO; and il
1900, 5S4, goo 900. The growth in tn,
freight business is shown by the fig
ures which state ne number of tons O
freight carried one mile. IneSe nSure'
are. For 1888 $4,000 GOO, 600; for 1887
81. 900, GOO, 900; for 1890. 100000, 600, To-
1895, $4,000, 0OO, 900, and for 1900, al, 1000,
900, 009
While the length Of railways ant
amount of freight tonnage have beel
increasingly the cost Of transportation
has greatly decreased. The averag
cost of freight transportation is givel
by the bureau of statistics figures a
LA cents per ton per mile in 1882; 10
cents in 1887; 93-100 cents in 1896; $40
cents in 1895; S0-1G0 cents in 1897, ant
75-100 cents in 1900.