The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-06
Vast Improvements.

Vast Improvements.
Unusual prosperity has developed an |
unusual amount of building and i'm |
proving by the railroads of the Eastern
part Of the country.
In fact the figures furnished by local !
railroad man today tend 10 show that |
never in the history of transportation |
development in the United States has
the movement to build and extend been
so great as at the present time.
From Maine to Florida, and west to
the Mississippi 1t is said that before
the end of the year no less than 10000
miles OF new track will have been laid. |
And, this, too. in territory which has
been settled for more than century,
and in some portions of the country,
more than two centuries.
The construction, as the experts ex-
plain is natural, and is carried on under
fundamental conditions, not being specu-
! lative, as was most of the railroad
building a decade ago.
But why most of the activity should
be confined to the States mentioned. is
/ something of a mystery, for the solu-
! ton of which a number of theories are
/ advanced.
| Good business conditions in all parts
| of the country, the tendency of Ameri
| cans to travel whan they have money,
| the opening of new mines, and the es-
| Establishment of myriads of new manufac-
tories all combine to account for the
increased earnings of the countrys rail
roads, but the tendency to build East is
not so easily explained.
The growth of population has been
general, but probably it has increase
more to the acreage in the East thar
in the West, which is good for the rail
roads in the East.
It is said that there remains in the
West no territory which is not already
provided with all the transportation ia
cilities the country will support. Con-
sequently there being no new territory
left, the railroad magnates seem to be
barking back to where the majority OF
the people, and most of the money, are
located.
Then, also, it is intimated that many
of the natural resources, which, in the
first place. were exaggerated in the
West, are beginning to show signs o:
exhaustion, which in itself is enough
to warn away wise railroad builders.
The story of the exhaustion OF the
Middle Western and Northwestern farm
ing grounds is well known, and il is also
we'll known that Just as soon as the
farmer is compelled to resort TO fer
tilizers, he will again come into com
petition with his Eastern rival, and the
latter will have much the better OF him
in selling products, because of the diff
ference in freight rates Western men
must pay 10 reach the markets.
In mines, the investor of today prefers
a moderately paying coal producer, from
which dividends are certain, to the
glamour of gold, and other kinds of min
ing in the West, where the chances are
great each way.
1t also seems that the magnates of the
: country are at last beginning to awake
TO the fact that immense fortunes lie
under the old-time plantations in the
South-fortunes which the ante-bellum
slave-owning and cotton-growing aristo-
crat never suspected were so near, and
which he probably would not have de-
veloped had he known of them. because
of the great earnings of his cotton field.
This accounts for the activity in the
southeast. where the railroad building is
the greatest.
The coal and iron belt sextends from
Pennsylvania almost all of the way
down to Florida. There are millions
OF virgin forests of pine.
With fertilizers the ground Will pro-
duce two crops of anything a year to
2 the one of the more northern chimes.
The markets are near at hand. Rivers
and other watercourses are more pIenti-
, full than in any other part Of the coun-
: try.
2 It is from New York south and from
( Pittsburg east that most OF the money
( is being spent. Approximately the fig
/ TRES are as follows:
= Southern Railroad. $4,000, 900; the
s Sea board Air Line, 5000 600; the Wa
] bash, $4,000, 900; the Pennsylvania. in
l Guiding the great expenditures in New
York and Long Island $39 900. 000 the
= Baltimore and Ohio, $500 900; the New
r York Central, $500 900; the Chesapeake
q and Ohio. s., 500. 600: the Norfolk and
e Western. 81 600, 000 the Atlantic Coast
T co.., 600; the Frisco, 100000. and small
n er Eastern roads approximately ST.
600 00O
This is total of more than s108. 000,-
( COG, all of which is going into the East
err States, and great part of it Will
be used to develop the South.
Most of the operations have been de-
| scribed in The Times in piecemeal The
5 Southern intends TO double track its en-
i tire system as far south as Atlanta, and
: to remove all curves and make the
grades perfect. with rock ballast
r Several branches are being construct
! ed Rolling stock is being bought New
citations are being constructed
The purchase of new lines and the
5 vast plans for terminals in New York
and on Long Island will absorb the
money of the Pennsylvania, while the