The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1904-04-29
RUSSIAN RAILWAYS.

RUSSIAN RAILWAYS.
The total distance from St. Peters.
burg to Port Arthur by the Russian
trans Siberian railway and the Rus
sian lines in Manchur.a is 5.s13 miles,
or practically twice the distance from
New York to San Francisco
The adverse years, 1891 and 1892,
gave a new impe us to railway build
ing. In order to give employment
to the starving peasantry" the gov
ernment undertook and encouraged
he construction Of new roads. A
new era Of railway construction be-
gan with those years, which in it's
vigor soon surpassed anything seen
not only in Russia itself but anywhere
else in Europe While during these
years the number Of yersts opened for
traffic was but 1913 and 41s, respec-
lively, the succeeding years mark the
beginning Of an exceedingly energetic
expansion Of the railway sys. EN-.
whose termination does not seem to
be at hand
At present franchises are eagerly
contes ed by competing corporations,
a fact unheard Of until recently in
Russia, where the state not so very
long ago had to guaran' ee the interest
on the stock and bonds cf the chief
ra lroad Corporations The ministries
of finance and transportation have,
during he latest years. been literally
swamped with petitions coming not
only from railroad and construction
companies, but alsc from representa-
tives of local interests" as mining,
manufacturing. and agricultural
groups The length Of Russian rail
ways in Europe alone has consider
ably increased during the last ten
years, and surpasses now that OF
France and Grea. Britain, respective
ly, being inferior only to that OF Ger.
many
simultaneously with the redemption
of the greater part Of Russian rail-
ways the government undertook the
difficult task of regulating the rail.
way tariffs for both passengers and
goods. The principles adopted were
those OF the zone" tariff, and the
results Of the innovation have been
very encouraging, for both passenger
and freight traffic have increased con
s'derably since the introduction CT the
new tariffs
The present state OF the Russian
railways, according TO the recently
published returns OF the ministry OF
is stated as follows
AT the beg nning Of 1902 the total
length OF all Russian railways Cexclu-
sive of railways in Finlandl was 35.
1877 miles. Of which 2s.9S2 miles were
II European Russa 5,13S represent (
ed the leng h of railways in Asa tex
elusive Of the Manchurian railway /
ana 1867 were secondary railways OF
local character OF his total OF over
35.1S7 miles 23557 m les. or 67 per
cent were owned and operated by
the government The value cf this
system. exclusive Of the local second I
ary roads. IS gwen as 5,l49.39s 900 [
rubles, or about $4,000 rubies per
vers OF this grand total expended
in the construction OF railways the
governmeats share IS 4914s05. 600
ubles. or about IS per cent THIS
amount includes the value OF all cor
pora securities, both stocks and
bonds. the income from which was
guaranteed by the government, those
OF the bonds amounting 70 2,S2O,42s,-
OaO rubles. which are held by the
treasury, and the total amount cf sub
sides granted for the construction OF
ra lways.
Fer January /. 1904. the length OF
the entire Russian railway system,
exclusive of 1894 miles Of railroads
In Finland and 1856 miles of he
eastern Chinese road. Is officially
stated as 36.673 miles OF this 20 al
81 .4s3 miles were In Europe and s.
$50 m les In Asia. OF the European
railways the government operates 49,
ESQ miles. While i0.s54 miles Of rail
a