The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-11-14
RAILROAD NEWS.
Much Railway Building Must Be
Done in West.
Present Capacity of Lines Not
Large Enough for Business.
ROADS HAVE Jagged.
Did Not Keep Pace With Increas-
ing Population and Commerce.
Gossip and Matters OF Interest
in Railroad Circles.
ROADS HAVE Jagged.

Diverse views expressed by E. H.
Hartman and James J. Hin as to the
amount of competitive railroad build
ing to be done in the near future have
given rise to no end of discussion
among railroad men. Many of the
most experienced and the most prac-
teal of this class are strongly of the
opinion that whether regarded as
competitive or not, the next few years
viii see a great deal of new construc-
ton work accomplished. The needs of
the country, they say. demand it and
new roads are certain to be supplied.
The great west has Outgrown it's pres
ent railroad capacity and its impera-
tive call for enlarged facilities to
handle its commerce cannot be ig-
nored nor neglected.
Year by year. during the last decade
at least, the west has been producing
continually increasing freight tom
mage and the pressure upon the roads
to move it expeditiOusly and to the
best advantage of all concerned has
been becoming more difficult and i'm
possible. Disastrous congestion and
blockades have occurred periodically,
the insufficiency of track capacity be-
ing the originating and maintaining
cause, quite as much as the scarcity of
equipment.
In the last decade the rate of in
u case III NIaChdSG mas not DGE0 nearly
so great as in the fifteen years imme-
diately preceding it. From 1880 to
1881 the gain was 1O,159 miles, from
1881 to 1882 it was 1869, from 1882
to $50 it was gas and so on down to
1892, when a marked falling off oc-
CURED, and the period of inactivity
continued right down to 1903, when
something of a revival was noted
From 1892 to 1898 only 2,346 miles
of new road were built. and in the fol-
fr,rr- mo -
miles constructed. From 1894 to 1895
again the addition to the total mileage
of the country was LOO miles, and in
the following year, from 1895 to 1896,
the gain was only 1864. From 1896
10 1897 the increase only amounted to
1922 miles, and from that until 1904
the yearly gain ranged from 1000 to
1000 miles.
In the meantime gross earnings per
mile of road have increased about so
per cent In 1892 they were $685.
whereas in 1904 they had increased to
$9,3O5.
If comparison is made with popuIa-
ton there has been an actual decrease
in railroad facilities. In 1898 the
NUMBER OF miles of railroad for every
10, GOO inha bitants was 26.39. In 1903
it was 26.03. It must be rememb ered
that these figures take in the whole
country, but it has been in the terri
tory west of the Mississippi river that
the greatest development has taken
place. In sections of New England
there has been retrogression rather
than progression, but the great west
has been advancing with leans and
bounds. Large areas of it which for
years were supposed to be barren and
unproductive have been made to pro-
duce in luxuriance and have been
proved to be the richest and most
productive territory in the union. They
are calling aloud for improved rail-
road facilities, and their cry cannot be
ignored nor neglected. Their absolute
necessities will demand new railroad d
construction year by year by the tens
of thousands of miles for years to
come.