Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1906-01-25

Washington, Jan. IT," Tke
Transportation Routes and Sys-
: TENS of the World" is the title
of a monograph just issued by
the department of commerce.
and labor through its bureau OF
statistics. 1t includes, in addi-
ton to statistical statements
showing the development of
Transportation facilities on land
and sea, a map by which is pre-
sented a bird's-eye view of the
worlds principal railway and
steamship routes and the aux
Hilary relationship which one
bears to the other.
The map in conjunction with
its accompanying tables pre-
sents in outline a combination
of the information regarding
land and water routes usually
found only in separate form in
other publications. 1t does not
enter upon any elaborate dis
cussion of transportation routes,
methods or systems, but simply
! outlines in condensed form a
. few of the great highways of
commerce by land and sea in
combination.
The development of the sys-
TENS of transportation which
now place the producer in the
| interior of one continent in di-
/. rect communication with the
consumer in the interior of an
other continent is product of
a comparatively few years.
| Within the lifetime of men and
women now living the world
had not a single mile of railway
or a single steamship crossing
the ocean. Today the world
has on land 100000 miles of
railway and on the ocean g.
100000 net tons of sail-carrying
power and 1S,000,000 net tons
of steam carrying power.
At the beginning of the last
century the sail-carrying power
aggregated 100000 tons;
steam-carrying power on the
ocean did not exist, nor did
railways on land exist. BY the
middle of the century sail-car-
rying power on the ocean was
more than 100000 tons, the
steam-carrying power on the
ocean was less than 100000
tons and the railways on land
were but $4,000 miles. But
in 1880 sail power on the ocean
had reached 14,5O0,0OO tons,
steam power about 100000
} tons and railways on land 1885,
600 miles. From that time
forward steam power on the
ocean so rapidly took the place
, of the sail that in 1905 sailing
vessels on the ocean aggregat
t ed but 100000 tons carrying
power, while steam vessels hac
an aggregate tonnage of 49,.
r 100000 tons and railways an
aggregate of $4,000 miles in
length, of which 217,O00 miles
or two-fifths Of the total, are in
the United States.
The United States lead the
world both in the present mil
eage and the recent growth of
their railways. OF the tota
railway mileage of the world
aggregating $4,000 miles fol
1904, 21l,ON miles were in the
limited States, 35,323 miles il
European Russi, 32,967 mile'
lin Germany, 2S,1O2 miles il
France, 26,950 miles in India
!. "a, 100 miles in Austria Hungar,
/ 22,634 miles in the United
Kingdom. 1861 miles in Can
ada, 1860 miles in Africa, IA
, Lib miles in Australia, 1855!
e miles in Argentina, 1886 mile
l lin Mexico, 1861 miles in Italy
: I9,36S miles in Brazil, 1867 mile
lin Sweden, 1922 miles in Sib
!eria, Manchuria and other Asi
attic possessions of Russia
4,495 miles in Japan and LII
/, miles in China. 1t was not un
till 1885 that the number o
railways in operation in tn
limited States first reached as
much as 900 miles, being il
: that year, 1908 miles. BY 1856
!, the total had grown to 9,02.
miles; by 1860 to 30,626 miles
e il, 1865, 35,085 miles. In tn
' decade from 1865 to 1875 tn
, mileage more than doubled, tn
tot al for the last year named
being 1906; the total for 1888
! was 1890 miles, that for 1879
l81, 125 miles, for 1900 1926
.l cd e., 1O0E ON 90