The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-09-30

the railroads of the country for 1895, 1900 and 1904 we have the following;
 Mileage-10O5, 1SO,955; 1900, 194,321; 1904, 21234
 cars-lss5, 1,2s51oS; 1900, 1,aS525a; 1904, 1,77O,8S4.
 Engines-1S95 S66lo; 1900, SS,o65; 1904. 4S,65s.
 Ton Mieage-1s95, ss, ,567, ITO, sol 1900, 14l,- 162, ,109 413; 1904. 173,6l3 76213O.
 Passenger Mlleage-1S95 12,642 2O2, 551; 1900. 16,3l32S4, All; 1904, 22, 167, ,1241S4.
 These figures show an increaat be- tween 1895 and 1904 of 3i 900 miles, or 17 per cent, while of cars there was an in- crease of 505000, or nearly 40 per cent, and of locomotives 12,OOO, or about 33 per cent The total ton mileage of freight traffic increased by S5,OOOO00,0OO tons, or just a little less than 100 per cent, and the passenger mileage by 9,500 000,000. or 75 per cent. These figures give some in- dication of the very great improvement fin the traffic per car and per locomotive. With a gain of only B per cent in the number of locomotives the freight traffic has increased nearly 100 per cent. while the mileage of railroads increased dur ing the period F per cent. Since 1904 this growth in traffic has gone on still more rapidly, and we are now at a point where the present railroads with their present equipment have reached the utm ost limit
 
 in trifhc would be practically impossible unless there should be a steady eKpan- sion in the facilities for handling. 1t is true that the railroads are ordering new rolling stock and improving their road bed, and many of them are double-track- ing, and some of them in places putting down three and four tracks, but it is well worth while considering if we had not reached the point where there must either be a breakdown in the handling of traffic, a serious curtallment of business, a broad expansion of railroad building and better equipment of existing roads than we have had in the past
 The growth which he have seen during the last ten years. stupendous as 1t has been, must of necessity De far exceeded by that of the next ten years. There may be ups and downs of business. but, while we are to expect an occasional slackenlng from the present high pres sure, each new burst of activity carries the country far ahead of the point at which 1t started. To population of about s5.OO0OOO we will add during the next ten years about 2O.0OO.G0O. giving us total in 1916 of 105, 0,0O0 people, and by 1926, or twenty years hence, 130,00OOOO, and in 1881. twenty-five years from now, our population will be 145.O 900. The gain in population in the next twenty years will be but little less than the total popu- lation of the country as late as 1880. Be- yond our grasp as these figures are, it must be borne in mind that business ex- pansion makes a far greater rate of in- crease than the growth of population. In the latter the increase will probably aver age a little less than 25 per cent every ten years, while the volume of freight, as judged by the past, is increasing 100 per cent in the same period, and the value of agricultural and manufactured prod ucts between 1895 and 1904 gained more than twice us rapidly as population. If we would avoid a breakdown of our rail- road system from inability to handle traf- fic. we must look ahead and see some thing of what the next ten years will bring forth In the creation of business and prepare for railroad expansion to meet the necessities of the times