The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-16
NEED NEW TRACKAGE.
Cost of Solving Rail Problem Billion
Year. SAYS j. j. Hill.

ST. Paul, Mimi, Jan. 16.-In a long
letter received by Governor John A
Johnson today James j. Hill, president
of the Great Northern Railroad COM
pany, the railway magnate deals ex-
haustively with various phases of the
transportation problem. The western
country has grown so fast that the
railroads have been unable to keep
pace with it. Mr.. Hill says, and he be-
lieves the building of additional track
age is the best solution.
He says it would require a perma-
nent investment of $1,100,0OO0O0 a
year for five years to provide the rail-
roads of the country with means to
handle properly the business already
in sight. and not allowing for future
growth.
Mr Hills letter follows in part:
During recent years the volume of
business has increased and is increas-
ing with extraordinary rapidly while
the necessary additional trackage and
terminals have not been equal to the
demands upon thenas The resulting
situation is a freight blockade of enor-
nous proportions, especially at all
terminal points"
The following figures compiled
from the official reports of the inter-
state commerce commission, and COW
ering the growth of the railroad bust
ness for the last ten years, exhibit the
significant facts:
For 1895-Total single track mile
age, 1S0,667; in 1905. 21s,1O1 In
locomotives in 1895. 1860; in
1905, 4s.s57- Increase IS per cent.
1905, 4O.713. Increase, 20 per cent.
Freight cars in 1895, 1,196,119; in
1905. 1881, 4os. Increase, As per
cent.
Passenger mileage in 1895, 12,1Ss,-
446,271; in 1905. 23,800,149,4 36. In
crease, IS per cent.
Freight ton mileage in 1895. So
227,515,s91; in 1905, 1s6, $500, $40.
Increase, 118 per cent.
There are and will be cars enough
to carry the country's traffic if the
cars can be moved, but engines and
cars must have tracks on which they
may run.
roads of the country have been en-
deavoring to meet the growing de-
mand on them. Not only were there
IS per cent more locomotives and As
per cent moro cars in service in 1905
than in 1895, but each engine and car
did much more work. No additions
to equipment and no increased eff
cheney in operation can take the place
of the imperatively required new
trackage and terminal facilities.
mo practical man would accept a
contract for furnishing the facilities
required, including additional equip
ment and terminal facilities for less
than $4,000 a mile. The new work,
then, would amount to $5,500,000,000
in round numbers, or a yearly average
of s1,10O. 100000. That is the sum
which should be spent before the
commerce of the country can be
moved properly 1t is just twice the
total amount of the bonded debt of
the United States after the close OF
the civil war. 1t iss more than twice
the entire currency in circulation In
the country, and only a little less than
twice the deposits in all the savings
banks in the United States put to-
gether.
1.-The average speed Of a freight
train is from twelve to fifteen miles an
hour The averag e akitstance travelled
by each freight car is db0ut twenty
five miles day TlRats iss-the= entire
freight equipment of the country is
employed to the fair limit of its ca
pacity, except two hours out of the
twenty-four On single track lines
freights must wait on sidings, while
passenger trains have the right of
way; cars stand for days or weeks in
yards or at transfer points awaiting
their turn.
1.-The problem and necessity are en-
ormous. At 140 tons to the mile it
would require 100000 tons of steel
rails every year to furnish the 1000
miles of track required. This is near
ly two-thirds of the product of all the
rolling mills in the United States. 1t
would call for the labor of 10000
men in grading, besides track layers,
bridge builders and others. And IL
demands, as has been seen, the invest
ment in permanent railroad plants of
$11OO, 100000 a year for five years to
provide the railroads of the country
with means to handle properly the
business already in sight not allowing
for future growth. This is the real
problem of the United States.
1.-TWO remedies must be found. The
expenses now attached to
of terminals at many
points and the absolute lack of avail
able space at any price, may be met
by a decentralization of traffic. a fif-
teen-foot canal or channel from ST.
Louis to New Orleans would go furth-
err to relieve the entire middle west
and southwest than any other work
that could be undertaken With such
a depth of water a single powerful
towboat would carry from thirty to
forty trainloads. Terminal troubles
admit of a more general diffusion of
business, permitting transfers to take
place and forwarding to be done where
land can be secured in adequate guam
titles and at more reasonable prices.
To this the traffic systems of the coun-
try must be adjusted The heavy trans
fers must be made away from the
larger Cities