The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-11-05
RUSSIAN RAILWAYS
GROWING IN FAVOR IN LAND
OF THE CAR.
Eight New Roads Are Among Latest
Additions Besides Extensions
to Old Lines.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5.-Consul T. e
Heenan. of Odessa, writes the State De
partment that In a country so preem
inently continental as Russia. where mos
Of the principal rivers abound In rapid
that present almost insuperable difficulties
to navigation, the railroad system gains
q position of Importance far beyond tina
occupied In other countries. The consu
continues:
In the, matter of provisioning the
vast provinces visited by the comp etc
FAILURE OF crops, h whole weight, OF the
task naturally fell upon the railroaus,
ana great was the fear entertained ina
t~raordinary effort-all the more so since
much of the rolling stock was still out
Of repair after the work it had been
called to perform during the Jap
anese war. The railways, however,
acquitted themselves of this work far
ipated.
In recognition OF the Importance of
her railways, Russia has, even dur-
ing the wal and times Of trouble, dis,
tress and scarcity of funds, continued
20 enlarge. the mileage. The latest 40
ditions embrace eight new roads, with
of second lines were aid on present
roads, and a road to go around Mos
COW was energetlcally pushed. A great
deal Of work still remains to be done
va ~ N'N0
railroads. There is an urgent neees-
sity for increasing the rolling stock,
owing to the ~inadequacy of which
there was again great neonyenienee
experienced at Odessa while bringing
the grain down for shipment This
want of cars became particularly keen
~ felt when the rolling stock was re-
Questioned from all sides for the car
rfage of the grain to the famine dis
tricts.
Odessa is the southern terminus of
the group Of government railways,
Joint appeilation. southwestern Rail-
roads. This network of roads embod-
les about one-eighth of all the govern
ment-owned railways In Russia. and,
owing to its position, is of prime i'm
~portance. The traffic and revenue re-
turns for these lines show an increase
In the gross receipts, which were $685.
$4,000 In 1905, and $50, ~. 900 In 1905.
The roads carried 9,564,0O0 passengers
in 1905 and 1881, goo in 1906. This in
crease is quite exceptional. as the aver
age annual Increase amounts to about
10000 passengers, and the population
of Odessa Is somewhat less than 1t was
a few years ago. These roads carried
154,008 short tons Of baggage in 1905
AND 174,s42 short tons in 1906 The
freight traffic amounted to 12.744,o0o
short tons in 1906, against l7,9oS.oOo
short tons in 1906. The working ex-
penses were S7,2S,S75 in 1905 and ST.
155, ITO in 1906.
The extraordinary increase III tne
expenditure is attributable to an adj
vance in wages to the employees and
the workmen along the line, to addi-
lions and repairs to the rolling stock.
and to the repairing and rebuilding OF
that which had been wrecked, burned
and destroyed during the riots In
Odessa in June, 1905.
"All the foregoing taken together is
to present, in spite; OF the large
expenditure. an unusually favorable
working account for this network for
1906, and the net returns for the year
1906 of $14.022, 420 stand next to those for
1903 of SIC, 90. SOC, and for 1902 of S15:-
1862, 900. This shows that the use of rail-
roads is in growing favor, and that the
volume of 1t can increase even under
un~propitious circumstances"