The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1909-10-30

MOnOnganela and the Allegheny 10
car shops and locomotive works. to
coal mines and coke ovens, to the iron
ranges Of Minnesota, and the forests
of the Sierras.
There were lighted the fires Of the
idle blast furnaces. from the Alleghen-
les to Lake Michigan-beacon fires
signaling the return Of prosperity.
The purse of the railroads, closed
since the panic. had been opened
again, and the country was glad.
No intricate compilations of dry
statistics are needed to understand the
big part the railroads play in the
American Industrial drama. Their
wealth-in lands, roadways, buildings,
equipment, and securities-is as great
as that of all the wealth of the south
ern states. or the combined wealth of
Belgium, Holland and Switzerland.
One dollar in every eight of the
wealth of this country is railroad prop
erty. The railroads outlay next year
for labor and materials and the pay
ment of taxes, interest and dividends
will be sum as great as all the
money in the country. The bills for
labor and materials alone will far ex-
coed all the money raised by taxation
national. state. county and town.
Europe Is groaning under her ter
rifle burden preparing for war. But
the enormous cost of the armed peace
of Europe is dwarfed by our railroad
expenditures. What traveller thinks of
the cost of the wooden ties? But. in
the fat year before the panic. our
rQflrnodc
England and Germany together spent
in building fighting ships. Our steel
rail bill next year will equal the COM
bfned naval budgets Of Russia and
France. The smoke trailing from the
stacks of our locomotives will evidence
the burning up of more wealth than
all the naval powers-England, Ger
many. France. Russia. Japan and the
United States-will spend on war
ships.
The German war lords expenditures
on an army that threatens the peace
of Europe will be exceeded next year
by the money our railroads will spend
buying new freight cars and keeping
tho old ones in repair. Our locomo-
tives will cost more than the British
army. The military establishment of
France will cost less than our track
repairs. On bridges and culverts we
will spend as much as will Italy on
her army. All the money spent on the
army Of the car would not pay for
the steel the Steel corporation will
make for the railroads The huge out
lay the railroads will make this COM
Ing year for new materials will equal
the combined cost of the military and
naval establishments of all Europe
In the fiat year" before the panic
one combination Of eastern lines
bought $30.000.O00 worth of cars and
locomotives, $4,000 900 worth Of ties
and rails. and spent 100000 in
track improvements. They have spent
5000. 100000 in improvements in the
past ten years-a sum greater than
the entire capital stock of any single
railroad in America. two only ex-
cepted.
In the west the big spenders for the
past ten years have been the Harri-
man lines. Mad Hartman" they
called him because he spent $50, OOO,-
/ 900 improving properties that his pre-
decessors had let go to ruin. Harri-
man gave more orders-big orders-to
rail mills. bridge works, car shops, To-
connective works and lumber mills than
any other man who ever crossed the
Mississippi to run railroads.
Here. then, are three American rail-
roads whose expenditures for improve.
ments in the past ten years foot up
81 .000. 100000. A billion dollars-how
much Is that? With that money you
could build a railroad girdling the
earth.
Railroad buying follows the tide OF
prosperity. Every great boom In this
country has been marked by enormous
railroad expenditures, and the great
industrial and financial crises have
been the aftermaths of these booms
The first big waves of prosperity were
marked by the building of new rail
roads; the latter ones by railroad re-
construction.
The ebb and flow of prosperity in
this country is like the tide in the Bay
OF Kindergarten than anywhere else
In the world. The country never runs
along on even keel. The railroads. the
arteries of commerce are highly sen
sitfve to the ups and downs Of trade
because they carry nearly everything
the country produces. from producer
to consumer. In boom times the bro
duction of the country rapidly in
creases. and the demand for transpor
tation increases accordingly. Railroad
gross earnings mount to record fig
ures. and with them profits. To carr,
the growing tonnage big outlays must
be made for new tracks. cars and loco
motives. and for enlarging the capacity