Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1912-05-11
RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES.

People often speak of the railroads as monop
oes As matter of fact, monopolies have no
other foes as deadly the railroads.
There is more money invested and more men
employed in the railroads than any other industry
in the country, save farming and manufacturing
The tracks of the railroads of the United
States contain more than thirty million tons OF
iron in the form of steel rails Ninety per cent
of the product of the steel mills used by the
railroads One-quarter of all the pig iron made
in the country is consumed by the railroads. Of
all the coal mined in the United States one-sixth
is used by the railroads There are III the tracks
of the railroads of the United States about seven
hundred million ties If put end to end
they would measure more than million miles, or
enough to go forty times around the earth. Prob
ably One-eghth of these are renewed every year
In other words the wooden cross ties used by the
railroads each year would extend around the
world five times. This employs an army OF men.
These men and the coal miners, and the pig iron
workers are part of the vast army OF people who
owe their living to the railroads. though they are
not borne the company pay-rolls
1t would be impossible to conceive of society
as it exists today, without the facilities of move
ment over the face of the earth afforded by the
railroads Yet in the comfort and happiness OF
the nation the movement of passengers Is rela-
lively of little Importance as compared with the
movement of freight We could communicate
ing comparatively fixed in position and still get
along pretty well but as society is now organ
lied we must have quick. regular and cheap move
ment of freight, the population of the cities
must disperse or starve And thus it comes about
that the real measure of the public service OF rail
roads is in the freight business
Every year the railroads of the United States
carry approximately eight hundred million tons
of freight or ten and one-half tons for each in
habitant The total freight movement-that is
the number of tons multiplied by the average mum
Der of miles that ton is moved-equals the
uncomfortable figure of 95,328 million ton miles
1t is as if one ton carried to the and back
500 times; or it is the same if one ton was
carried 1924 miles year for each nhabitant.
This prodigious service is done at a rate
cheaper than that charged in any other country
The average freight charge upon one ton carried
one mile is about eight mills. The result is tina
the transportation tax what the people costume
is hardly appreciable Ii man in New Yorl
pays eight cents for loaf of bread only three
tenths of one cent is paid for carrying the whea
from the fields of Dakota to the mills in Nlinneap
ellis and thence to New York For every q cent
that he spends for bread he pays one cent TO
carrying the wheat and -four 1000 miles pount
of tea is sold in New York for Is cents, but tina
tea has paid less than cent for carriage b.
rail more than 5000 miles from the Pacific por
to New York. The beef steer travels from tn
range in Texas to fattening feed grounds in bee
feed grounds IN Kansas or NEBRASKA thence U
the packing house, and on to New York, tota
journey of nearly 5000 miles, and the total eos
including the much talked of packers profit
seven cents pound
Despite the tremendous amount of servic
rendered there is but small profit for the rail
roads. In fact the average dividend on the stocl
of the railroads in the United States amount t
only about and six-tenths per cent Nor
than 70 per cent of the railroad stock pay NJ
dividends whatever to the owners
The railroads have enabled the buyer and tn
seller to compete almost even terms in all o
the markets of the Union The farmer in New
Jersey gets his wagon in South Bend, Ind, ant
the price he receives for his celery is fixed in Kal
amazoO, Mich. Thus the railroads have throw
the whole continent over to competition from on
shore to the other diminishing the possibility 0
artifcially high prices. and has brought abou
wide and diversified markets