Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1912-08-15
THE RAu.ROAD 81

People often speak Of the railways
as monopolies. AZ . matter OF fact.
monopolies have no other foe a.
deadly az the railways.
! There ig more money invested and
more men employed in the railways
than any other industry In the coun-
try, save farming and manufactur-
Ing.
The tracks Of the railways Of the
United States contain more than thIr-
ty million tons OF iron In the form
of steel rails. Ninety per cent Of
the product Of the steel mills are
used by the railways. One-Quarter
Of all the pig iron made in the coun-
try is consumed by the railways. OF
all the coal mined in the United
States one-sixth is used by the rail-
ways. There are In the tracks Of
the railways of the United States
about zoe, OOO,O 900 cross ties. If put
end to end they would measure more
than a million miles. or enough to
go forty times around the earth.
Probably one-eighth of these are re-
newed every year. In other words
the wooden cross ties used by the
railways 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 railways, though they
are not borne on the company pay
rolls.
II would be impossible to conceive
of society as it exists today, without
the facilities of movement over the
face of the earth afforded by the
railways. Yet in the comfort and
happiness of the nation the movement
of passengers is relatively of little
Importance as compared wvth the
movement of freight. We could COM
municate with each other by letter
or telegraph, remaining comparative
ly fixed in position and still get along
pretty we'll; but as society is now
organized we must have quick, regu-
lar and cheap movement of freight
or the population of the cities must
dispense or starve. And thus it comes
about that the real measure OF the
public service of railways is in the
freight business.
Every year the railways of the
United States carry approximately
500 million tons of freight or ten
and one-half tons for each inhabitant.
The total freight movement, that is,
the number of tons multiplied by
the average number of miles that
one ton is moved, equals the incon-
sceivable figure of 95,32S million ton
miles. 1t is as II one ton was carried
to the sun and back $40 times; or it
is the same as If one ton was carried
1,324 miles a year for each inhabi-
tant.
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 that the transportation tax
on what the people consume Is hardly
appreciable. II man in New YoHT
pays eight cents for loaf of bread,
only three tenths of one cent Is paid
for carrying the wheat from the
fields of Dakota to the mills in Min
Ineapolis and thence to New York.
For every twenty-seven cents that
he spends for bread, he pays one
cent for carrying the wheat and flour
1000 miles. A pound of tea is sold
in New York for seventy-five cents,
but that tea has paid less than one
cent for carriage by rail more than
5000 miles from the Pacific port to
New York. The beef steer travels
from the range in Texas, to fattening
feed grounds in Kansas or Nebraska,
thence to the packing house, and on
to New York, a total journey of
nearly 5000 miles, and the total cost
including the much talked of pack
er's profit is seven cents pound.
Despite the tremendous amount of
service rendered there Is but sunall
profit for the railways. In fact the
average dividend on the stock of the
railways in the United States amount
to only about one and six-tenths per
cent. More than 20 per cent of the
railway stock pays no dividends
whatever to the owners.