Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/272

Rh 254 R A I L WAY Cost. Traffic. Rates. to and from the north-eastern Atlantic States north of the Potomac. The eastern "trunk lines," as they are called, extending from the west to the north-eastern seaports (and also to Canada), have a heavier goods traffic than any other lines of considerable length iu the world. The companies owning these lines also own or con- trol in some way extensive systems reaching as far west as Chicago, and in several cases to the Mississippi at St Louis. Two great systems centre on the Pacific coast. Chicago is the chief traffic centre of the interior. The railways having at first to serve a thinly peopled but rapidly growing country, American engineers devised methods of construc- tion and working which produced a line at very small cost, lacking very many of the appliances considered necessary in Europe, but capable of being extended and developed as the country itself be- came more settled and prosperous. At first many lines cost only 2000 per mile, and much better lines are now being built for 3000 per mile or less. Even when fully developed they are still usually very much less costly than European railways. Some of the large systems have cost, on the average, only from 7000 to SOOO per mile. The average reported cost in 1884 of the 125,000 miles of railway in the United States was 11,400 per mile ; but the actual average cost is probably much less. In the United States coal for fuel and timber for building and other purposes are carried by railway 1500 miles or more from the place of production. Cattle are carried 2000 miles and more, and wheat and other grains worth but half as much per ton, in immense quantities, 1500 to 1800 miles. This is possible only by rates which in most countries would be thought ruinously low. But in recently settled parts of the United States the population are often dependent upon the railway for almost everything they consume ; and almost everything they produce, except their bread and meat, has to be carried by the same means. Thus the traffic per inhabit- ant is very much larger than in most old countries. Hence too manufactured goods can often be carried 1000 or 1500 miles at a cost very little more than that at the place of manufacture or importation. In one year the five eastern trunk lines received at their western termini (about 450 miles from New York) for trans- portation eastwards 8,200,000 tons of goods, equal to more than 26,000 tons daily. This has greatly promoted the formation of large railway systems and the construction of branches and exten- sions by railway companies near unsettled districts. A company with a line 500 miles long is induced to make extensions not only by the profit to be made on the new line, which in a new country may be almost nothing for several years, but also by the profit made by carrying the traffic of the new line over the 500 miles of old railway. Comparing the traffic per inhabitant in the United States, Germany, and Austria-Hungary in 1883, we get (Table XXXIV.) : Thus each American travels three-fifths more and has 3 times as much goods transportation done for him as the average German. The railways of America have enjoyed great liberty in fixing their rates, which, however, have been somewhat restricted by new legisla- tion in several States since 1870, notably one limiting the New York Central to 2 cents (Id.) per mile for all classes of passengers. The average rates for goods have been reduced very much since the Civil War and even since 1875. Passenger rates have also been reduced, but not nearly so much. Table XXXV. shows, in pence, the average goods rates per ton on a few important railways : From the whole country the averages in 1884 were rate per mile, 0'629d. ; per ton of goods, 0'502d. ; per passenger, l'178d. This on the average goods rate from 1880 to 1884 was a reduction of 13 per cent, amounting to more than 13,000,000 on the traffic of 1884. The passenger rates of the above-named railways have been in pence per mile (Table XXXVI.) : : 1S69. 1870. 1871. 1875. 1882. 1884. Highest rate 188 180 130 100 75 75 50 30 30 30 40 United States. Germany. Austria- Hungary. Passenger-miles 158 99 39 Ton-miles 772 212 112 Year. New York Central. Penn- sylvania. Lake Shore <v Michigan Southern. Chicago and North- Westeni. Union Pacific. 1867 1870 1875 1880 1884 1-540 1-034 0-711 0-490 0-464 0-167 0-865 0-590 0-491 0-413 1-050 0-645 0-423 0-38S 1-943 1-724 1-184 0-831 0-664 1-155 1-055 0-781 Year. New York Central. Penn- sylvania. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Chicago and North- Western. Union Pacific. 1870 1-045 1-245 1-306 1-645 1875 1-070 1-175 1-189 1-500 1-640 1880 0-995 1-127 1-068 1-335 1-665 1884 0-970 1-211 1-085 1-190 1-485 The classification of passengers is but little developed in America. For local journeys there are usually but one class and one rate of fare ; but on several important lines additional charges are nm<!r for certain special kinds of accommodation. Railway "wars' often bring down the through fares to a ridiculously low figure : for instance, the first-class fare for 960 miles, New York to Chicago, has been 2 or less, and the immigrant fare during the spring and summer of 1884 was 4s. The rates on goods are innumerable and are often changed. Table XXXVII. gives examples of the great iluctuations iu these rates, the figures being the number of cents per 100 Ib of first-class (the highest class) freight : The rates which the railways have endeavoured to maintain on this traffic since 1877 have been, with but slight changes, 75 cents for first-class freight, 60 for second, 45 for third, 35 for fourth, and 25 cents for fifth. The highest of these is at the rate of T644 cents per American ton per mile ( = - 92d. per English ton per mile) ; the lowest is 0'548 cent ( = 0'307d.) The "basis rate" is that on grain and flour from Chicago to New York, grain, flour, and meats forming about four-fifths of the whole traffic eastwards. Twenty cents ( = 0'492 cent or 0'275d. per ton per mile) is considered a remunerative rate. Another "basis rate" is that from Chicago south-west to Kansas City, which governs rates from places about 500 miles from Chicago west and south-west. This rate is usually nearly the same as that from Chicago north-west to St Paul, 400 miles, governing a large amount of traffic iu that direction. Between the Missouri river and the Pacific coast is another territory with another basis ; and in the south, rates from the Atlantic ports to inland towns are governed by one general rule, as also those from places in the upper Mississippi valley (like St Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Louisville) to the same or other interior towns of the south. Traffic is facilitated on the longer routes by organiza- tions known as "fast freight lines," whose cars run over several connecting railways. When first established these lines were in- dependent corporations, owning their cars, collecting the charges for transportation, and paying dividends out of their profits. Now all but a few are simply co-operative agencies of the several associated railway companies, which contribute cars in certain agreed pro- portions, and share the expenses of the joint agencies, each com- pany receiving the earnings for the freight passing over its railway precisely as for any through freight. The laws governing the formation of railway corporations and Cor] authorizing railway construction differ in different States, but in atio: most it is open to any association of men with the necessary capital man to form a company and construct a railway anywhere. Generally men the laws relating to raising and extending capital and the disposi- tion of income are very lax, and under them great abuses have occurred. All but a very small number of the railways have been, projected and constructed by private enterprise ; but many com- panies have received aid from towns, cities, counties, or States, and the Federal Government and the State of Texas (the only State owning the public land within its borders) have subsidized many railways, mostly west of the Mississippi, by immense grants of public lands, in the aggregate amounting to 200,000,000 acres. The' Federal Government also lent its bonds to the amount of 13,000,000 to aid in the construction of a few lines between the Missouri and the Pacific coast. Between 1830 and 1840 several States undertook to construct railways on their own account ; but most of these attempts ended in disaster, and the railways WITH completed by companies, if completed at all. There remain, how- ever, two State railways, one 138 miles long OAvned by Georgia, which it leases to a corporation for working, and the other by Massachusetts, mostly in the long Hoosac tunnel. Owing to the pernicious system of raising capital for railway construction from the sale of bonds, secured only by the property bought by the proceeds, before the end of 1874 108 railway companies were in- solvent, and interest was unpaid on more than 100,000,000 ($497,807,660) of mortgage bonds which they had issued. Indci.l, of the total nominal railway capital of the L T nited States very nearly one-half is represented by bonds. One great company which has paid dividends for many years has 9,500,000 of stock to 20,000,000 of debt. The management of railway companies in the United States is often autocratic to the last degree. Win n once directors have been elected by the vote of the majority of the shareholders, they take the most important steps without ever con- suiting the shareholders, and in their annual reports they give only such information as they please, subject to no examination by in- dependent auditors. This state of things naturally leads to grave abuses, to directoral mismanagement and dishonest speculation in bonds and shares. In some cases, however, the authority of the directors is limited by the charter or constitution of the company. There are very few, if any, lines which have trains whose speed Sp< equals that of the fast English trains, the fastest being between