Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/787

UNITED STATES. between the East and West, having been opened in 1825. The growth of the railway system was extremely rapid from the beginning. The mileage increased from 23 in 1830 to 2818 in 1840 and 9021 in 1850. Over much of the country railways preceded industries, and certain industrial developments, such as those of iron and coal and of agriculture in the West, could not have taken place on any great scale without railway advantages. The growth of American railways, in which, it is estimated, from one-seventh to one-fifth of the country's capital is now invested, is shown in the following table (the mileage given being exclusive of elevated city passenger lines):

The rate of growth has greatly fluctuated. Checked by the Civil War, the mileage nearly doubled between 1865 and 1873. From the latter year to 1879 construction was reduced, but it then revived and, with a short interruption in 1884-85, advanced rapidly until 1893, and again continued after 1898. The year 1887 exceeded all others, with 12,876 miles. Prior to 1850 construction was mainly in the Atlantic Coast States, but in 1850-60 noteworthy gains were made in the North Central States and in the South. In 1852 rail connection was established between Chicago and the Atlantic Coast, and in 1869 between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. In 1870-80 there were important gains in the Upper Mississippi Valley and in eastern Texas, which was the first Southern State to show activity in railway construction after the war. In 1880-90 the Southern States doubled their mileage. Since 1895 (in which year there was the least construction after the Civil War, 1650 miles) the most rapid progress has been between the Gulf of Mexico and the Kansas and Missouri rivers. The greatest railway density is in the region north of the Ohio and Potomac rivers. New Jersey leads with 30 miles of line for each 100 square miles of area.

Among the factors that hastened railway development were the business rivalry between cities or sections, subsidies in one form or another, and the small cost of right of way. State grants in aid (many of them land grants) were common until 1861, when the Federal Government began to make land grants directly to the companies. The first line reaching the Pacific received grants of 33,000,000 acres in addition to a large loan based upon mileage and difficulty of construction. The total Congressional land grants between 1850 and 1871 amounted to 155,000,000 acres, but of these only 97,976,637 acres were patented up to 1902.

In general American railways have been constructed more cheaply than British or Western European, but improvements have been made as warranted by traffic. Thus there is great inequality in the condition of American roads. In 1900 there were 192,556 miles of single track, 12,151 miles of second track, 1094 miles of third track, and 829 miles of fourth track, exclusive of yard tracks and sidings.

The tendency toward railway consolidation appeared soon after 1850. Keen competition did not come until after the Civil War, notably in 1869, when the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central made their connections with Chicago. The development of the ‘parallel’ lines, or two or more railways connecting the same points, so intensified competition that the companies were forced to seek among themselves some relief. Thus arose, between 1870 and 1880, the ‘pools,’ or agreements between companies in regard to the distribution of traffic or the benefits of traffic. The prohibition of pools by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 renewed competition, to escape which the railway companies came to secret understandings, and ‘traffic associations’ were formed to fix a ‘fair proportion’ of the traffic for each railroad involved. In 1897 this form of cooperation was declared illegal by the United States Supreme Court. Thereafter agreements between companies as to rates and the distribution of traffic benefits were more informal, but, according to the Interstate Commerce Commission, the court decisions have had “no practical effect upon the railway operations of the country;” while, in respect to the organization of railways, the inconveniences in the way of ‘mutual understandings’ accelerated consolidation, notably after 1898. Thus in 1902 more than two-thirds of the total mileage of the United States was included in eight groups of railway interests. See the articles ; .

. The United States does not hold so high a rank in respect to the magnitude of its foreign trade as it does in that of agriculture, manufactures, mining, and transportation. Until near the end of the nineteenth century the foreign trade of the United Kingdom was twice as great, while the foreign trade of Germany still exceeds that of the United States by a considerable margin. The commerce of the United Kingdom ranges from 3 to 4 times as great per capita as does that of the United States. As in the other industries, the chief development has occurred since the middle of the nineteenth century. There was a period, however, in the early years of the nation when the commerce (including re-exports) was greater per capita than it has since been. Through the navigation laws (see paragraphs on History), England