Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Growth of Railroads. Railroads have, during the past fifty years, made immense progress in the field of transportation, and almost wholly monopolize traffic in regions where no waterways exist, superseding the pack mules and wagons of the past, and even along the waterways competing with canals, rivers, oceans, and lakes. They offer the advantage of rapidity of transportation, an essential item in the case of many kinds of perishable goods Owing to the immense amount of business done, they can afford to lower the rates or charges to a very reasonable figure, while, owing to improvements made in roadbuilding, in cars, and in general equipment, they invite traffic by the safety and facilities offered.

Railroads have a special advantage over waterways in being able to choose their own routes, to pass over, around, or under mountains. They are besides more certain and more constant, being less subject to climatic conditions, and better able to remedy quickly any material disasters which they may have suffered.

Because of these and many other advantages, railroads in every important country of the world have increased enormously in number, in length of lines, in equipment of cars and engines, but nowhere to such an extent as in the United States.

It will be interesting to note the number of miles of railroads in our own and foreign lands. The figures may help us somewhat in understanding the importance of the railroad question, now so prominently before the public attention.

[blocks in formation]

(Cf. Railway Statistics of U. S., 1911, Edit. Slason Thompson, p. 27.)

The railroad growth in the United States, by decades, was:

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Cost of Railroads.

The building of railroads is much cheaper

in the United States than in other countries, as may be seen

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

The conditions

Conditions affecting Railroad Building. affecting the building of railroads in the United States have been quite different from those obtaining in Europe. When the construction of railroads began in the several countries of Europe, those countries were for the most part well populated. The cities, towns, and hamlets, the productive regions, the various manufactories and centers of trade had been already

established for a long period. The builders of railroads had but to take a map of the country and draw the various lines of road uniting great cities, connecting the main markets with the productive belts and the industrial centers. Sufficient capital had to be procured to buy up numerous estates and properties, and to secure the right of way through town and hamlet. The roads were built through the midst of civilization.

Not so in the United States. Here frequently the railroad was the pioneer of civilization. Forests were hewed down, hills leveled, valleys built up and the tracks laid out into a wilderness with a terminal thousands of miles distant and to be reached possibly only in the next generation.

In Europe, an existing traffic was to be accommodated by the railroads; in the United States, traffic was to be established. In Europe, the towns and stations were linked together by the lines; in the United States, towns and stations, which gradually grew into cities and towns, were to be established along the newly built road.

The railroads themselves encouraged and aided the civilization of whole tracts of country, in order to increase their traffic.

In Europe, there was no competition between various roads. If one line sufficed for the traffic, only one was built. In the United States, competition was rife, and sometimes attempts were made to build even two or more direct lines between two points.

[blocks in formation]

Groups of Railroads. - Competition is naturally followed by consolidation, and hence several great groups of railroad systems have been gradually built up in the United States. These groups may be seen in the preceding table.

[ocr errors]

Business of Railroads. The business of the railroads in this country is enormous, and entails an immense outlay of money to meet the expenses and the interest on the capital invested. This may be seen by consulting the following tables.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

(Cf. Poor's Manual, 1911. Cf. Stat. Abstr. U. S., 1912.)

[blocks in formation]

Railroads as Private Concerns and as Public Concerns. In other countries the railroads for the most part are government concerns wholly or in part. In the United States they are private, because

1. They have been organized and are managed by private individuals. Such men as Vanderbilt, Morgan, Hill, Harriman, have been the great promoters of the railroads of the country.

2. They have been capitalized by private capital. This capital is owned by thousands of private individuals who hold the stocks and bonds of the railroads. Trustees invest their trust funds in railroads. Banks so invest the money of their depositors. Insurance companies and educational institutions hold many stocks and bonds of railroads.

« AnteriorContinuar »