Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1892 — FACTS ABOUT RAILROADS. [ARTICLE]

FACTS ABOUT RAILROADS.

Big Figures Which Represent the Work Bone by These Corporations. To gather statistics from the great corporations which operate the American railroads is not a simple work of a day or so, but takes time. It is only just now that we know, from the Government reports, what the railway business amounted to for the year ending June 30, 1890, eighteen months ago. The mileage at that time was 163,597, an increase during the year of 5,838 miles, says Harper’s Weekly. This Increase, it is of interest to noto, was greatest in that group of States formed by Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, wheFo were built di r.ng the year 1,370 miles, or 23 per cent, of the whole increase. In the State of Georgia the increase was 438 miles, and this was more than in any other State in the Union.

These roads are owned and operated by 1,797 companies, but about one-half of the mileage is operated by forty companies. The gross revenue of these roads for the year mentioned was sl,054,877,632, but 80 percent, of this revenue was divided among seventy-live roads. Large roads must do cheaper work than smaller ones, as these seven-ty-iivo roads carried 83i per cent, of the passengers and 85i per cent, of the freight. To operate the railways required the services of 749,301 men. This was an increase of 44,558 men over the previous year, and added an average of twenty men to the operating force on every hundred miles of road in the country.

In arriving at the capitalization of these great properties accurate statistics have been obtainod on 156,404 miles, mhe capitalization of this mileage is $9,437,363,372, or $60,340 per mile. At the same rate the capitalization of all the mileage would bring the total up to about $10,000,000,000. This is certainly a great amount of money; but dividends were not paid dui ing the year on 63.76 per cent, of the capital stock. The surplus from operating these roads was $12,070,383, a decrease of $7,387,155 from that Of the year before. The passengers carried were 492,430,805, an increase of 20,259,522, and the average Journey of each parsenger was 24.06 miles