Commerce Commissioners themselves, realize how the formal decisions
and informal orders of the Commission are slowly but surely whittling
away the safe margin of American railway profits. At the rate of two
decisions every three days and forty informal orders per week, the
work of incipient confiscation proceeds with remorseless enthusiasm.
With the best intentions in the world the present Interstate Commerce
Commission is so enmeshed in its own anti-railway traditions, so
enamored of the administrative control theories of its statistician,
so covetous of unbridled, irresponsible authority to tear down where
it has no constructive capacity, that anything like co-operation
between the Commission and the railway management for the public good
seems out of the question.
To the writer it appears that only blind rejection of facts can find
any conserving element in the regulation of railways as at present
administered. Signs of a helpful disposition in official acts are
entirely lacking. The Senate and House calendars groan under bills
for the further regulation and restriction of the railways, but not
one contains a promise of relief. For not one is there a genuine
public demand.
And what is the situation as this is written? It can be stated in
a few lines. As a consequence of the drop of $300,000,000 in gross
earnings in 1908, the railways in 1908 and 1909 cut $277,000,000
out of their expenditures. This was done mainly at the expense of
maintenance of way and structures and in a cessation in the purchase
of equipment, but the so-called economies of postponed expenditures
permeated every line of railway extension, operation and replacement.
In 1908, with 6,000 more miles of track to maintain, $18,788,217 less
was spent for maintenance than in 1907, and in 1909 with 12,000 more
miles of track $32,176,824 less was expended.
Between 1897 and 1907 the expenditures for maintenance of way
increased from $159,434,403 to $343,544,907, or over 115%. This means
an increase of approximately 8% a year, or at least $25,000,000 on
present plant. Therefore at least $43,000,000 was withheld from this
essential line of railway maintenance in 1908 and fully $82,000,000
in 1909, a total of $125,000,000. The saving on equipment was nearly
as great and is dealt with in the body of the report.
A comparison of the income accounts for the month of October, 1907
and 1908, corroborates the foregoing statement as to the economies
forced on the railways by the adverse winds of regulation and
business depression.
=================================+===============+=============
Month of October | 1907 | 1909
---------------------------------+---------------+-------------
Earnings from operation | $250,575,757 | $260,613,053
Operating expenses | 166,999,266 | 156,628,513
+---------------+-------------
Net earnings | $ 83,576,491 | $113,984,540
Operating ratio | 66.64 | 60.10
---------------------------------+---------------+-------------
The canker worm in this, the most promising flower of returning
prosperity, is revealed in the abnormal ratio of 60.10 for October,
1909, or nearly 7% below the American average. Now this 7% on the
revenues of last October means that in some way over $16,000,000 less
than normal was expended on American railways in that month alone.
And October, 1909, was only a sample of how railways had cut expenses
for 24 consecutive months.
That this should be so, with no reduction in the scale of wages or
the price of supplies, is, in the view of the writer, a situation
of serious national concern. Happily he is not charged with any
commission to suggest how or where the deferred debt of nearly
$300,000,000 to efficient railway road and equipment is to be met.
But that it must be met, to place the railways in as good condition
as they were before the panic of 1907, when the cry was for more,
not less facilities, does not admit of question. If it, together
with the advance in wages now being adjusted, is to be met out of
income, only an advance in freight rates can take care of it. If out
of fresh capital, it can only be coaxed from the pockets of shrewd
investors by rates of interest that discount the risk attendant on
the unregulated and irresponsible regulation of railway revenues,
resources and responsibilities. And it is proposed to make an
irresponsible Commission, unfamiliar with the necessities of the
situation and unversed in the ways and means of raising capital
arbiters of these necessities, ways and means.
All attempts to meet such a situation by legislation, unless it be
directed to a reform of the instrumentalities of regulation, must
prove ineffectual. In a broader, saner, more helpful administration
of the laws already on the federal and state statute books lies the
hope for the future of the great American transportation industry.
"Whate'er is best administered is best."
THE BUREAU'S STATISTICS FOR 1909.
Thus far what has been written has related almost wholly to the
financial aspect of the transportation industry as presented through
the monthly reports of the railways. While these in their way serve
as an admirable barometer in keeping the public informed as to
general business conditions throughout the Union, they throw little
light upon the railway operations behind the financial results. They
are absolutely dumb on the main question upon which all railway
legislation and regulation should hinge--adequate and efficient
public service.
In the following pages the Bureau attempts to remedy this omission,
in the essential particulars for the year ending June 30, 1909. The
reports from which its summaries have been compiled were received
almost a month earlier this year than last, but the publication
of the Bureau's statistics has been delayed in order to make the
usual comparisons with the Official Statistics for 1908. The writer
is advised from Washington that the fault for this unusual delay
rests with the Government printer--whose office is overwhelmed with
Congressional and departmental work--and not with the Interstate
Commerce Commission or its Bureau of Statistics and Accounts.
For the first time, the reports to this Bureau cover the division of
freight movement into the seven chief commodities; the separation
of revenues from Mail and Express; the distribution of expenses for
injuries and damages, and the summaries of expenses for maintenance
of way and equipment, traffic expenses, transportation expenses and
general expenses. It is believed that with the addition of these
accounts the annual report of the Bureau has become so comprehensive
as to warrant its publication hereafter at an earlier date, without
waiting on the publication of the official statistics for the
preceding year.
This year the Bureau has received reports from 368 roads operating
221,132 miles of line or approximately 94.4% of the mileage and
carrying over 97% of the traffic of the country. Last year reports
were received covering 216,460 miles. The increase of 4,672 miles
fairly represents the actual increase of railway mileage in the
United States for the twelve months.
In presenting these statistics, the writer has endeavored to make
them as colorless summaries of facts as an earnest desire to arrive
at the truth permits. Such comment as accompanies them will be
confined to comparisons and elucidation and not to the furtherance of
any personal theories.
For the sake of brevity, the Interstate Commerce Commission will be
referred to herein as the "Commission"; the Commission's "Statistics
of Railways in the United States" as "Official Statistics" and "the
year ending June 30th" will be implied before the year named unless
otherwise specified.
The statements as to foreign railways are compiled from the latest
official sources available.
Here the writer wishes to record his personal appreciation of the
assistance rendered by the executives and accounting officials of
the railways, whose co-operation has made this report possible. In
the midst of increasing burdens imposed on them in reporting to
federal and state commissions and legislatures, the requests for
information from this Bureau might have seemed excusably negligible.
The completeness of the report itself testifies to the cordiality
with which the Bureau's work is viewed.
Acknowledgments are also due to Federal and State officials for their
uniform courtesy in responding to the many requests from this Bureau,
and the writer has been much gratified to receive from the chief
government railway official of one foreign country the assurance that
he considers its Annual Report "one of the most comprehensive and
useful compilations of statistical matter relating to railways that
has come into his hands."
SLASON THOMPSON.
CHICAGO, April 30, 1910.
I
MILEAGE IN 1909
According to the preliminary income report of the Interstate Commerce
Commission for the year ending June 30, 1909, compiled from the
monthly returns, the average railway mileage operated in the United
States during the year was 233,002.67 miles; and the total mileage
operated at the end of the year was 234,182.70.
============================================+=================
The former total is made up of: |
Large roads operating 251 miles or more | 214,916.86 miles
Small roads " 250 " or less | 16,801.52 "
Switching or terminal companies | 1,284.29 "
+-----------------
Total | 233,002.67 miles
--------------------------------------------+-----------------
The returns to this Bureau, compiled from the annual reports for the
same year, cover 221,132 miles, against 216,460 in 1908, an increase
of 4,672 miles. Reports to the Commission for December, 1909, showed
a total operated mileage of 236,166 miles.
In its report dated December 21, 1909, the Commission stated that for
the year ending June 30, 1908, substantially complete returns had
been received for 230,494 miles of line operated, including 8,661.34
miles used under trackage rights. These are the official figures of
mileage for 1908, which will be used in all subsequent comparisons
with the Bureau's figures for 1909--the latter, however, may include
some switching and terminal mileage excluded from the former.
Of the mileage reporting to this Bureau, 8,927 miles were operated
under trackage rights, leaving a net of 212,205 miles of line covered
by capitalization and rental.
Assuming that the total operated mileage in the United States at the
close of the fiscal year 1909 was 234,182, the complete returns to
this Bureau cover approximately 94.4% of the mileage and 97% of the
traffic of all the railways in the United States. No attempt has been
made, or will be made, to segregate the returns of switching and
terminal companies from the Bureau's figures, of which they are an
integral part.
The first summary under this table presents the _operated_ mileage
reported to this Bureau in 1909 and 1908, classified by states and
territories in comparison with the official figures of mileage owned
in 1908, with relation to area and population of the respective
territorial divisions:
SUMMARY OF RAILWAY MILEAGE IN THE UNITED STATES BY STATES AND
TERRITORIES IN 1909, 1908 AND 1907 AND ITS RELATION TO AREA AND
POPULATION.
================|=================|==========|============|===========
|Bureau's Figures | | Miles of |
+--------+--------+ 1907(a) | Line |Inhabitants
| 1909 | 1908 | Owned | per 100 | per
|Operated|Operated|(Official)|Sq. Miles of| Mile of
| Miles | Miles | Miles | Territory | Line
----------------+--------+--------+----------+------------+-----------
Alabama | 4,917 | 4,644 | 4,840 | 9.77 | 406
Arkansas | 3,996 | 3,758 | 4,861 | 9.21 | 301
California | 6,376 | 6,251 | 6,664 | 4.38 | 243
Colorado | 5,229 | 5,096 | 5,295 | 5.11 | 114
Connecticut | 930 | 936 | 1,016 | 20.96 | 999
Delaware | 342 | 343 | 336 | 17.14 | 615
Florida | 3,117 | 2,960 | 3,970 | 7.39 | 148
Georgia | 6,485 | 6,293 | 6,783 | 11.65 | 361
Idaho | 1,651 | 1,568 | 1,731 | 2.09 | 102
Illinois | 13,216 | 12,796 | 12,137 | 21.80 | 442
Indiana | 7,774 | 7,326 | 7,259 | 20.24 | 388
Iowa | 9,923 | 9,865 | 9,867 | 17.87 | 252
Kansas | 9,125 | 9,175 | 8,936 | 10.94 | 184
Kentucky | 3,229 | 3,205 | 3,441 | 8.71 | 690
Louisiana | 3,860 | 3,805 | 4,558 | 10.43 | 326
Maine | 1,984 | 1,750 | 2,093 | 7.19 | 361
Maryland | 1,325 | 1,278 | 1,432 | 14.90 | 906
Massachusetts | 2,079 | 2,079 | 2,112 | 26.45 | 1,492
Michigan | 8,384 | 8,312 | 8,941 | 15.63 | 302
Minnesota | 8,258 | 8,100 | 8,246 | 10.46 | 236
Mississippi | 3,545 | 3,281 | 4,081 | 9.00 | 416
Missouri | 8,200 | 8,141 | 8,039 | 11.79 | 429
Montana | 3,537 | 3,406 | 3,307 | 2.28 | 91
Nebraska | 6,099 | 6,083 | 5,932 | 7.76 | 200
Nevada | 1,621 | 1,540 | 1,700 | 1.55 | 28
New Hampshire | 1,211 | 1,211 | 1,248 | 13.86 | 369
New Jersey | 2,046 | 2,046 | 2,250 | 30.59 | 917
New York | 8,106 | 7,989 | 8,472 | 17.86 | 957
North Carolina | 3,567 | 3,332 | 4,385 | 9.21 | 473
North Dakota | 4,026 | 4,025 | 3,906 | 5.56 | 118
Ohio | 8,951 | 9,041 | 9,261 | 22.75 | 502
Oklahoma | 5,572 | 5,532 | 2,821 | 7.84 | 202
Oregon | 1,687 | 1,600 | 1,939 | 2.07 | 237
Pennsylvania | 10,532 | 10,224 | 11,259 | 25.25 | 621
Rhode Island | 192 | 190 | 208 | 20.11 | 2,262
South Carolina | 2,892 | 2,975 | 3,271 | 11.02 | 451
South Dakota | 3,646 | 3,568 | 3,703 | 4.82 | 122
Tennessee | 3,283 | 3,528 | 3,725 | 9.01 | 600
Texas | 12,847 | 12,932 | 12,932 | 4.95 | 263
Utah | 1,820 | 1,772 | 1,957 | 2.42 | 156
Vermont | 941 | 926 | 1,071 | 11.98 | 351
Virginia | 4,099 | 3,900 | 4,056 | 10.43 | 495
Washington | 3,353 | 3,207 | 3,767 | 5.69 | 152
West Virginia | 2,846 | 2,777 | 3,264 | 13.62 | 320
Wisconsin | 7,039 | 6,900 | 7,459 | 14.01 | 304
Wyoming | 1,429 | 1,414 | 1,526 | 1.56 | 70
Arizona | 1,705 | 1,684 | 1,928 | 1.71 | 71
New Mexico | 2,782 | 2,521 | 2,965 | 2.42 | 74
District of | | | | |
Columbia | 51 | 42 | 31 | 53.53 | 9,709
Canada(b) | 1,343 | 1,273 | | |
+--------+--------+----------+------------+-----------
United States |221,132 |216,460 | 227,671 | 7.74 | 370
----------------+--------+--------+----------+------------+-----------
(a) Official mileage by States not available for 1908.
(b) Mileage operated in Canada by American roads.
SUMMARY OF RAILWAY MILEAGE IN THE UNITED STATES BY STATES AND
TERRITORIES IN 1909 AND 1908 AND ITS RELATION TO AREA AND
POPULATION--Continued.
=================================+===========+============+===========
| 1908 | Miles of |
| Owned | Line |Inhabitants
|(Official) | per 100 | per
| Miles |Sq. Miles of| Mile of
| | Territory | Line
---------------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------
United States, 1909 | 234,182 | 7.88 | 379
" " 1908 | 230,494 | 7.76 | 378
" " 1907 | 227,671 | 7.74 | 370
" " 1906 | 222,575 | 7.55 | 373
" " 1905 | 217,018 | 7.34 | 378
" " 1904 | 212,577 | 7.20 | 379
" " 1903 | 207,187 | 7.00 | 384
" " 1902 | 201,673 | 6.82 | 388
" " 1901 | 196,075 | 6.64 | 391
" " 1900 | 192,941 | 6.51 | 393
" " 1899 | 188,277 | 6.37 | 395
" " 1898 | 185,371 | 6.28 | 394
" " 1897 | 182,920 | 6.21 | 390
" " 1896 | 181,154 | 6.15 | 384
" " 1895 | 179,176 | 6.08 | 382
" " 1894 | 176,603 | 6.02 | 379
" " 1893 | 170,332 | 5.94 | 377
" " 1892 | 165,691 | 5.78 | 380
" " 1891 | 164,603 | 5.67 | 380
" " 1890 | 159,272 | 5.51 | 384
---------------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------
The column of operated mileage in 1909 testifies to the comprehensive
character of the reports to this Bureau, while the last two columns
demonstrate how railway extension has kept pace with the growth
of the country. Territorially the United States now has 43% more
railway mileage than it had in 1890, and the last column proves that
the mileage is greater proportionately to the population than it
was twenty years ago. The contrast in the density of population per
mile of line between Rhode Island and Nevada is illustrative of the
startling diversity of conditions under which railways are operated
in the United States.
RAILWAYS BUILT IN 1909.
The new mileage reported as constructed in 1909 tallies more nearly
than usual with the increase in mileage for which operating reports
are received. As reported in the _Railway and Engineering Review_,
February 19, 1910, the new mileage by states was as follows:
MILES OF LINE CONSTRUCTED DURING THE CALENDAR YEAR 1909 BY STATES AND
TERRITORIES.
==============================+========
| Miles
State | Built
| 1909
------------------------------+--------
Alaska | 48
Alabama | 35.62
Arkansas | 155.20
Arizona | 48.02
California | 248.60
Colorado | 98.13
District of Columbia | 3.81
Florida | 102.81
Georgia | 138.70
Idaho | 50.49
Illinois | 23.45
Indiana | 10.82
Kansas | 87.21
Kentucky | 101.52
Louisiana | 131.57
Maine | 87.00
Maryland | 4.68
Michigan | 77.58
Minnesota | 164.70
Mississippi | 36.60
Missouri | 11.84
Montana | 125.08
Nebraska | 13.15
Nevada | 304.50
New Hampshire | 1.55
New Jersey | 33.95
New Mexico | 35.00
New York | 52.20
North Carolina | 111.92
Ohio | 18.41
Oklahoma | 163.20
Oregon | 158.38
Pennsylvania | 106.66
South Carolina | 66.14
Tennessee | 94.26
Texas | 650.61
Utah | 28.00
Virginia | 85.75
Washington | 209.84
West Virginia | 131.78
Wisconsin | 68.30
Wyoming | 15.57
------------------------------+--------
Total |4,040.60
Second track, sidings, etc. |1,515.07
|--------
Total all tracks |5,555.67
------------------------------+--------
RAILWAY MILEAGE OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
The ratios of railway mileage to area and population in the table on
page 19 may be compared with those of foreign countries for 1907 in
the following statement:
SUMMARY OF THE WORLD'S RAILWAYS AND RATIO OF THE MILEAGE TO THE AREA
AND POPULATION OF EACH COUNTRY IN 1907.
_From Archiv fur Eisenbahnwesen_, May-June, 1909.
===================================+=========+============+===========
| | Miles of |Inhabitants
| Miles | Line per | per
Countries | 1907 | 100 Square | Mile of
| | Miles | Line
-----------------------------------+---------+------------+-----------
Europe: | | |
Germany | 36,065 | 17.2 | 1,563
Austria-Hungary | 25,852 | 10.0 | 1,818
Great Britain and Ireland | 23,084 | 19.0 | 1,785
France | 29,716 | 14.2 | 1,316
Russia in Europe and Finland | | |
(2,057 miles) | 36,279 | 1.8 | 2,941
Italy | 10,312 | 9.3 | 3,125
Belgium | 4,874 | 42.8 | 1,370
Netherlands and Luxemburg | 2,230 | 15.0 | 2,564
Switzerland | 2,763 | 12.2 | 1,205
Spain | 9,227 | 4.8 | 1,923
Portugal | 1,689 | 4.7 | 3,226
Denmark | 2,141 | 14.3 | 1,150
Norway | 1,606 | 1.3 | 1,390
Sweden | 8,321 | 4.8 | 617
Servia | 379 | 2.1 | 6,666
Roumania | 1,994 | 3.2 | 2,941
Greece | 771 | 3.1 | 3,125
Turkey in Europe, Bulgaria and | | |
Rumelia | 1,967 | 1.9 | 5,000
Malta, Jersey and Isle of Man | 68 | 16.1 | 5,273
+---------+------------+-----------
Total for Europe, 1907 | 199,345 | 5.3 | 1,887
" " " 1906 | 196,437 | 5.2 | 1,993
" " " 1905 | 192,507 | 5.1 | 2,084
" " " 1904 | 189,806 | 5.0 | 2,084
" " " 1903 | 186,685 | 5.0 | 2,084
" " " 1902 | 183,989 | 4.9 | 2,127
" " " 1901 | 180,817 | 4.8 | 2,174
" " " 1900 | 176,396 | 4.7 | 2,220
" " " 1899 | 172,953 | 4.6 | 2,220
" " " 1898 | 167,614 | 4.4 | --
" " " 1897 | 163,550 | 4.3 | --
" " " 1896 | 160,030 | 4.2 | --
+---------+------------+-----------
Increase in eleven years | 39,315 | -- | --
| | |
Other Foreign Countries in 1907: | | |
Canada | 22,447 | 0.6 | 373
Mexico | 13,612 | 1.8 | 321
Brazil | 10,713 | .32 | 1,408
Argentine Republic | 13,673 | 1.3 | 356
Peru | 1,332 | .32 | 3,449
Uruguay | 1,210 | 1.8 | 769
Chili | 2,939 | 1.0 | 1.123
Central Russia in Asia | 2,808 | 1.3 | 2,777
Siberia and Manchuria | 5,664 | .11 | 1,020
Japan | 5,012 | 3.1 | 9,090
China | 4,162 | 0.1 | 85,820
British India | 29,892 | 1.4 | 10,000
New Zealand | 2,570 | 2.4 | 324
Victoria | 3,428 | 3.9 | 351
New South Wales | 3,471 | 1.1 | 394
South Australia | 1,924 | 0.16 | 188
Queensland | 3,404 | 0.5 | 142
Egypt | 3,445 | 1.0 | 2,860
Cape Colony | 3,804 | 1.3 | 463
Natal | 976 | 3.5 | 793
Transvaal | 1,361 | 1.1 | 636
Recapitulation: | | |
Total for Europe | 199,345 | 5.3 | 1,889
" " America | 302,927 | 2.3 | 524
" " Asia | 56,283 | 0.38 | 15,540
" " Africa | 18,516 | 0.16 | 8,014
" " Australia | 17,766 | 0.6 | 279
" " the whole world | 594,837 | -- | --
-----------------------------------+---------+------------+-----------
Of the above total railway mileage for the whole world, no less
than 332,360 miles, or nearly 56%, is operated in English speaking
countries, the mileage of the United States alone being over 35% of
the whole.
To the most casual student the disparity between the density of
population to railway mileage in the United States and Europe of one
to five, is as apparent as it is significant of our necessity for so
much greater provision of transportation facilities per capita. If
our per capita mileage were relatively the same as that of Europe,
the United States would be set back to the transportation facilities
of 1869, when the completion of the Union Pacific raised its total
mileage to 47,254 miles. But even then it had a ratio of one mile
of railway to 810 inhabitants, which was higher than Europe's ratio
today.
Clearly there is nothing in the statistics of the railway mileage
of the world to account for the epidemic of railway phobia that
periodically convulses the people and legislatures of the United
States of America.
MILEAGE OF ALL TRACKS IN 1909.
Of almost equal importance to the mileage of American railways are
the auxiliary tracks upon which the extent and efficiency of their
public service so largely depends. As the next statement shows, these
continue to increase more rapidly than the miles of line.
SUMMARY OF MILEAGE OF SINGLE TRACK, SECOND TRACK, THIRD TRACK, FOURTH
TRACK AND YARD TRACK AND SIDINGS, IN THE UNITED STATES, 1897 TO 1909.
==============+===========+========+=======+=======+========+=========
| | | | | | Total
| Single | Second | Third |Fourth | Yard | Mileage
Year | Track | Track | Track |Track | Track | Operated
| | | | | and | (all
| | | | |Sidings | tracks)
--------------+-----------+--------+-------+-------+--------+---------
1909 (94.4%) | | | | | |
Bureau | 221,132 | 20,637 | 2,186 | 1,491 | 80,669 | 326,115
1908 Official |(a)230,494 | 20,209 | 2,081 | 1,409 | 79,452 | 333,646
1907 | 227,455 | 19,421 | 1,960 | 1,390 | 77,749 | 327,975
1906 | 222,340 | 17,396 | 1,766 | 1,279 | 73,760 | 317,083
1905 | 216,973 | 17,056 | 1,609 | 1,215 | 69,941 | 306,796
1904 | 212,243 | 15,824 | 1,467 | 1,046 | 66,492 | 297,073
1903 | 205,313 | 14,681 | 1,303 | 963 | 61,560 | 283,821
1902 | 200,154 | 13,720 | 1,204 | 895 | 58,220 | 274,195
1901 | 195,561 | 12,845 | 1,153 | 876 | 54,914 | 265,352
1900 | 192,556 | 12,151 | 1,094 | 829 | 52,153 | 258,784
1899 | 187,543 | 11,546 | 1,047 | 790 | 49,223 | 250,142
1898 | 184,648 | 11,293 | 1,009 | 793 | 47,589 | 245,333
1897 | 183,284 | 11,018 | 995 | 780 | 45,934 | 242,013
--------------+-----------+--------+-------+-------+--------+---------
(a) To the figures for 1908 should be added the 1,626 miles of main
track and 2,085 of yard track and sidings of switching and
terminal companies, excluded by the Official Statistician, raising
the total of all tracks to 337,357.
By adding the auxiliary trackage reported to this Bureau for 1909
to the 234,182 miles of operated line reported to the Interstate
Commerce Commission for June 30 of that year, it appears that the
total of all tracks on that date was _upwards of 340,000 miles_.
It will be observed that in every instance the mileage of second,
third and fourth track and yard track and sidings reported to this
Bureau in 1909, the year of comparative stagnation in railway
construction, exceeded the complete mileage of these tracks in 1908
reported to the Commission.
The above table (with the Commission's figures for single track)
shows that where there has been an increase of only 50,798 miles of
single track, or 27.7%, in twelve years, all trackage has increased
over 98,000, or 42%, during the same period. It also shows that
during the same twelve years second track has increased 87%; third
track 120%; fourth track 91%, and yard track and sidings 76%.
MILEAGE AND TRACK OF BRITISH RAILWAYS.
As English railways are so often brought into comparison with
American railways, it is well to know the total of all tracks in
the United Kingdom as well as the mileage. Both are given in the
following statement, compiled from returns to the British Board of
Trade for the years ending December 31, 1904 to 1908: