The freight business of the railroads of the United States is much
larger than their passenger service, the earnings from freight being
nearly three times that from the passenger traffic. It is only in some
of the New England States, the most densely populated parts of the
United States, that the passenger receipts equal the freight earnings.
The industrial conditions of the United States necessitate the
movement of great quantities of bulky freight long distances. Our
principal grain-fields are from 1000 to 1500 miles from the
manufacturing districts and seaboard cities. Our richest iron deposits
are in the States adjacent to Lake Superior hundreds of miles from the
coal-beds of Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Most of the cotton crop
is moved long distances to reach the mills of New England and Great
Britain. In fact, most of the products of our fields, forests, mines,
and factories are marketed over wide areas. The average distance
travelled by each ton of freight moved during the year ended June 30,
1896, was 124.47 miles; and, as the railroads carried 765,891,385 tons
that year, the number of tons carried one mile was 95,328,360,278.
A comparison of the revenues received from the freight and passenger
services by the American, German, French, and British railways is
instructive. For each dollar received from the passenger traffic the
American railroads earn $2.95 from their freight business, the German
roads $2.40, the French $1.31 and the British railways $1.17. The
United Kingdom has the greatest volume of passenger traffic per
population of any country in the world.