AMERICA'S BIGNESS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9639, 14 January 1903, Page 4

AMERICA'S BIGNESS.

+. The Age of Steel gives the following resume of America's superlative bigness m the railroad line : — The housewife with the most Hour can make the largest loaf, and a- country that can combine constructive Intelligence with a vast wealth of material has all the potentials necessary to the building up of industrial empire. This is demonstrated m our railroad enterprises. Hitherto they have had no equal m any oilier country! We cross and l^ecross, and practically . gridiron vast spaces of territory, running from the sunrise m one ocean to its downsetting m another. We possess nearly half of the railroad mileage of the world, representing an aggregate capitalisation of 2,000,000,000d01. There are more than 200,000 miles of single track railroad lines m the United States. This would encircle the globe eight times. In the fiscal year of 1901 the gross earnings of all the railroads m the country amounted to 1,588,526,037d01. The number of persons employed m 1901 averaged 584 employes for each 100 miles of line. The amount paid m salaries and wages during the same year amounted to 610,713,000d01. It costs the railroads 32,000,000d0l annually to keep the roadway m good condition. Moreover, they are the largest consumers m the country of steel and iron. In steel rails alone the railroads qf the United Stales consume between* 2,000,000 and 3.000,000 tons ci year. The census of 1900 also shows that 2774 locomotives were built during that year, and about 20,000 persons were employed m these establishments, with the annual pay roll* rounding out to 10,890,000d01. The present cost of operating the railroads of the United States with steam-power is, m round numbers, 502,600,000d0l per annum ; but to carry on the same amount of work .with men and horses would cost the country 11,308,500,000d01. These figures give an approximate idea of what the railroad industry signifies to the .country at large. Some years ago it was supposed that railway construction was getting ahead m reckless fashion of public needs. We have tlie answer to tlus m the fact that the country is wanting more and nob less of railroad* facilities, and the end is not yet m measurable distance.