Continent. With the advantage and stimulus of the railroad this commerce must soon assume colossal proportions. Fronting the Pacific slope are hundreds of millions of people in Eastern Asia who are rapidly taking part in the commerce of the world, and who will have the most intimate relations with our own Continent, which produces the gold and silver which at present forms the chief staples of commerce with them. It is hardly possible to estimate the magnitude of the commerce. which will eventually exist between the Pacific coast and China and Japan. It is a commerce in which the world is to engage, and in which the Pacific Railroad is to be one of the most important instruments.

This road, too, will open up to settlement vast tracts of hitherto inaccessible territory, either fertile in soil, or rich in the more valuable minerals, which are likely amply to compensate for the want of agricultural wealth. The main line will serve as the trunk from which lateral roads, constructed by private enterprise, will branch off in every direction. Already several important branches are in progress-one to Denver, Colorado; one to Salt Lake City; and one to connect it with the Columbia River. These branches will open up wide sections and add largely to the traffic of the trunk line.

The construction of this, and of similar works, by the aid of the Federal Government, has excited great interest, and although, at present, public opinion seems to be against any further grants of money, there can be no doubt that Government has been largely the gainer by the aid it has extended to the Pacific Railroad and its branches. The public taxes equal, at the present time, ten dollars per head of our population. These works have been instrumental in adding more than 500,000 to our population, whose contributions to the National treasury have far exceeded the interest on the bonds issued to them. They have certainly been instrumental in securing the construction of an equal extent of line by private capital which, otherwise, would not have been built. Assuming the tonnage of these roads, built under Government subsidies, to equal, after their traffic should have been fully developed 1,500 tons per mile-the average net tonnage of railroads for the whole country—their aggregate tonnage would be 3,770000 tons, having a value of $565,500,000-a sum equaling nine times the Government subsidy. The value of such a commerce to the country far exceeds the annual interest on the subsidies issued.

A similar result would follow the construction of railroads across the Continent both upon the Northern and Southern routes. By extending an amount of aid to these enterprises, necessary to secure their construction, the Government would never at any one time be out of pocket to the amount of a dollar, taking into consideration the commerce and capital they would create, and the consequent increase in the revenues of the country. Indeed, it may with safety be affirmed that if the railroads of the United States could have been built in no other way, it would have

been the soundest policy for Government to have assumed their construction, even without the expectation of realizing a dollar of direct income from them. The actual cost of these works has been about $1,500,000,000. The interest on this sum is $90,000,000. They have created a commerce of $10,000,000,000 annually. They have enabled the people to pay $400,000,000 into the public treasury with far greater ease than they could have paid $100,000,000 without them. No line of ordinary importance was ever constructed that did not, from the wealth it created, speedily repay its cost, although it may never have returned a dollar to its share or bondholders. If this be true of local and less important works, how much more so must it be of great lines, which will open vast sections of our public domain, now a desert, but abounding in all the elements of wealth.

While, therefore, there are but few cases which would justify the Government in extending aid to railroads, there are some in which its interposition becomes an imperative duty. In addition to the Central line now constructed, nothing could be more promotive of the general welfare than the opening, by its aid, both the Northern and Southern routes. Upon each of these are immense extents of territory, full of natural wealth, but which, without a railroad, are utterly beyond the reach of settlement or commerce. Aid extended to both lines, instead of weakening the public credit, would greatly strengthen it. The method or source, of the present financial strength and prosperity of the country is getting to be well understood. Our means will increase just in the degree in which we render available the wealth that now lies dormant in our soil. It would be felt that a reasonable amount of aid to each of these enterprises would diminish rather than increase the public burdens. Government would always be in advance instead of being out of pocket on account of such aid. The direct advantage resulting from these works, in the shape of increased revenues, would in a very short time after their construcion far exceed the aid proposed to be extended to them.

RELATION OF THE RAILROADS TO THE NATIONAL FINANCES.

The rapid increase in the extent and value of the tonnage traffic of our railroads possesses additional interest from its relation to national finances. It has been shown that the annual value of their tonnage exceeds four-fold, the amount of the public debt. In 1875, the miles of railroad in operation will probably equal 60,000; their net merchandize tonnage, at the rate, per miles, for the past year, will equal 91,800,000 tons, having a value of $13,770,000,000. In 1880, their mileage will reach, at least, 70,000 miles. Their net merchandize tonnage will reach 110,000,000 tons, having a value $16,500,000,000. These calculations, which are likely to be fully realized, show how easily the nation will, in a few years, be able to deal with its financial burdens. In ten years from the present time, the value

of the internal commerce of the country, borne over its rail roads, will equal more than six times its debt. The annual increase in the value of this onnage will equal $600,000,000, or more than four times the interest accruing on such debt. Its population, in the meantime, is increasing at the rate of fully 1,000,000 annually. The productive capacity of this population, from the progress it is making in the various mechanic arts, is increasing in a ratio threefold greater than that of its population.

In the rapid increase of population, the United States possesses a great advantage over any other nation. The increase in its numbers during the last decade was at the rate of 3.5 per cent. annually. The rate of increase of the United Kingdom does not exceed one per cent. annually. In France it is still less. The same may be said of most European nations. The burdens of taxation is not sensibly lessened, in any, from an increase in numbers; but in most of them it is largely augmented by reason of the political complications in which they are involved. The payment of their debts is a proposition not to be entertained. On the other hand, the public debt of this country is regarded in the light of a commercial obligation, for the constant reduction and ultimate payment of which adequate provisions are to be made and maintained. The same parties that contracted the debt bear the burden of it. It is felt that there is no more reason in perpetuating the burden of public than of private debt. No sooner were public debts contracted, either by the Nation or by the States, than provisions were immediately made for their redemption. The debts of the former, contracted in support of the War of Independence, as well as that of 1812, though more burdensome, considering the means of the people, than the present one, were in time fully paid. Since the close of the War, the debt incurred for its prosecution has been discharged at the rate of $100,000,000 annually. The debts of the States have, for similar reasons, been constantly reduced, and many of them wholly paid off. The traditional policy of the people which springs mainly from our form of Government, when united with ample means, which are increasing with marvelous rapidity, is a sure guarantee not only that the interest, but that the principal will, at an early day, be fully paid.

The statements, which are not exaggerated, of the extent and value of the tonnage of the railroads of the country, shows the importance of encouraging the construction of these works. The value of the tonnage traffic of our railroads exceeds, each year, six times their cost. It already equals more than four times the whole amount of the National Debt. Its yearly increase for the past eighteen years equals five times the interest on the public debt. It was the railroads of the country that enabled it to sustain, so triumphantly, the immense burdens which the war imposed -a strength as surprising to ourselves as to other nations. There was never a period in which such progress was made in these works as the present; and never such a rapid increase, consequently, in the finan

cial strength of the country. The tonnage traffic of the railroads constructed the past year, at only 1,000 tons to the mile, will equal 5,000,000 tons,, having a value of $750,000,000! Every road constructed adds five times its value to the aggregate value of the property of the country. The cost of the works constructed the past year will equal at least $150,000,000. The increased value of property, consequently, due to the construction will equal $600,000,000.

PROGRESS FOR 1869-PROBABLE PROGRESS FOR THE FUTURE.

The past year has been particularly distinguished for the activity displayed in every portion of the United States, on the prosecution of railway enterprises, and for the extent of mileage constructed, which has largely exceeded that for any previous year. This activity is not likely, for the present, to receive any considerable check (except from extraordinary and temporary causes), till the railroad has come to be the common highway of the nation-till the people of every section are brought, on the average, within five miles of such a work-in other words, till the mileage constructed shall be in ratio of 1 mile of line to 10 square miles of territory capable of sustaining fifty inhabitants to the square mile. But such a ratio has been already largely exceeded in several of the States, and will soon be in many others. There are now in operation in Massachusetts I mile of railroad to every 5.27 miles of area; in Connecticut, 1 mile to 7.19 miles, and in New Jersey 1 mile of railroad to 8.22 miles of area. In Ohio, the ratio of railway mileage to area is as 1 to 11.59. With a ratio for the New England States equal to that of Massachusetts, the mileage for this group would equal 11,890 miles, or nearly three times the present extent. A mileage for the Middle States, in ratio to area equal to that in New Jersey, would call for 17,000 miles of line, or twice the extent now in operation. The ratio for Ohio would call for 54,000 miles in the ten Western States, or nearly three times the mileage now in operation in them. It may be safely assumed that the construction of railroads will progress rapidly in each group of States named, till their aggregate mileage, in ratio of area, shall equal that of the States having the greatest comparative extent of line.

We may, therefore, calculate upon the steady progress of railroads in the Northern, Middle and Western States till a mileage of 90,000 miles, in place of an existing mileage of 35,000 miles, is reached. In the Southern States, the mileage already constructed equals about 11,250 miles in an area of about 780,000 square miles. The ratio of mileage to area in these States is as 1 to 66. It is safe to assume that the construction of railroads in these States will continue, without material interruption, till the mileage in them shall reach three times its present extent, or 35,000 miles; and that a still more rapid progress will be made in the States in the Interior, and upon the Pacific slope of the Continent. As already remarked,

railroads are to become the common highway for the nation. They will be speedily constructed so as to accommodate every portion of it now occupied, and will follow, everywhere, the line of population that is rapidly spreading itself over the Continent. With 100,000 miles in operation, the same necessity will be felt that is felt to-day for the construction of new lines. A mileage for the whole country (excluding the territory of Alaska) equal to that for Ohio, in ratio to area, would call for nearly 300,000 miles of line. A similar ratio for the States, excluding the territories, would require 200,000 miles of line.

The progress of railroads in this country has had little or no reference to the amount of its population. There is now in operation one mile of railroad to 810.89 inhabitants. The population of the country is increasing, say at the rate of 1,000,000 annually. The mileage that will be constructed for several years to come will not be likely to fall short of 3,000 miles annually. The population of the country in 1880 may be estimated at 50,000,000; the mileage of railroads at say 75,000 miles. Such an extent of line would give one mile of railroad to 666 of inhabitants.

COST OF THE RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES.

It is impossible to give a statement of the exact cost of the railroads of the United States from the incompleteness of the returns of a considerable number of Companies, particularly in the Southern States. An estimate of $44,000 per mile, it is believed, will fully equal their average cost. That of the railroads of the New England States average $40,500 per mile; that of the Middle States is somewhat greater, being about $55,000 to the mile. The cost of the railroads in the Southern States will not exceed $30,000 per mile. The cost of the roads of the Western States is about equal to the general average. The aggregate for the whole may be stated in round numbers at $2,000,000,000. Such cost is estimated, for the most part, at the amount of their capital accounts, which considerably exceeds, in amount, the money actually expended. It is not probable that the stocks and bonds issued by all the companies have produced more than 75 cents on the dollar. The capital accounts of many roads have been largely increased by issues made on the consolidation of lines to equalize values; or from dividends paid in stock or bonds, to represent estimated profits, or values over cost. Where such have been made, they have been usually balanced by adding an equal sum to the cost of the lines. On the other hand net earnings, to a considerable extent, have been put into construction without any corresponding increase of nominal capital. The cost of old lines, of course, constantly increases, but the average for the whole country is kept down by the new lines which are being opened.