must depend for any further economies upon an improvement in the work of the railway-user and the employee in using that plant. If the railway-user fails to load and unload the cars promptly, if the railway employee is careless and inefficient, the railway cannot be used to its full effect.
The American railways to-day are represented by a capitalization of $13,600,000,000, or a trifle less than $58,000 per mile of road, and less than $40,000 per mile of track. Compare this total capitalization with the total reported for farm values, $20,514,001,838 for 1900, and in manufacturing, $12,686,265,673 for 1905, and it will be seen that the railway is the second great industrial interest in this country. The railways in Europe are capitalized per mile as follows:—
United Kingdom | $275,040 |
France | 139,390 |
Germany | 109,788 |
Austria | 112,879 |
Russia | 80,985 |
Belgium | 169,806 |
Here is evidence that the American railway-owner has produced a piece of machinery with