In the popular mind a railroad corporation is always associated with the idea of abundant means. There are not many, however, who pause to calculate the part the various railroad systems play in the economic affairs of the country. When it is realized that during the year 1901 the gross receipts of all the systems amounted to $1,589,526,037 some slight idea can be had of the enormous activities which their operation represents. Of this amount enough was available after paying operation expenses to devote $156,746,536 to dividends, and leave a balance of $87,764,781 to be carried to the surplus account. This available fund was enough to give almost every man, woman and child in the United States $3. The operating expenses amounted to over $1,000,000,000. That colossal sum was distributed among the multitude of employes, among the various factories which provided equipment, and among the different interests which furnished supplies. In other words, the railroads expended throughout the country enough to give every man, woman and child about $12 apiece. That one item alone gives some slight idea of what splendid distributers of wealth the railroads are. These immense sums were earned by transporting 607,278,112 passengers, and 1,089,226,440 tons of freight. The list of passengers is equal to the population of China, the United States, the British Isles, and France and Germany combined. If the freight total were reduced to men, putting the average weight of man at 150 pounds, it would be equivalent to 145,229,686,000 men. In other words, the tonnage weight of freight for this one year very largely exceeded the combined weight of the entire population of the globe. These few figures will afford the reader some glimmering of the work accomplished by our various railroad systems. Everybody feels the effect of their operation, and everybody gathers benefits from their, activity. There is no other line of enterprise in our country which involves so much capital, so many men and such a tremendous aggregate of general business. THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES |
