SOCIAL Er CTS OF AMERICAN RAILAN'AYS.
THE effects of ra ay enterprise in America are as we might ex- pect, on a truly, nsatlantic scale. In our fast notice of the subject, we sho'wed that the total cost of all the railways in use was, respectively, 314,989,826/. in England, and 216,887,7501. in the United States.* It is understood that the main sources of this excessive cost in England are, the very high price of land, the -very heavy charges of law, and the construction of "defensive" lines and other railways not directly for purposes of profit. In other words, a very large portion of the total cost is a species of. permanent burden on the shareholders, in payments to landlords and lawyers, and in a tax for protection. The corresponding charges in the United States are mainly for renewal of lines im- perfectly constructed in the first instance, and for the mainten- ance of railways originally designed to promote the sale of land. In England, the proportion of the charge will be Fradually di- minished in a direct ratio to the increase of population and busi- ness; the dead weight remaining stationary. This is one of the reasons why the profits of our Great Western Railway are so largely extending ; the dead weight being a fixed quantity, while the increased business is capable of perpetual expansion. In America, however, the dead weight is of a kind to disappear more rapidly, and to be converted into sources of profit. The renewals replace slight lines with strong lines, and the lines to encourage settlements do cause settlements, and so convert the dead weight of a road through an unsettled country into the source of active profit —a road through a thickly-settled country. We shall see some- thing of that presently. In the meanwhile, the comparison of advantage for those imme- diately concerned is very curious. We pay enormously to land- owners and lawyers ; we charge passengers very heavily ; we pay shareholders 63 per cent less than they get on their capital in the United States ; and, nevertheless, we pay less than they do in that country for wages. They have more lines open for every million of people, they traverse a far larger amount of country, and yet they can afford to pay their working men far more liberally than we do. The gross working expenditure of the United States is 666/. per mile. and in England is 1,564/. per mile ; yet the annual rate of wages stands thus:—
England. America. Engine-Drivers £90 £106 Firemen 60 105 Conductors 52 149 Labourers 39 62
Thus the American lines cost only two-thirds of ours ; the charge kr passengers is less than half of ours, yet the shareholder gets more than double, and the working classes profit as we see. Of course, there are very solid reasons for this. There is scarcely any part of America, except New England, where the railway traffic is not the auxiliary of settlement, but in some places its operation is very peculiar. Let us turn to the great plain of the central or Mississippi Valley, which extends from the Western slope of the Alleghenies about 1500 miles in length, and from the valley of the Northern lakes to the mouth of the Ohio, about 600 miles in width. We are quoting the description of the region given by De Witt Clinton, who proposed that it should be .tra- versed by a more direct railway as long ago as 1828. "This is the most valuable region of the United States, is uniformly fertile, and is the seat of our Western population." The last term Of the sentence can scarcely be accepted now, the Western population having extended far into the region which Lewis and Clarke dis- covered; but it is still true that "no part of the globe presents such an extent of uniform fertility."
"It is literally all arable—there are no sterile plains' no rocky or pre- cipitous ridges, and scarcely any swamps to deform its fair surface. This uninterrupted fertility arises from the decomposition of the great limestone pan upon which it rests." "The difference of elevation over the whole surface is only a few feet." "The decomposition of this rock has fertilized this wide region, and its absorbent and cavernous nature, prevents swamps and moisture accumulating on its surface." [The whole region is "dry, clean and healthy." Vast portions of it abound with coal, and beyond iron ore exists generally. Salt is accessible in every direction ; gypsum and saltpetre are in abundance, and most of the clays and earths useful in the arts.] "Here, indeed, will every rood support its man ;' for such a region, without barren heath, mountain' waste, or slope, and where all is fertile and healthful; where no timber lands need be left for fuel ; with mineral resources enough to stimulate all the arts, and contribute to all wants ;- who can say what is the limits of its future population? Europe could seat all her nations comfortably upon this plain.'
The new Atlantic and Great Western Railway traverses precisely this region, from Little Valley on the New fork and Erie Rail- way to Dayton, on the Cincinnati Hamilton and Dayton Railway. Of course, in supplying means of access for people and egress for produce, this railway will instantly raise the scale of population and produce throughout the region. In operations of this kind we have the explanation how it is that the population of the United States has increased at the rate of 33 per cent within the last ten years. But the new line will do something more than thus extend' a traffic for itself. It is obvious that it must be a very powerful agent in what we may call consolidating the settlement of all the States East of the Mississippi ; but what does that grand
• A correspondent has had the kindness to point out a serious error in our paper on this subject last week. The dividends of the English metro- politan railways' in the special instances which we quoted, were only for the half year. This is not only important as an obvious act of justice to the companies in question; but it affects the comparison with regard to the Particular companies. The fact is that the passage was filled in by another nalul in the absence of the writer of the paper ; and it was thus that the error originated. We mention the fact, because the error does not in any way affect the remainder of our survey, or of the comparison. operation imply ? If we take the well-marked periods of Ameri- can history, we shall find that the Western border of the Republic, never very accurately 'defined, has been constantly marching forwards. As Colonel Torrens wrote a quarter of a century ago, there has been a ceaseless tendency on the part of the population inhabiting those regions to spread westwards, and settle down in the wilderness. It is through this tendency that we have seen totem like Ohio, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, rise as the centres of an immense population and traffic, within the memory of men still alive, some of them almost within the last dozen years. It is well known that the plains of Missouri and Arkansas, which a very few years ago were explored by the adventurous traveller, and within a more recent period have been recognized territories for adventurous settlers, are endowed with natural resources rivalling any in the United States. Since the construction of railways, any portion of this vast region is nearer to the Atlantic than some portions of New York and Pennsyl- vania were not many years back. The consolidation of the inter- mediate territory East of the Mississippi abruptly places the boundary of settlement on the Eastern aide of that grand river ; and within the next twenty, or even ten years, it is tolerably certain that the remoter regions of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Ar- kansas, and States yet unnamed, will be taking their place in social activity and commercial traffic by the side of Indiana and Ohio, if not of Kentucky and New York. Within the time of men who are already in their prime, therefore, we may see the railway whose beginning we now witness becoming the high road for a commonwealth doubling in expense and resources that which now exists.
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