In 1855 the charge per ton per mile was 3.27 cents, as compared with 0.89 in 1883.
| Tons moved 1 m. in 1883 by railroads of N.Y. | 9,286,216,628 |
| At rate of 1855, would cost | $303,659,283 |
| Actual cost in 1883 | 83,464,919 |
| Saving to the State | $220,194,364 |
The explanation of this reduced cost is given by Mr. Edward Atkinson[135] as (1) the competition of water-ways, (2) the competition of one railway with another, and (3) the competition of other countries, which forces our railways to try to lay our staple products down in foreign markets at a price which will warrant continued shipment. Besides these reasons, much ought also (4) to be assigned to the progress of inventions and the reduced cost of steel and all appliances necessary to the railways.
The large importance of the railways shows itself in an influence on general business prosperity, and as a place for large investments of a rapidly growing capital. The building of railways, however, has been going on, at some times with greater speed than at others. Instead of 33,908 miles of railways at the close of our war, we have now (1884) over 120,000 miles. How the additional mileage has been built year by year, with two distinct eras of increased building—one from 1869 to 1873, and another from 1879 to 1884—may be seen by the shorter lines of the subjoined chart, No. VI.
That speculation has been excited at different times by the opening up of our Western country, there can be no doubt. And if a comparison be made with Chart No. XVII (Book IV, Chap. III), which gives the total grain-crops of the United States, it will be seen that since 1879, although our population has increased from 12-½ per cent to 14 per cent, our grain-crops only 5 per cent, yet our railway mileage has increased 40 per cent.
The extent to which the United States has carried railway-building, as compared with European countries, although we have a very much greater area, is distinctly shown by Chart No. VII. This application of one form of improvement to oppose the law of diminishing returns in the United States has produced extraordinary results, especially when we consider that we are probably not yet using all our best lands, or, in other words, that we have not yet felt the law of diminishing returns in some large districts.
Chart VI.
Miles of Railroad in Operation on the 1st January in each Year, and the Miles added in the Year Ensuing.
| Year. | Miles of Railroad. | Miles added. |
| 1865 | 33,908 | 1,177 |
| 1866 | 35,085 | 1,716 |
| 1867 | 36,801 | 2,449 |
| 1868 | 39,250 | 2,979 |
| 1869 | 42,229 | 4,615 |
| 1870 | 46,844 | 6,070 |
| 1871 | 52,914 | 7,379 |
| 1872 | 60,293 | 5,878 |
| 1873 | 66,171 | 4,107 |
| 1874 | 70,278 | 2,105 |
| 1875 | 72,383 | 1,713 |
| 1876 | 74,096 | 2,712 |
| 1877 | 76,808 | 2,281 |
| 1878 | 79,089 | 2,687 |
| 1879 | 81,776 | 4,721 |
| 1880 | 86,497 | 7,048 |
| 1881 | 93,545 | 9,789 |
| 1882 | 103,334 | 11,591 |
| 1883 | 114,925 | 6,618 |
135
I am indebted to Mr. Atkinson for advanced proofs of the annexed charts. See his paper in the “Journal of the American Agricultural Association,” vol. i, Nos. 3 and 4, p. 154, and a later discussion in the supplement of the Boston “Manufacturers' Gazette,” August 9, 1884, entitled “The Railway, the Farmer, and the Public.” His figures are drawn mainly from Poor's “Railway Manual.”