THE LONDON TIMES ON AMERICAN INTERCOMMUNICATION.

We are by no means confident that the Mexican War, with all its victories, was more serviceable to our reputation in Europe, than the single victory of Mr. Stevens, in his yacht America, off the Isle of Wight. This triumph has been celebrated in a dinner at the Astor House, but the city might have well afforded to welcome the returning owner of the America with an illumination, or the fathers, in council assembled, might have voted him a statue. Mr. Collins and Mr. Stevens have together managed to deprive England of the "trident of the seas," and as soon as it was transferred there began a shower of honors, which continues still, from the Times down to the very meanest of its imitators. From that time the Americans have had all the "solid triumphs" in the Great Exhibition. We have been regarded as a wonderful people, and our institutions as the most interesting study that is offered for contemporary statesmen and philosophers. We copy below a specimen of the leaders with which the Times has honored us, and commend it to our readers, not more for its tone than for the valuable information contained in it:—

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY IN THE UNITED STATES.

England has been so dazzled by the splendor of her own achievements in the creation of a new art of transport by land and water within the last thirty years, as to become in a measure insensible to all that has been accomplished in the same interval and in the same department of the arts elsewhere, improvements less brilliant, indeed, intrinsically, than the stupendous system of inland transport, which we lately noticed in these columns, and having a lustre mitigated to our view by distance, yet presenting in many respects circumstances and conditions which may well excite profound and general interest, and even challenge a respectful comparison with the greatest of those advances in the art of locomotion of which we are most justly proud.

It will not, therefore, be without utility and interest, after the detailed notice which we have lately given of our own advances in the adaptation of steam to locomotion, to direct attention to the progress in the same department which has been simultaneously made in other and distant countries, and first, and above all, by our friends and countrymen in the other hemisphere.

The inland transport of the United States is distributed mainly between the rivers, the canals, and the railways, a comparatively small fraction of it being executed on common roads. Provided with a system of natural water communication on a scale of magnitude without any parallel in the world, it might have been expected that the "sparse" population of this recently settled country might have continued for a long period of time satisfied with such an apparatus of transport. It is, however, the character of man, but above all of the Anglo-Saxon man, never to rest satisfied with the gifts of nature, however munificent they be, until he has rendered them ten times more fruitful by the application of his skill and industry, and we find accordingly that the population of America has not only made the prodigious natural streams which intersect its vast territory over so many thousands of miles, literally swarm with steamboats, but they have, besides, constructed a system of canal navigation, which may boldly challenge comparison with any thing of the same kind existing in the oldest, wealthiest, and most civilized States of Europe.

It appears from the official statistics that, on the 1st of January, 1843, the extent of canals in actual operation amounted to 4,333 miles and that there were then in progress 2,359 miles, a considerable portion of which has since been completed, so that it is probable that the actual extent of artificial water communication now in use in the United States considerably exceeds 5,000 miles. The average cost of executing this prodigious system of artificial water communication was at the rate of 6,432l. per mile, so that 5,000 miles would have absorbed a capital of above 32,000,000l.

This extent of canal transport, compared with the population, exhibits in a striking point of view the activity and enterprise which characterize the American people. In the United States there is a mile of canal navigation for every 5,000 inhabitants, while in England the proportion is 1 to every 9,000 inhabitants, and France 1 to every 13,000. The ratio, therefore, of this instrument of intercommunication in the United States is greater than in the United Kingdom, in proportion to the population, as 9 to 5, and greater than in France in the ratio of 13 to 5.

The extent to which the American people have fertilized, so to speak, the natural powers of those vast collections of water which surround and intersect their territory, is not less remarkable than their enterprise in constructing artificial lines of water communication. Besides the internal communication supplied by the rivers, properly so called, a vast apparatus of liquid transport is derived from the geographical character of their extensive coast, stretching over a space of more than 4,000 miles, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the delta of the Mississippi, indented and serrated with natural harbors and sheltered bays, fringed with islands forming sounds, throwing out capes and promontories which inclose arms of the sea in which the waters are free from the roll of the ocean, and which, for all the purposes of navigation, have the character of rivers and lakes. The lines of communication formed by the vast and numerous rivers are, moreover, completed in the interior by chains of lakes presenting the most extensive bodies of fresh water in the known world.

Whatever question may be raised on the conflicting claims for the invention of steam navigation, it is an incontestable fact that the first steamboat practically applied for any useful purpose was placed on the Hudson, to ply between New-York and Albany, in 1808; and, from that time to the present that river has been the theatre of the most remarkable series of experiments of locomotion on water ever recorded in the history of man. The Hudson is navigable by steamers of the largest class as high as Albany, a distance of nearly 150 miles from New-York. The steam navigation upon this river is entitled to attention, not only because of the immense traffic of which it is the vehicle, but because it forms a sort of model for all the rivers of the Atlantic States. Two classes of steamers work upon it—one appropriated to the swift transport of passengers, and the other to the towing of the vast traffic which is maintained between the city of New-York and the interior of the State of that name, into the heart of which the Hudson penetrates.

The passenger steamers present a curious contrast to the sea-going steamers with which we are familiar. Not having to encounter the agitated surface of the ocean, they are supplied with neither rigging nor sails, are built exclusively with a view to speed, are slender and weak in their structure, with great length in proportion to their beam, and have but small draught of water. The position and form of the machinery are peculiar. The engines are placed on deck in a comparatively elevated situation. It is but rarely that two engines are used. A single engine placed in the centre of the deck drives a crank constructed on the axle of the enormous paddle-wheels, the magnitude of which, and the velocity imparted to them, enable them to perform the office of fly-wheels. These vessels, which are of great magnitude, are splendidly fitted up for the accommodation of passengers, and have been within the last ten or twelve years undergoing a gradual augmentation of magnitude, to which it would seem to be difficult to set a limit.

In the following table, which we borrow from the work on Railway Economy, from which we have already derived so large a portion of our information, are given the dimensions and the details of fourteen of the principal steamers plying on the Hudson in the year 1838:—

Names.Length of deck.Breadth of beam.Draught.Diameter of wheels.Length of paddles.Depth of paddles.Number of engines.Diameter of cylinder.Length of stroke.Number of revolutions.Part of stroke at which steam is cut off.

ft. ft. ft. ft. ft.ft. in. ft.

Dewit Clinton 230285·52113·736165 1029·75

Champlain 180275·5221534244 1027·5·50

Erie 180275·5221534244 1027·5·50

North America 200305211330244·5 824·50

Independence 14826 — — ——144 10 — —

Albany 21226 —24·51430165 —19 —

Swallow 23322·53·75241130146 —27 —

Rochester 200253·7523·51024143 1028 —

Utica 200213·522 9·524139 10 — —

Providence 180279 — ——165 10 — —

Lexington 20721 —23 930148 1124 —

Narraganset 210265251130160 1220·50

Massachusetts 20029·58·5221028244 826 —

Rhode Island 210266·5241130160 1121 —

Averages 200265·624·81130—50·8 1024·8 —

The changes more recently made all have a tendency to increase the magnitude and power of those vessels—to diminish their draught of water—and to increase the play of the expansive principle. Vessels of the largest class now draw only as much water as the smallest drew a few years ago, four feet five inches being regarded as the maximum.

It appears from the following table that the average length of these prodigious floating hotels is above 300 feet; some of them approaching 400. In the passenger accommodation afforded by them no water communication in any country can compete. Nothing can exceed the splendor and luxury with which they are fitted up, furnished, and decorated. Silk, velvet, the most costly carpetings and upholstery, vast mirrors, gilding, and carving, are profusely displayed in their decoration. Even the engine-room in some of them is lined with mirrors. In the Alida, for example, the end of the engine-room is one vast mirror, in which the movements of the brilliant and highly-finished machinery are reflected. All the largest class are capable of running from twenty to twenty-two miles an hour, and average nearly twenty miles without difficulty.

In the annexed table are exhibited the details of ten of the most recently constructed passenger vessels:—

Names. DIMENSIONS OF VESSEL. ENGINE. PADDLE-WHEEL.

Length.Breadth. Depth of Hold.Tonnage. Diameter of cylinder.Length of stroke.Number of strokes. Diameter.Length of bucket.Depth of bucket.

ft. ft. ft.in.ft. ft.ft. in.

Isaac Newton33340·410·08112 18-1/239·012·4 32

Bay State30039·013·27612 21-1/238·010·3 32

Empire State30439·013·67612 21-1/238·010·3 32

Oregon30835·0 —7211 1834·011·0 28

Hendrick Hudson32035·0 9·6 1,0507211 2233·011·0 33

C. Vanderbilt30035·011·0 1,0757212 2135·0 9·0 33

Connecticut30037·011·07213 2135·011·6 36

Commodore28033·010·66511 2231·6 9·0 33

New-York27635·010·67615 1844·612·0 36

Alida28628·0 9·65612 24-1/232·010·0 32

Averages31035·811·071·812·120·835·010·8 37

It may be observed, in relation to the navigation of those eastern rivers (for we do not here speak of the Mississippi and its tributaries), that the occurrence of explosions is almost unheard of. During the last ten years not a single catastrophe of this kind has been recorded, although cylindrical boilers ten feet in diameter, composed of plating 5-16ths of an inch thick, are commonly used with steam of 50lb. pressure.

Previously to 1844 the lowest fare from New-York to Albany, a distance of 145 miles, was 4s. 4d.; at present the fare is 2s. 2d.—and for an additional sum of the same amount the passenger can command the luxury of a separate cabin. When the splendor and magnitude of the accommodation is considered, the magnificence of the furniture and accessories, and the luxuriousness of the table, it will be admitted that no similar example of cheap locomotion can be found in any part of the globe. Passengers may there be transported in a floating palace, surrounded with all the conveniences and luxuries of the most splendid hotel, at the average rate of twenty miles an hour, for less than one-sixth of a penny per mile! It is not an uncommon occurrence during the warm season to meet persons on board these boats who have lodged themselves there permanently, in preference to hotels on the banks of the river. Their daily expenses in the boat are as follows:

Fare2s. 2d.

Separate bedroom22

Breakfast, dinner, and supper66

——————

Total daily expense for board, lodging, attendance, and travelling 150 miles, at 20 miles an hour1010

Such accommodation is, on the whole, more economical than a hotel. The bedroom is as luxuriously furnished as the handsomest chamber in an hotel or private house, and is much more spacious than the room similarly designated in the largest packet ships.

The other class of steamers, used for towing the commerce of the river, corresponds to the goods trains on railways. No spectacle can be more remarkable than this class of locomotive machines, dragging their enormous load up the Hudson. They may be seen in the midst of this vast stream, surrounded by a cluster of twenty or thirty loaded craft of various magnitudes. Three or four tiers are lashed to them at each side, and as many more at their bow and at their stern. The steamer is almost lost to the eye in the midst of this crowd of vessels which cling around it, and the moving mass is seen to proceed up the river, no apparent agent of propulsion being visible, for the steamer and its propellers are literally buried in the midst of the cluster which clings to it and floats round and near it.

As this water-goods train, for so it may be called, ascends the river, it drops off its load, vessel by vessel, at the towns which it passes. One or two are left at Newburgh, another at Poughkeepsie, two or three more at Hudson, one or two at Fishkill, and, finally, the tug arrives with a residuum of some half-dozen vessels at Albany.

The steam navigation of the Mississippi and the other western rivers is conducted in a manner entirely different from that of the Hudson. Every one must be familiar with the lamentable accidents which happen from time to time, and the loss of life from explosion which continually takes place on those rivers. Such catastrophes, instead of diminishing with the improvement of art, seem rather to have increased. Engineers have done literally nothing to check the evil.

In a Mississippi steamboat the cabins and saloons are erected on a flooring six or eight feet above the deck, upon which and under them the engines are placed, which are of the coarsest and most inartificial structure. They are invariably worked with high-pressure steam, and in order to obtain that effect which in the Hudson steamers is due to a vacuum, the steam is worked at an extraordinary pressure. We have ourselves actually witnessed boilers of this kind, on the western rivers, working under a full pressure of 120lb. per square inch above the atmosphere, and we have been assured that this pressure has been recently considerably increased, so that it is not unfrequent now to find them working with a bursting pressure of 200lb. per square inch!

As might naturally be expected, the chief theatre of railway enterprise in America is the Atlantic States. The Mississippi and its tributaries have served the purposes of commerce and intercommunication to the comparatively thinly scattered population of the Western States so efficiently that many years will probably elapse, notwithstanding the extraordinary enterprise of the people, before any considerable extent of railway communication will be established in this part of the States. Nevertheless, the traveller in these distant regions encounters occasionally detached examples of railways even in the valley of the Mississippi. In the State of Mississippi there are five short lines, ten or twelve in Louisiana, and a limited number scattered over Florida, Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. These, however, are generally detached and single lines, unconnected with the vast network which we shall presently notice. To the traveller in these wild regions the aspect of such artificial agents of transport in the midst of a country, a great portion of which is still in the state of native forest, is most remarkable, and strongly characteristic of the irrepressible spirit of enterprise of its people. Travelling in the back woods of Mississippi, through native forests, where till within a few years human foot never trod, through solitudes, the silence of which was never broken, even by the red man, we have been sometimes filled with wonder to find ourselves transported by an engine constructed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and driven by an artisan from Liverpool, at the rate of twenty miles an hour. It is not easy to describe the impression produced by the juxtaposition of these refinements of art and science with the wildness of the country, where one sees the frightened deer start from its lair at the snorting of the ponderous machine and the appearance of the snakelike train which follows it.

The first American railway was opened for passengers on the last day of 1829. According to the reports collected and given in detail in the work already quoted, it appears that in 1849, after an interval of just twenty years, there were in actual operation 6,565 miles of railway in the States. The cost of construction and plant of this system of railways appears by the same authority to have been 53,386,885l., being at the average rate of 8,129l. per mile.

The reports collected in Dr. Lardner's work come up to the middle of 1849. We have, however, before us documents which supply data to a more recent period, and have computed from them the following table, exhibiting the number of miles of railway in actual operation in the United States, the capital expended in their construction and plant, and the length of the lines which are in process of construction, but not yet completed:—

Railways in operation. Cost of Building and Plant. Projected and in progress. Cost per Mile.

Miles. £ Miles. £

Eastern States, including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut 2,845 23,100,987 567 8,123

Atlantic States, including New-York, the Jerseys, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland 3,503 27,952,500 2,020 7,979

Southern States, including Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama 2,103 8,253,130 1,283 3,919

Western States, including Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin 1,835 7,338,290 5,762 3,999

Totals and averages 10,289 66,653,907 9,632 6,478

It must be admitted that the results here exhibited present a somewhat astonishing spectacle. It appears from this statement that there are in actual operation in the United States 10,289 miles of railway, and that there are 9,632 projected and in process of execution. So that when a few years more shall have rolled away, this extraordinary people will actually have 20,000 miles of iron road in operation.

It appears from the above report, compared with the previous report quoted from Dr. Lardner, that the average cost of construction has been diminished as the operations progressed. According to Dr. Lardner, the average cost of construction of the 6,500 miles of railway in operation in 1849 was 8,129l. per mile whereas, it appears from the preceding table that the actual cost of 10,289 miles now in operation has been at the average rate of 6,478l. per mile. On examining the analysis of the distribution of these railways among the States, it appears that this discordance of the two statements is apparent rather than real, and proceeds from the fact that the railways opened since Dr. Lardner's report, being chiefly in the southern and western States, are cheaply constructed lines, in which the landed proprietors have given to a great extent their gratuitous co-operation, and in which the plant and working stock is of very small amount, so that their average cost per mile is a little under 4,000l.—the average cost per mile in the eastern and northern States corresponding almost to a fraction with Dr. Lardner's estimate. It is also worthy of observation that the distribution of this network of railways is extremely unequal, not only in quantity, but in its capability, as indicated by its expense of construction. Thus, in the populous and wealthy States of Massachusetts, New-Jersey, and New-York, the proportion of railways to surface is considerable, while in the southern and western States it is trifling. In the following table is given the number of miles of surface for each mile of railway in some of the principal States:—

Square miles of surface for each mile of railway.

Massachusetts7

New-Jersey22

New-York28

Maryland31

Ohio58

Georgia76

When it is considered that the railways in this country have cost upon an average about 40,000l. per mile, the comparatively low cost of the American railways will doubtless appear extraordinary.

This circumstance, however, is explained partly by the general character of the country, partly by the mode of constructing the railways, and partly by the manner of working them. With certain exceptions, few in number, the tracts of country over which these lines are carried, is nearly a dead level. Of earthwork there is but little; of works of art, such as viaducts and tunnels, commonly none. Where the railways are carried over streams or rivers, bridges are constructed in a rude but substantial manner of timber supplied from the roadside forest, at no greater cost than that of hewing it. The station houses, booking offices, and other buildings, are likewise slight and cheaply constructed of timber. On some of the best lines in the more populous States the timber bridges are constructed with stone pillars and abutments, supporting arches of trusswork, the cost of such bridges varying from 46s. per foot, for 60 feet span, to 6l. 10s. per foot for 200 feet span, for a single line, the cost on a double line being 50 per cent. more.

When the railways strike the course of rivers such as the Hudson, Delaware, or Susquehanna—too wide to be crossed by bridges—the traffic is carried by steam ferries. The management of these ferries is deserving of notice. It is generally so arranged that the time of crossing them corresponds with a meal of the passengers. A platform is constructed level with the line of railway and carried to the water's edge. Upon this platform rails are laid by which the wagons which bear the passengers' luggage and other matters of light and rapid transport are rolled directly upon the upper deck of the ferry boat, the passengers meanwhile going under a covered way to the lower deck. The whole operation is accomplished in five minutes. While the boat is crossing the spacious river the passengers are supplied with their breakfasts, dinner, or supper, as the case may be. On arriving at the opposite bank the upper deck comes in contact with a like platform, bearing a railway upon which the luggage wagons are rolled; the passengers ascend, as they descended, under a covered way, and, resuming their places in the railway carriages, the train proceeds.

But the prudent Americans have availed themselves of other sources of economy by adopting a mode of construction adapted to the expected traffic. Formed to carry a limited commerce the railways are generally single lines, sidings being provided at convenient situations. Collision is impossible, for the first train that arrives at a siding must enter it and remain there until the following train arrives. This arrangement would be attended with inconvenience with a crowded traffic like that of many lines on the English railways, but even on the principal American lines the trains seldom pass in each direction more than twice a day, and their time and place of meeting is perfectly regulated. In the structure of the roads, also, principles have been adopted which have been attended with great economy compared with the English lines. The engineers, for example, do not impose on themselves the difficult and expensive condition of excluding all curves but those of large radius, and all gradients exceeding a certain small limit of steepness. Curves of 500 feet radius, and even less, are frequent, and acclivities rising at the rate of 1 foot in 100 are considered a moderate ascent, while there are not less than 50 lines laid down with gradients varying from 1 in 100 to 1 in 75, nevertheless these lines are worked with facility by locomotives, without the expedient, even, of assistant or stationary engines. The consequences of this have been to reduce in an immense proportion the cost of earthwork, bridges, and viaducts, even in parts of the country where the character of the surface is least favorable. But the chief source of economy has arisen from the structure of the line itself. In many cases where the traffic is lightest the rails consist of flat bars of iron, 2-1/2 inches broad and 6-10ths of an inch thick, nailed and spiked to planks of timber laid longitudinally on the road in parallel lines, so as to form what are called continuous bearings. Some of the most profitable American railways, and those of which the maintenance has proved least expensive, have been constructed in this manner. The road structure, however, varies according to the traffic. Rails are sometimes laid weighing only from 25lb. to 30lb. per yard. In some cases of great traffic they are supported on transverse sleepers of wood like the European railways, but in consequence of the comparative cheapness of wood and the high price of iron, the strength necessary for the road is mostly obtained by reducing the distance between the sleepers so as to supersede the necessity of giving greater weight to the rails.

The same observance of the principles of economy is maintained with regard to their locomotive stock. The engines are strongly built, safe and powerful, but are destitute of much of that elegance of exterior and beauty of workmanship which has excited so much admiration, in the machines exhibited in the Crystal Palace. The fuel is generally wood, but on certain lines near the coal districts coal is used. The use of coke is nowhere resorted to. Its expense would make it inadmissible, and in a country so thinly inhabited the smoke proceeding from coal is not objected to. The ordinary speed, stoppages included, is from 14 to 16 miles an hour. Independently of other considerations, the light structure of many of the roads would not allow a greater velocity without danger; nevertheless we have frequently travelled on some of the better constructed lines at the ordinary speed of the English railways, say 30 miles an hour and upwards.

Notwithstanding the apparently feeble and unsubstantial structure of many of the lines, accidents to passenger trains are scarcely ever heard of. It appears by returns now before us that of 9,355,474 passengers booked in 1850 on the crowded railways of Massachusetts, each passenger making an average trip of 18 miles, there were only 15 who sustained accidents fatal to life or limb. It follows from this, by the common principles explained by us in a former article, that when a passenger travels one mile on these railways the chances against an accident producing personal injury, even of the slightest kind, are 11,226,568 to 1, and of course in a journey of 100 miles the chances against such accident are 112,266 to 1. We have shown in a former article that the chances against accident on an English railway, under like circumstances, are 85,125 to 1. The American railways are, therefore, safer than the English in the ratio of 112 to 85.

The great line of communication is established, 400 miles in length, between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, on the left bank of the Ohio, composed partly of railway and partly of canal. The section from Philadelphia to Columbia (82 miles) is railway; the line is then continued by canal for 172 miles to Holidaysburg; it is then carried by railway 37 miles to Johnstown, whence it is continued 104 miles further to Pittsburg by canal. The traffic on this mixed line of transport is conducted so as to avoid the expense and inconvenience of transhipment of goods and passengers at the successive points where the railway and canals unite. The merchandise is loaded and the passengers accommodated in the boats adapted to the canals at the dépôt in Market-street, Philadelphia. These boats, which are of considerable magnitude and length, are divided into segments by partitions made transversely and at right angles to their length, so that such boat can be, as it were, broken into three or more pieces. These several pieces are placed each on two railway trucks, which support it at the ends, a proper body being provided for the trucks adapted to the form of the bottom and keel of the boat. In this manner the boat is carried in pieces, with its load, along the railway. On arriving at the canal the pieces are united so as to form a continuous boat, which being launched, the transport is continued on the water. On arriving again at the railway the boat is once more resolved into its segments, which, as before, are transferred to the railway trucks and transported to the next canal station by locomotive engines. Between the dépôt in Market-street and the locomotive station which is situated in the suburbs of Philadelphia the segments of the boat are drawn by horses on railways conducted through the streets. At the locomotive station the trucks are formed into a continuous train and delivered over to the locomotive engine. As the body of the truck rests upon a pivot, under which it is supported by wheels, it is capable of revolving, and no difficulty is found in turning the shortest curves, and these enormous vehicles, with their contents of merchandise and passengers, are seen daily issuing from the gates of the dépôt in Market-street, and turning with facility the corners at the entrance of each successive street.

By a comparison of the returns published by Dr. Lardner, in his work already quoted, with the more recent results which we have already given, it will appear that within the last two years not less than 3,700 miles of railway have been opened for traffic in the United States. Among these are included several of the most important lines, among which are more especially to be noticed the great artery of railway communication extending across the State of New York to the shores of Lake Erie, the longest line which any single company has yet constructed in the United States, its length being 467 miles. The total cost of this line, including the working stock, has been 4,500,000l. sterling, being at the average rate of 9,642l. per mile—a rate of expense about 50 per cent. above the average cost of American railways taken collectively. This is explained by the fact that the line itself is one constructed for a large traffic between New York and the interior, and therefore built to meet a heavy traffic. Although it is but just opened, its average receipts have amounted to 11,000l. per week, which have given a net profit of 6-1/2 per cent. on the capital, the working expenses being taken at 50 per cent. of the gross receipts. One of the great lines in a forward state, and likely to be opened by the close of the present year, connects New York with Albany, following the valley of the Hudson. It will no doubt create surprise, considering the immense facility of water transport afforded by this river, that a railway should be constructed on its bank, but it must be remembered that for a considerable interval during the winter the navigation of the Hudson is suspended from the frost.

A great line of railway, which will intersect the States from south to north, connecting the port of Mobile on the Gulf of Mexico with Lake Michigan and the lead mines of Galena on the Upper Mississippi, is also in progress of construction, large grants of land being conceded to the company by the Federal Government. This line will probably be opened in 1854.

It is difficult to obtain authentic reports from which the movement of the traffic on the American railways can be ascertained with precision. Dr. Lardner, however, obtained the necessary statistical data relating to nearly 1,200 miles of railway in the States of New England and New York, from which he was enabled to collect all the circumstances attending the working of these lines, the principal of which are collected in the following table:—

Tabular analysis of the average daily movement of the traffic on 28 of the principal railways in the States of New England and New York.

Passenger Traffic.—Number booked23,981

Mileage437,350

Receipts£2,723

Mileage of trains8,091

Goods Traffic.—Tons booked6,547

Mileage248,351

Receipts£1,860

Mileage of trains4,560

Total length of the above railways in the State of New York490 miles

Ditto, in the States of New England670 "

——

Total1,160 miles.

Average cost of construction and stock in the State of New York£7,010

Ditto, in the States of New England£10,800

General average£9,200

Receipts Expenses. Profits.

Total average receipts, expenses, and £ £ £

profits per day in the State of New York 1,654 684 970

Ditto, States of New England 3,040 1,505 1,535

Totals 4,694 2,189 2,505

Per mile of railway per day.Per mile run by trains.Per cent. per annum on capital.

£

Receipts 4,05 7s. 5d. 16,1

Expenses 1,893s. 5-1/2d. 7,5

Profits 2,162s.11-1/2d. 8,6

Expense per cent. of receipts46,8

Average receipts for passengers booked27,0d.

Average distance travelled per passenger18,2 miles

Average receipts per passenger per mile1,47d.

Average number of passengers per train54,0

Total average receipts per passenger train per mile7s.

Average receipts per ton of goods booked6s. 8-1/2d.

Average distance carried per ton38,0 miles

Average receipts per ton per mile1s. 8d.

Average number of tons per train54,5

Total average receipts per goods per mile8,2s.

The railways, of whose traffic we have here given a synopsis, are those of the most active and profitable description in the United States. It would, therefore, be a great error to infer from the results here exhibited general conclusions as to the financial condition of the American railways. It appears, on the other hand, from a more complete analysis, that the dividends on the American lines, exclusive of those contained in the preceding analysis, are in general small, and in many instances nothing. It is, therefore, probable that in the aggregate the average profits on the total amount of capital invested in the American railways does not exceed, if it indeed equal, the average profits obtained on the capital invested in English railways, which we have in a former article shown to produce little more than 3 per cent.

The extraordinary extent of railway constructed at so early a period in the United States has been by some ascribed to the absence of a sufficient extent of communication by common roads. Although this cause has operated to some extent in certain districts it is by no means so general as has been supposed. In the year 1838 the United States' mails circulated over a length of way amounting on the whole to 136,218 miles, of which two-thirds were land transport, including railways as well as common roads. Of the latter there must have been about 80,000 miles in operation, of which, however, a considerable portion was bridle-roads. The price of transport in the stage coaches was, upon an average, 3.25d. per passenger per mile, the average price by railway being about 1.47d. per mile.

Of the entire extent of railway constructed in the United States, by far the greater portion, as has been already explained, consists of single lines, constructed in a light and cheap manner, which in England would be regarded as merely serving temporary purposes; while, on the contrary, the entire extent of the English system consists, not only of double lines, but of railways constructed in the most solid, permanent, and expensive manner, adapted to the purposes of an immense traffic. If a comparison were to be instituted at all between the two systems, its basis ought to be the capital expended, and the traffic served by them, in which case the result would be somewhat different from that obtained by the mere consideration of the length of the lines. It is not, however, the same in reference to the canals, in which it must be admitted America far exceeds all other countries in proportion to her population.

The American railways have been generally constructed by joint stock companies, which, however, the State controls much more stringently than in England. In some cases a major limit to the dividends is imposed by the statute of incorporation, in some the dividends are allowed to augment, but when they exceed a certain limit the surplus is divided with the State; in some the privilege granted to the companies is only for a limited period, in some a sort of periodical revision and restriction of the tariff is reserved to the State. Nothing can be more simple, expeditious, and cheap than the means of obtaining an act for the establishment of a railway company in America. A public meeting is held at which the project is discussed and adopted, a deputation is appointed to apply to the Legislature, which grants the act without expense, delay, or official difficulty. The principle of competition is not brought into play as in France, nor is there any investigation as to the expediency of the project with reference to future profit or loss as in England. No other guarantee or security is required from the company than the payment by the shareholders of a certain amount, constituting the first call. In some States the non-payment of a call is followed by the confiscation of the previous payments, in others a fine is imposed on the shareholders, in others the share is sold, and if the produce be less than the price at which it was delivered the surplus can be recovered from the shareholder by process of law. In all cases the act creating the companies fix a time within which the works must be completed, under pain of forfeiture. The traffic in shares before the definite constitution of the company is prohibited.

Although the State itself has rarely undertaken the execution of railways, it holds out in most cases inducements in different forms to the enterprise of companies. In some cases the State takes a great number of shares, which is generally accompanied by a loan made to the company, consisting in State Stock delivered at par, which the company negotiate at its own risk. This loan is often converted into a subvention.

The great extent of railway communication in America in proportion to its population must necessarily excite much admiration. If we take the present population of the United States at 24,000,000, and the railways in operation at 10,000 miles, it will follow that in round numbers there is one mile of railway for every 2,400 inhabitants. Now, in the United Kingdom there are at present in operation 6,500 miles of railway, and if we take the population at 30,000,000, it will appear that there is a mile of railway for every 4,615 inhabitants. It appears, therefore, that in proportion to the population the length of railways in the United States is greater than in the United Kingdom in the ratio of 46 to 24.

On the American railways passengers are not differently classed or received at different rates of fare as on those of Europe. There is but one class and one fare. The only distinction observable arises from color. The colored population, whether emancipated or not, are generally excluded from the vehicles provided for the whites. Such travellers are but few, and are usually accommodated either in the luggage van or in the carriage with the guard or conductor. But little merchandise is transported, the cost of transport being greater than goods in general are capable of paying; nevertheless, a tariff regulated by weight alone, without distinction of classes, is fixed for merchandise.

Although Cuba is not yet annexed to the United States, its local proximity here suggests some notice of a line of railway which traverses that island, forming a communication between the city of Havana and the centre of the island. This is an excellently constructed road, and capitally worked by British engines, British engineers, and British coals. The impressions produced in passing along this line of railway, though different from those already noticed in the forests of the far west, is not less remarkable. We are here transported at 30 miles an hour by an engine from Newcastle, driven by an engineer from Manchester, and propelled by fuel from Liverpool, through fields yellow with pineapples, through groves of plantain and cocoa-nut, and along roads inclosed by hedge-rows of ripe oranges.

To what extent this extraordinary rapidity of advancement made by the United States in its inland communications is observable in other departments will be seen by the following table, exhibiting a comparative statement of those data, derived from official sources, which indicate the social and commercial condition of a people through a period which forms but a small stage in the life of a nation:

1793.1851.

Population3,939,32524,267,488

Imports£6,739,130£38,723,545

Exports£5,675,869£32,367,000

Tonnage520,7043,535,451

Lighthouses, beacons, and lightships7373

Cost of their maintenance£2,600£115,000

Revenue£1,230,000£9,516,000

National expenditure£1,637,000£8,555,000

Post offices20921,551

Post roads (miles)5,642178,670

Revenue of Post-office£22,800£1,207,000

Expenses of Post-office£15,650£1,130,000

Mileage of mails——46,541,423

Canals (miles)05,000

Railways (miles)010,287

Electric telegraph (miles)015,000

Public libraries (volumes)75,0002,201,623

School libraries (volumes)02,000,000

If they were not founded on the most incontestable statistical data, the results assigned to the above table would appear to belong to fable rather than history. In an interval of little more than half a century it appears that this extraordinary people have increased above 500 per cent. in numbers; their national revenue has augmented nearly 700 per cent., while their public expenditure has increased little more than 400 per cent. The prodigious extension of their commerce is indicated by an increase of nearly 500 per cent. in their imports and exports and 600 per cent. in their shipping. The increased activity of their internal communications is expounded by the number of their post offices, which has been increased more than a hundred-fold, the extent of their post roads, which has been increased thirty-six-fold, and the cost of their post-office, which has been augmented in a seventy-two-fold ratio. The augmentation of their machinery of public instruction is indicated by the extent of their public libraries, which have increased in a thirty-two-fold ratio, and by the creation of school libraries, amounting to 2,000,000 volumes. They have completed a system of canal navigation, which, placed in a continuous line, would extend from London to Calcutta, and a system of railways which, continuously extended, would stretch from London to Van Diemen's Land, and have provided locomotive machinery by which that distance would be travelled over in three weeks, at the cost of 1-1/2d. per mile. They have created a system of inland navigation, the aggregate tonnage of which is probably not inferior in amount to the collective inland tonnage of all the other countries in the world, and they possess many hundreds of river steamers, which impart to the roads of water the marvellous celerity of roads of iron. They have, in fine, constructed lines of electric telegraph which, laid continuously, would extend over a space longer by 3,000 miles than the distance from the north to the south pole, and have provided apparatus of transmission by which a message of 300 words despatched under such circumstances from the north pole might be delivered in writing at the south pole in one minute, and by which, consequently, an answer of equal length might be sent back to the north pole in an equal interval.

These are social and commercial phenomena for which it would be vain to seek a parallel in the past history of the human race.