RAILROAD -AND THE FARMi 5 ?) V. O Nos. ONE p.nd TWO. By Hon. EDWARD ATKINSON, of Boston, Mass. ; A. n AND THESTANIRD OF /DEQUATE [[AILROAD SERVICE BY THE SAME AUTHOR. The puz’pose of this Journal, as representing the American Agricultural Association, is to disseminate the best attainable information on the subjects of most importance to the farmer. It can perform no greater service to its readers than by publishing papere which, like this one by Edward Atkinson, are at once clear, profoimd, full of purpose, and absolutely reliable in their statements. And as to this particu- lar paper, we must say that in our opinion a just appreciation of its character and intent is of far more importance to the farmers than it is to the railroads.— i'ditoria?. Journal American Agricultural Associa- tion, Vol. 1, Nos. 3 and 4. % COPYRIGHT 1883. From the Agricultural Review and Journal of the American Agricultural Association. Jos. H. Rfai.l, Editor and Publisher, ' 32 Park Row, New York. Western Office, 142 Dearborn St., Chicago, Illinois. t r Return this book on or before the , c Latest Date stamped below. A ^ 1 charge is made on all overdue books. TT r T T U U. of I. Library i ition The iithoritie iilture ^ 'he ablest ng Hon. Admiral ] rof. J. I !lay; Di-, ant; Prc . C. Ked cBi’jde ; The 1 ural Asso , . ransporta binformatio Prepa Exposition iHanufactn States. It the world has ever seen. d by the highest ition with Agri- prise some of [Europe, includ- England ; Eear- n, New York ; on. Cassius M. . Lewis Sturte- b Stelle ; Prof, r; Prof. J. M. irican Agricnl- e. Commerce, most valuable for a Grand Machinery, >f the United fill Exposition JOS. H. REALL, Editor and Publisher, 32 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. estern Office :-142 Dearborn St., Chicago, III. THE RAILROJID AND THE II. Nos. ONE and TWO. By Hon. EDWARD ATKINSON, of Boston, Mass. AND THE STANDARD OF /DEQUATE RAILROAD SERVICE BY THE SAME AUTHOR. ” The pui-pose of this Jovekai, as representing the American Agricultural Association, is tb disseminate the best attainable information on thegsubjects of most importance to the farmer. It can perform no greater service to its readers than by publishing papers which, like this one by Edward Atkinson, are at once clear, profound, full of pmpose, and absolutely reliable in their statements. And as to this particu- lar paper, we must say that in cur opinion a just appreciation of its character and intent is of far more importance to the farmers than jt is to the railroads. — Editorial, Journal American Agricultural Associa- tion, Vol. 1, Nos. 3 and 4. COPYRIGHT 1883. From the Agricultural Review and Journal of the American Agricultural Association. Jos. H. Reall, Editor and Publisher, 32 Park Row, New York. Western Office, 142 Dearborn St., Chicago, Illinois. gricultural Revi AND JOURNAL OF THE American Agricultural Association PUBLISHED MONTHLY. The Aokicultukal Review is a magazine pronouncsd by the highest nthofities the most valuable jmblication issued in connection with Agii- ulture and practical matters. Its contributors comprise some of he ablest scientific and practical writers in America and Europe, inchid- ng Hon. Edward Atkinson ; Sir J. B. Lawes, E.R.S., of England; Rear- dmiral Daniel Ammen, IT. S. Havy; Francis D. Moulton, New York ; rof. J. P. Sheldon, of England ; Gen. W. W. Burns; Hon. Cassius M. day; Dr. Peter Collier; Dr. Byron D. Halsted ; Dr. E. Lewis Stiirte- ant ; Prof. James Law ; Dr. John A. Warder ; Prof. J. P. Stelle ; Prof. .. C. Kedzie; Prof. E. W. FJilgard; Prof. W. O. Atwater; Prof. J. M. cBryde ; and others. The Agricultural Revieav is the organ of the American Agricul- ural Association, and represents the best in Agriculture, Commerce, d-ansportation and Industry, furnishing the newest and most valuable ‘nformation on all useful topics. Preparations are now being made by the Association for a Grand Exposition in 1883, of Agricultural Pi’oducts, Live Stock, Machinery, Manufactures, the Fine Arts, and the leading industies of the United States. It is proposed to hold the most interesting and useful Exposition (he world has ever seen. JOS. H. REALL, Editor and Publisher, 32 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. ESTERN Office : — 142 Dearborn St., Chicago, 111./ THE RAILROJID AND THE FARMEIi, Nos. ONE and TWO. By Hon. EDWARD ATKINSON, of Boston, Mass. AND THE STANDARD OF /DEQUATE IjAlLROAD SERVICE BY THE SAME AUTHOR. ” The purpose of this Journai, as representing the American Agricultural Association, is tt) disseminate the best attainable information on the£subjects of most importance to the farmer. It can perform no greater service to its readers than by publishing papers which, like this one by Edward Atkinson, are at once clear, profotmd, full of pmpose, and absolutely reliable in their statements. And as to this particu- lar paper, we must say that in cur opinion a just appreciation of its character and intent is of far more importance to the farmers than ;t is to the railroads.— A'd^fonaZ, Journal American Agricultural Associa- tion, Vol. 1, Nos. 3 and 4. COPYRIGHT 1883. From the Agricultural Review and Journal of the American Agricultural Association. Jos. H. Reall, Editor and Publisher, 32 Park Row, New York. Western Office, 142 Dearborn St., Chicago, Illinois. M THK RAILROAD AND THE FARMER, By EDWARD ATKINSON, Boston, Mass. The close relation existing between these two great factors in society can be made evident in the most striking manner only by an appeal to the eye. Since the end of the civil war in this country our railway mileage has increased from 34,000 to 94,000 miles. The figures in the following diagram show the miles of railroad in operation on the 1st January in each year, and the black lines show the proportionate increase. Railroad begets railroad, and where we had one mile before slavery ended we now have three. Miles op Railroad in Operation on the 1st January in each Year and the Miles Added in the Year Ensuing. 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 ma 1874 70,278 2,105 m 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 Est’d 7,508 1881 94,000 rhe construction of 1881 will probably exceed that of any preceding year. During the same period the grain crops of the country have increased in the pro- By Edward Atkinson. 3 SAj ru. portions pictured in the next diagram, the figures on the left showing the number of bushels of maize, wheat, oats, rye, barley and buckwheat produced in each year. It will be observed that the curve of the increase of crops follows substantially the curve of the increase of railway mileage, proving the mutual relation of each to the other. Grain Crops of the United States. Teab. Bushels. Maizie, Wheat, Rye, Oats, Barley, Buckwheat. 1865 1 127 4QQ 187 1866 1,343,027,868 1867 1,329,729,400 1868 1 dfirt 78Q (Yin 1869 1 4Q1 412 1 no 1870 1,629,027,600 1871 1 528 776 1 00 1872 1 fiftd ^1 fifkl , 1873 A 1 , OO 1 , UVU 1,538,892,891 ”**'^^*** 1874 1,455,180,200 ■uudhtiuUiIJ 1875 2,032,235,300 1876 1,962,821,600 1877 2,178,934,646 1878 2.302,254,950 1879 2,434,884,541 1880 2,448,079,181 Authority : Dept, of Agriculture, U. S. The production or leading forth of the fruits of the earth consists of three inter- dependent movements ; first, stirring the soil, planting the seed and reaping the har- vest — carried on by the engines known as plows, planters, reapers and the like ? second, the movement of the grain, and its subdivision by means of the stationary engines known as elevators and flour mills ; third, the movement of the food by means of the locomotive engine or the steamship to the point nearest its place of final con- version or consumption. Each part of the work depends absolutely upon the other, and the common condi- tion of success is in ratio to the removal of obstructions to all these movements. The* farmer is free to plant and free to reap ; the miller is free to grind and free to sell his service ; the owner of the elevator is free to use the vertical railway on which he trans- 4 The Railroad and the Farmer. fers the grain from the farmer’s wagon or from the canal boat to the bin that is to hold it for a time ; but the manager of the horizontal railway may not move his loco- motive engine without being threatened with the obstruction of meddlesome statutes imposed by Congresses and Legislatures in which there may not be a single man who could himself conduct with success the complex work even of a hundred miles of railway. The world— especially the legislative world— is slow to perceive that all interests are harmonious. If the wheat-grower does not prosper, no grist will come to the mill ; if the miller does not obtain an adequate toll, the traffic of the railway will cease ; if the dealer cannot obtain his profit, neither the bags of grain or the barrels of fiour will be moved from the station where they have been discharged ; if the consumer, per- haps in some far distant land, can obtain his food with less labor than he must exert to obtain the means of purchase with which to buy the grain, the whole movement will cease. Like some of the new processes in grinding, by which the attrition of the particles of grain upon each other works the best results, so in the distribution, the attrition of each apparently conflicting interest with the other defines the service that each has rendered, and thus all are saved from the arduous drudgery that still retards human progress in the places that the beneficent service of commerce does not reach. Commerce, or the exchange of services among men, promotes abundance ; if ob- structions are placed in the way, it matters not where, all alike suffer. The railroad removes the obstructions of time and distance. Statutes have been required to enable men to combine for their construction ; in order that the utmost freedom should be given even general acts have been passed. It is now proposed to reverse the acts that have enabled railroads to be built, and by other statutes to obstruct their use. If we desire to know what class has reaped the greatest benefit in this free and vast progress of our railroad system another appeal may be made to the eye. Chicago being the great market of the world for grain and meat, what has been the cost of moving these staples to the principal port of export. New York ? The follow- ing tables give the increase of tonnage, and the decrease in the charge upon one of the great lines that unite the two cities. This line has been selected for the purpose of comparison, because it has not only performed the greatest service to the community, but also because it has been very profitable to its owners. Its traffic also consists mainly of products of agriculture and general merchandise, and very little of coal. The Lake Shore and New York Central Line has also been taken as an example, because the line has remained substantially the same from 1869 to 1880, while other lines have greatly extended their mileage. The same rule may, however, be estab- lished if the same comparison be made of the traffic of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Erie, or the Baltimore and Ohio lines. The same relative reductions may also be proved from the accounts of all the great lines in the West, if the comparison be made on the main sections between principal points that were in operation at the two respective dates. Between 1869 and 1879 the traffic of the Boston & Albany Railroad increased 105 per cent., the charge per ton decreased 54^ per cent., and the earnings decreased 7 per oent. Between 1872, the year before the panic, and 1879, the traffic of the Pennsylvania Railroad increased 80 per cent., the charge per ton decreased 43 per cent., and the •earnings increased less than 3 per cent. The graphical tables showing these reductions are not repeated, because one ex- «-niple will suffice. By Edward Atkinson. 5 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad.— A chtaZ Tons Moved. Year. Miles. Tons Moved. Increase of Tons Moved, Measured by Ratio of Lines. 1869 Consolidated in this year. 1870 1,013 2,978,725 1871 1,073 3,784,525 1872 1,136 2,443,092 1873 1,154 5,176,661 1874 1,175 5,221,267 1875 1,176 5,022,490 1876 1,177 5,635,167 1877 1,177 5,513,398 1878 1,178 6,098,445 1879 1,178 7,541,294 1 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. — Tons Moved One Mile. Year. Tons Moved One Mile. Increase op Traffic, Tons per Milk. 1870 574,035,571 1871 733,670,696 II mm 1872 924,840,140 1873 1,053,297,189 1874 999,342,041 1875 943,230,161 1876 1,133,824,828 1877 1,080,005,561 1878 1,340,467,826 1879 1,733,423,440 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.— C/ iargre Per Ton Per Mile, Average upon all Classes of Merchandise. The Railroad and the Farmer. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. — Actual Tons Moved. 1869 842 3,190,840 1870 842 4,122,000 1871 844 4,532,056 1872 850 4,393,905 1873 858 5,522,724 1874 1,000 6,114,678 1875 1,000 6,001,984 1876 1,000 6,803,680 1877 1,000 6,357,356 1878 1,018 8,175,535 1879 1,018 9,441,213 New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. — Tons Moved One Mile. 1869 589,362,849 SHBOBSa 1870 769,087,777 1871 588,327,865 HEDHBBHI 1872 1,020,908,885 hbbbhbhhhi 1873 1,246,650,063 tmaBmaammsamamm 1874 1,391,560,707 1875 1,404,008,029 1876 1,674,447,135 1877 1,619,948,685 1878 Too, 104 2,295,827,387 1879 New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. — Charge Per Ton Per Mile. Average on all Classes of Merchandise. Year. Receipts. Charge. Decrease op Charge. 1869 $ 14,066,386 Cents. 2.38 1870 14,489,217 1.88 1871 14,647,580 16,259,647 2.49 1872 1.59 mmmaaam 1 1873 19,616,018 1.57 mmkimmmfm I 1874 20,348,725 1.46 1875 17,899,707 1.27 ■■■■Dm 1876 17,593,265 1.05 mmamam 1877 16,424,317 1.02 mmmmm 1878 19,(M5,8.30 .93 mmmmm 1879 18,270,250 .79 COMPAHISON OF RESULTS. Traflac increased 289 percent. Decrease charge per toa 67 per cent. Earnings increased 30 per cent. By Edward Atkinson. 7 That this great line offers no exception to the general rule will also be apparent from the following tables: Tons Moved Upon all the Railroads in the State op New York. 1870 20,572,212 1871 22,739,447 ■BESBBBKKnBDBB 1872 27,427,415 1873 34,358,119 1874 33,555,595 1874 32,408,547 larmnfflmriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii i iiiiNiiiiiiiiiii^g™^ 1876 34;i63,958 1877 34,984,781 1878 38,320,573 1879 47,350,174 Compiled by G. R. Blanchard. Recbipts, Expenses & Profits of all the Railroads in the State of New York, IN Cents per Ton per Mile. Receipts. Expenses. Profits. 1870 .5545 1.7016 1.1471 numi HH 1871 ‘ 1.7005 .5555 1.1450 BHHI HI 1872 1.6645 1.1490 .5155 m 1873 1.6000 HHBBflii 1.0864 .5136 IH 1874 1.4480 .9730 HHI .4750 H 1875 1.3039 .9587 .3452 1876 1.1604 .8561 HHI .3043 ■ 1877 1.0590 mu .7740 .2850 ■ 1878 .9994 ■ Hm .6900 ilH .3094 ■ 1879 . 808 * IHHi .5847 HI .2295 ■ Compiled by G. R. Blanchard. It will be observed that the rates of charge pictured in these tables cover all classes of merchandise, and that the charge on grain and meat is, customarily, from one-half to two-thirds the average rate on all the traffic ; the less rate being possible owing to the great distances over which these staples are carried. When we compare the steady reduction that has followed the consolidation of the great lines of railway, between East and West (which are but examples of a rule that has affected every great line in the United States), with the prices of the great staples moved upon them, in the markets of Chicago or New York, we shall see that the bene- fit of very great reduction in the rate charged has been secured by both producers and consumers of the products moved — largely by producers — the reduction in the prices of leading staples being much less than the reduction in the cost of transportation. ■8 The Railroad and the Farmer. By the kindness of Mr. Joseph Nimmo, Jr., of the Bureau of Statistics, Mr. E. H. Walker, of the New York Produce Exchange, and Messrs. Mauger and Avery, wool merchants, I have been enabled to compile a list of the prices of staple farm products in the market of New York City, from which I have deduced the tables given here- after. At the average price of the year, it appears that in the year 1869 20 barrels of Ex- tra State flour, 10 barrels each of mess beef and pork, 100 bushels each of Milwaukee Club wheat, Western mixed corn and oats,100 lbs. each of State dairy butter, lard, and medium washed clothing wool — 9 articles in all — could be purchased in New York City for the sum of $845.58 in currency. The average value of the paper dollar in 1869 was 74.8 cents ; the above sum is, therefore, equal in gold to $632.68. In 1880 the same quantities of the same articles could be bought for $631.32 in gold, a variation and reduction of less than two dollars on the whole. When we compare the vast changes in all other matters affecting the exchange of products, the stability in the gold value of farm products will be brought into sharp contrast. Between the 1st January, 1868, and the 31st December, 1880, the following changes occurred : The railroad mileage increased from 39,250 to 94,000 139 per cent. The grain crops increased from 1,450,789,000 bushels in 1868, marketed in 1868-69, to 2,448,079,181 bushels in 1880 69 per cent. The prices of the above-named staples decreased in currency between 1869 and 1880 263^ per cent. In gold the prices were practically the same. I am unable to make comparisons between the railroad traffic of 1869 and 1880, be- cause the detailed accounts of the latter year are not yet available. I believe the accounts of the railroads show a very small increase in the cost and charge per mile as compared with 1879, but the prices of products moved increased also. By a comparison of the traffic of 1870 and 1879, as given in the preceding tables, of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and 1869 and 1879 on the New York Central and the Hudson River Railroads, it appears that the actual tons moved on these two sec- tions of the consolidated line between Chicago and New York, increased on the aver- age of the two lines 175 per cent. The tons moved one mile increased 246 per cent. The earnings from freight increased only 29.2 per cent. The charge per ton per mile decreased on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 573^ per cent. And on the New York Central 67 per cent. The same changes have occurred in substantially the same degree upon the Penn- sylvania Central, Baltimore & Ohio, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads, and all others that constitute the alleged monopolies. On the other hand, all the short lines, and all the disjecta membra of lines that ought to be consolidated aud are not, show far less reduction in the charge for their service, and little or no profit to the corpor- ations that own them, where their profits depend in any degree on a share of the freight brought from long distances. Let us now compare statistically and graphically the changes in the prices of leading farm products and the decrease in the cost of moving them. We can then gauge the effect of each change upon our foreign export. It must be remembered that the average price of each product named in this table, except wool, is established at what our excess will bring for export. By Edward Atkinson. S'. Yearly Average Prices at New York. 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867^ Yearly average of gold 113.22 146.06 204.05 157.72 141.55 138.62 Flour, Extra State Wheat, Mil. Club Corn, Western Mixed Oats per bushel Pork, per barrel. Mess. Lard per pound. Mess Butter per pound. State Dairy Beef, Mess, per barrel. 5.49^\ 1.201 A •60f • 35ff 12.3811 •07||f .20 12.59H 6.14f| 1.55f| 13. 61 4 1 • lOH .25 11.79J 8.62* 1.974 1.51* . 92f I 33.181 •I'^f 1 .444 17.58* 8 0544 1 69* 1.19* •'741-1 29.211- .36 13.89* 8.934 2.071 .09* 55* 29.044 .174 .45 16.31* 10.7411 2.41* 1.641“ •'75* 22 13* 124 f: 31^ 17.131-f 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 Yearly average of gold 139.84 133.70 114.92 111.80 112.47 114.05 Flour, Extra State Wheat, Milwaukee Club Corn, Western Mixed Oats per bushel Pork, Mess, per barrel Lard per pound Beef per barrel Butter, State Dairy 9 . 13^j 2.141 1 . 19| •32* 26.82* •16| 16.19* .44 6.71fi 1 5*1 1.01* •'^3* 16.411 .181 11.41f .41 5 55 1.29| .92^ .581 26.88 . 15* 13.93 .31 6.62| 1.51f .76| .60 16.46f .10* 14.00 .30 7 03f 1.58* 48f 13.61 .09 10.23 .274 6 90| 1 564 .641" •49* 15.2541. 9 6 S 4 - •33| 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 Yearly average of gold 111.24 114.90 111.65 104.80 100.90 100 100 Flour, Extra State. . . Wheat, Milwaukee Spring Corn, Western Mixed Oats per bushel, Western Mixed Pork per barrel. Mess Beef, Mess, per barrel Lard per pound Butter per pound. State Dairy. . . 5.88i 1.35 .89 .624 19.16 13.23 .37^ 5.37i 1.231 .82* .62i 21.13 11.32^ 1Q24 .294 5.13f 1.21f .604 .41f 19.63 11.96 .294 6.244 1.504 .591 .42 19.76 13.134 .094 .22 4.48 1.16f .491 .321 9 77 11 934 7.07 .224 4 50 1.16f .491 .374 9.88 11.324 .061 .184 4.73 1.2441 .55* •42j* 13 23 9.48 •07|f The prices given are during the suspension of specie payments, currency prices. E. H. Walker, Statistician of the New York Produce Exchange. New York, Feb. 26, 1881. Medium Washed Clothing Wool. Average of January, April, July and October Prices, 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879' 1880 43 46M 55 T'OK 55* 54* 51* 44 42* 40* 37* 52* Mauger & Avery’s Report. 10 The Railroad and the Farmer. I ^ S tt m CL. I tf . g « o ^ S ^ w • ^ 52; g tf H Pa S 5 . ^ « « « P. « I « o o H S H •cno£) fn xsoo •AONaaano Ni xsoo •HvaA r4 oi 1-: _• ^ Si 8 § g g S? g g S ^ 2: 8 8 S §• 8 S S s s s 8 s oi CO 00 00 i S ?s s s The above quantities of produce weigh within a fraction of 13 tons of 2,000 lbs. each. By Edward Atkinson. 11 The New York Central & Hudson Elver Railroad being the principal target at which aU charges of alleged monopoly have been aimed, and it also being in possession of the most level grade between Chicago and the seaboard, let us now make a comparison based upon its charges in 1869 and 1879 respectively, but we will apply their rate to the whole distance from Chicago to Boston, a distance substantially of 1,000 miles. It will be observed that the through line constituting this thousand miles consists of the Lake Shore, New York Central, and Boston & Albany Railroads. The actual charge on the Lake Shore was lower than on the Central ; but on the Boston & Albany it was higher, because the grades are heavier. The New York Central rate is a fair average of the three parts of this line. Assuming the through rate at the average charge on the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad the cost of moving 13 tons of merchandise from Chicago to Boston, 1,000 miles, would have been — In the year 1869, $309.40 In the year 1879, $102,70 Assuming grain and meat at three-fifths the average rate on all merchandise, which is a fair approximation, the rates would have been — In the year 1869, $185.84 EBSSBI^BBSBOlHBSi In the year 1879, $61.62 IBagB™i In the year 1880 we exported 8,400,000 tons of grain and a little over 1,000,000 tons of meat and dairy products. Deducting the grain of California and Oregon, the flour of Virginia exported to Brazil, and the dairy product of the East, there remained not less than 8,000,000 tons of grain and meat gathered from the prairies of Dakota, Min- nesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Illinois and Indiana. This produce centred chiefly in Chicago, and the average haul to the seaboard must have exceeded 1,300 miles — as the distance from Chicago to New York is 950, to Boston 1,000 miles. The reduction in the railway charge, computed in gold, that has been made since the panic of 1873 — that is to say, since January 1, 1874 — as compared to the average charge from January 1, 1866, to January 1, 1874, has been more than half a cent a ton a mile ; as compared to the four years January 1, 1866, to January 1, 1870, inclusive, the reduction in gold has been fully one cent a ton a mile. Half a cent a ton per mile on 8,000,000 tons moved 1,300 miles measures a saving of $ 52 , 000 , 000 . One cent a ton per mile on 8,000,000 tons moved 1,300 miles measures a saving of $ 104 , 000 , 000 . The declared value of the grain, meat and dairy products exported in 1880 for the calendar year was $389,000,000. The saving in railway service at half a cent a ton constituted 13^^^ of f^e total value ; at one cent a ton per mile it constituted 26^^^ per cent, of the total value. In considering these changes, it must be constantly borne in mind that they have been made chiefly by the strongest and most profitable lines of railroad in the United States — the New York Central, Lake Shore, Michigan Southern and Central, Pennsyl- vania, Baltimore and Ohio, Illinois Central, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and others of similar kind. It may also be remembered that a considerable part of the reduction in cost has been made possible by the substitution of steel for iron rails, notwithstanding the fact 12 The Railroad and the Farmer. that this substitution began when steel rails cost about three times as much as they now do ; was continued for a long period at twice the present cost ; and the cost of steel rails in this country, or rather we should say the price of steel rails to such railroad corporations as do not make them in furnaces in which they are themselves interested, is now one hundred per cent, higher in this country than it is in Great Britain. It may therefore be inferred that although there may be some temporary upward variations in the charge for railway service, for instance, in Winters when the roads are much obstructed by snow or are injured by freshets, the general tendency will be to steady reduction. This reduction may hereafter be small and slow on the consol- idated lines east of Chicago, but must be rapid and large on many of the Western lines. On Southern and South-Western traffic, a reduction of at least one-half is sure to be compassed within the next decade. These future reductions will be promoted not only by the lower cost of operating, but also of building and extending railroads. The double cost of steel rails in this country as compared to Great Britain may be considered in connection with the statement of the probable surplus revenue of the United States that may be applied to the reduction of national taxes, if the Congress now elected shall turn its attention from the dead issues of the past to the great fiscal questions of the future that are now pressing for consideration. (See page 221.) The total weight of our grain crops in the year 1880 was seventy million tons (70,000,000 tons). How much have the people of the United States been saved by the service of the railroads in the cost of moving their own supply of food ? If we begin our computation in the year 1866, being the year after the war ended and the reduction of debt began, and estimate the sum saved in each year on all the merchandise moved by railroads in the United States, the saving wiU presently be proved to amount to a sum more than equal to the sum that has been paid upon the National debt. In other words, if we were to apply the rate paid for the movement of merchandise from 1866 to 1869, inclusive, reduced to gold, to the quantites moved in each year from 1866 to 1880, inclusive, and then deducted the amount that has been actually paid from the aggregate of that estimate, the difference amounts to more than eleven hundred million dollars ($1,100,000,000), how much more than this sum wil presently appear ; the facts are too startling to be stated fully, without proofs pre- ceding them that will prevent their being doubted by the most incredulous. The details of the traffic of other railroads are not yet available to prove this esti- mate, but soon will be when Poor’s Manual of 1881 is published ; but that the rule of increase of traffic and decrease of charge has been constant upon the lines centering in Chicago, as well upon those connecting Chicago with the sea, wiU be proved by the fact that, comparing the year 1868 on the Pittsbm*gh, Fort Wayne and Chicago, 1869 on the Illinois Central, Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and 1870 on the Chicago and Northwestern, the tons moved increased from 7,708,106 to 17,515,891 in 1879, and the average charge per ton per mile decreased 47 per cent. One proposition wiU now be absolutely sustained, to wit : That the excess of cotton which has marked the increased efficiency of free labor, added to whatever sum has been saved in the increased efficiency of the railroads, far more than equals the reduction of debt since the war ended. It therefore follows that no man in all this broad land has been obliged to work harder in order that the debt might be paid, but the reduction has been compassed by free labor and free railroads. The price of cotton has declined, but the value of each year’s crop has increased ; and while the gold value of W estern farm products has hardly altered, the crops have doubled. It cannot be too often repeated that the railway and the steamship have eliminated By Edward Atkinsoi^. 13 distance. The Western farm and the Eastern workshop, the Southern plantation and the Northern factory have been brought near each other, and in the process the very hnes of railroad that have been most profitable to their owners are the specific lines that have performed the largest service at the least cost to those who use them. One day’s wages of a common mechanic in Massachusetts will pay the cost of moving his year’s substance of bread and meat one thousand miles, from Chicago to Boston. When we consider this, we may realize that Cornelius Vanderbilt and his associ- ates who led the way in the consolidation of the railway service, and thus rendered low costs possible, were the great communists of the day. They brought about com- munity of subsistence and carried abundance to the door of the common laborer. For every cent they earned in the railway traffic and added to their great fortunes, the people have saved a dollar’s worth of labor in the work of earning their sub- sistence by the reduction of the charges that steadily accompanied the increase of the traffic upon the railroads. It matters little whether their motive was that of pure selfishness or enlightened seK-interest, the result is the same. All commerce is an exchange of services, and it may often happen that he who makes the greatest fortune works the greatest benefit to the community, whether he knows it or not ; and to this rule the great railroad corporations, even if they have no souls, form no exception. The principal and most profitable among them now do the largest amount of work for the commimity at the lowest cost of any that are in operation, and there is no other great element in the cost of subsistence of the whole people that has been so much cheapened in the last ten or twenty years, as the cost of railway service. May we not, therefore, dread the attempt of State Legislatures, and of Congress, to alter these conditions by meddlesome statutes, and to prescribe rules for the con- duct of this vast and varied service ? If either body were to attempt to regulate the production of the farm by statute, who would be more quick to resent the interference than the farmers themselves ? But the farmers derive their titles to their lands from the same source that the railway owner holds the title to its track. They are no more pro- ducers than the common carriers are ; they move the soil with their machines ; they move the seed ; they move the crop on their wagons to the mill and to the market. All that the railroad does is to keep the product moving. One is as much under the supervision of law as the other, but if the work of either could be regulated by statute with success, it would be the simple work of the farmer and not the complex work of the railroad. Again, who would be more ready to resent any attempt to control the rate of wages or earnings by statute than the great body of consumers to whom the railroad carries its beneficent service? Yet this, again, would need but a page where the prescriptions for the earnings or wages of the railway would need a whole code of laws. Service for service is the rule of aU exchange, and it is the competition of product with product in all the great markets that absolutely controls the traffic on every line of rail, and in the long run compels its managers to do the most work for the least charge. The price of wheat in Odessa controls the policy of the N. Y. Central R. R. On the other hand, the cost of railway service is not alike between any two points in the country ; it differs with the grades, with the distance from fuel, with the appli- ances for loading and unloading the cars, and with the length of the haul. It may be said that with aU the ability that has yet been given to the problem, no rule has yet been devised by which the special cost of any particular service can be as- certained with accuracy, and the only approach to a rule yet known is based on a crude computation of averages ; and it has been well said that the railway service requires a legislature of experts in constant session to save it from ruin. 14 The Railroad and the Farmer. Id his Railroad Manual of 1880, Mr. Henry V. Poor contrasts the average charge per ton per mile on several of the great through routes between the East and West, constituting the very lines against which the charge of monopoly is most frequently raised. He gives the tons moved on thirteen principle lines and the receipts from freight. While the traffic increased 47^ per cent., the earnings increased only 3 84-100 per cent. The average rate per ton per mile in 1873, on all merchandise, was 1.77 cents ; in 1879 only 1.02 cents. He then goes on to say : “ The freight earnings given in the above table were in 1873 about one- third of those of all the railroads in the United States, and in 1879 about one-fourth. Had the rates of 1873 been maintained in 1879, the receipts for the latter year, instead of being $116,311,452, would have reached on the roads named the sum of $230,618,838, and for the United States, $922,475,352. The difference between the amount actually received and that given above shows what has been gained by the public in the operations of our railroads alone. In no other branch of commerce can anything like this saving be shown. It is the result of intelligence, skill and ingenuity, left free to work out the best possible results, unhampered by other legislation than that of their own officers composing a legislature in constant session.” This reduction in the cost of, and in the charge for the service of railroads, is more than equal to the reduction of the public debt in the same period, from 1873 to 1879, yet the more it has been accomplished the louder has been the clamor for legislative interference and the greater has been the misrepresentation of the true facts. Land- owners whose possessions would have remained a wilderness, farmers who could have found no market for their produce, miners who could not have smelted their ores, unite in their endeavor to cripple and retard the progress of those who have conferred the greatest benefit upon them, and in this attempt are aided by counsel whose statements of facts and estimates in figures have as little basis in reality as the policy they sustain has in sound reason.* It cannot be denied that this vast change in the railway traffic has been ac- companied with some hardships. There have been periods when a railroad war has occurred and the charge between far distant points has been reduced to less than cost. At such times the charge between intermediate points, not being reduced in the same proportion, has seemed unduly high, and many places have suffered from what appeared to be an unjust discrimination ; but the real fault may have been that the rate on the long traffic has been too low and not that the rate on the short traffic has been too high. Again, the terminal charges constitute a much greater part of the cost than any one who has not carefully examined the subject would believe ; they therefore consti- tute a very large element in the cost of a short haul on small quantities, and may be a very small element in a long haul of very large quantities. Again, it is impossible that such a service should have been organized in so short a time without inequalities for which time only could disclose a cure. When we think of this vast service in the concrete the mind almost refuses to re- ceive the impression, and the magnitude of the transactions and of the quantities moved renders the comprehension of the simple elements of the problem exceedingly difficult. The subject must be presented in its two-fold aspect — in terms of least and greatest. The daily ration of solid food of an adult consists of about two and a half * See the exposure by Albert Fink of the mis-statements made by Judge J. S. Black (iV. Y. Worlds Feb. 25, 1881, and in later numbers of the same paper). By Edward Atkinson. 15 . to three pounds of meat, bread, vegetables, sugar, butter, etc. — let us call it three pounds, or one pound each for breakfast, dinner and supper. The great crops of grain now produced in this country weigh seventy million tons the hay crop, which is but a synonym for meat, butter and cheese, adds thirty million more ; to these must be added the root crops, — the weight of sugar, tea, coffee and other articles of food ; in all, not less than one hundred and fifty million tons of food must be consumed by this nation or exchanged for the foreign products that we need. This huge volume is but one year’s supply, to be moved not only once, but twice, thrice, and more ; it must all be converted and reconverted, sorted, divided and exchanged. Three hundred thousand million food pounds to be converted, condensed, and finally sorted into as many parcels of three pounds each as there are people, in order that each may have a breakfast, a dinner and a supper. How is this movement compassed ? By cart and wagon ; by railroad, lake or canal ; again by wagon or by hand ; if the movement be analyzed the most costly part is the last or final distribution. If the wheat be traced throughout its course the heaviest single charge upon it will be found to be the cost of distributing the loaves of bread that come from the baker’s oven ; the lightest, the charge for moving the barrel of flour a thousand miles from Chicago to the seaboard. Ten barrels of flour constitute a ton weight — the railways earn a dividend when moving this quantity a thousand miles at five to seven dollars a ton, or half a cent ta seven-tenths of a cent a ton a mile, — 1,000 miles at only fifty cents a barrel ! What does it cost to move the barrel from the railway to the warehouse — from the ware- house to the baker’s oven ? How far will half a dollar or seventy cents go in paying the cost of moving and distributing the 100 to 300 loaves of bread that are usually made from that barrel ? Any attempt to control the rates that may be charged upon a railroad by statute is but an indirect attempt to regulate prices by law. Such undertakings have always failed. If legislators desire to test their ability, let them undertake to regulate the traffic in loaves of bread, and see how much they can cheapen the cost of running bakers’ carts and carrying on grocers’ shops. Every sumptuary law has failed ; scarcity has ensued from every attempt to regulate prices by law in all lands and at all times ; and even where statutes regulating the price of railway traffic have been enacted in this country, they have either been disregarded or repealed as soon as the attempt to enforce them has proved their mischievous effect. The traffic over the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, mostly from Buffalo to New York, amounted in 1880 to over ten million tons, one-half or two-thirds of which was food. For this part of the distance between New York and Chicago, the proportion of each half dollar on each barrel of flour was not over thirty to thirty -five cents. If a forced reduction of this charge could be made by law to the extent of one- half, consumers and producers might gain fifteen to twenty cents a barrel, but the end might be bankruptcy even to that great corporation. Fifteen to twenty cents is little if any more than the average cost of moving that barrel from the warehouse of the dealer to the dwellings of his customers. On such small fractions does the great rail- way service now depend. There is another aspect of least and greatest. Nearly 60,000,000 tons of coal are mined and moved every year, and a large amount of this coal is consumed in the rail- way locomotives that again are worked in moving other substances. The present locomotive engine is almost barbarous in its waste of fuel ; not over three or four per cent, of the actual units of heat in this fuel are converted into the actual motion of the train, and the dead weight of the train and engine is three or four to one of the^^ load carried. Not over one pound in a hundred of coal consumed on a railroad is act- ually and absolutely applied to the movement of the load. Yet this power has caused 16 The Railboad anp the Farmer. a social revolution in this country, and is rendering the payment of rent on land de- voted to agriculture in Great Britain almost if not quite impossible, because it has enabled us to sell grain, meat and dairy products at such low prices that they leave little or no margin for rent on land devoted to their production in any part of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Having thus presented a part of the argument in favor of free railroads, and stated the result, before we consider the final summary let us devote a small space to the ben- eficent power of free labor, cotton as well as corn constituting one of the great powers of the land. In the last years that preceded the final struggle by which this nation at last be- came truly free, the writers in “De Bow’s Southern Review” gravely argued that it was the high price and not the low price of cotton that limited its production ; be- cause, for every cent a pound added to the price of cotton a hundred dollars was added to the price of the human chattel that raised the crop ; hence, whatever the stimulus to the traffic in slaves this might give, the States or sections that engaged in the most abhorrent and barbarous practice of supplying this demand could not adequately meet it. It thus happened from 1858 to 1860, when the spindles of the North and of Europe were rapidly increasing, that for every million dollars expended in a new fac- tory, the Cotton States must have earned and expended a million and a half dollars in ■stocking with human live stock and starting the new plantation that was to supply the mill with cotton. That this could not be done was plain to the far-seeing vision of the few leaders in Secession by whose acts the Civil War was promoted, and under whose malignant con- trol white and black alike were kept in the bondage of oppression and of ignorance ; hence the iU-concealed, and often openly avowed determination to re-open the slave trade. It wiU not be long ere these base purposes will appear to have been as infamous to the progressive men who now constitute the New South as they did to John Brown when he began the great struggle for freedom in his attack upon Harper’s Ferry, and the time may not be far distant when the descendants of the soldiers in the Confed- erate armies will erect a monument to John Brown as the great liberator of their land from oppression. The inefficiency of the old system will be apparent from the two following tables . Feeble attempts have sometimes been made to disprove the evidence of these figures ; it has been affirmed that the increase of cotton has been due, not so much to the greater efficiency of labor as to the application of white labor to new fields under new conditions. What better testimony could be borne to prove the utter inefficiency of the old system, which compelled the most intelligent masters to work their slaves with the rudest tools and most unfit methods, but forbade white men working at all ©xcept imder a sense of indignity. It is grandly tiue that emancipation struck the shackles from the wrists of white as well as black — mind and muscle were set free together. The most conclusive evidence of progress in the Cotton States is to be foimd in the immense increase in the number of small farms ; but still further evidence is to be foimd in the fact that the consolidation of Southern railroad lines has begun, by which the cost of transportation between North and South will soon be reduced at least one-half. When this occurs the advantage of the manufacturer of New England over his competitor in Old England, which now varies from half to three-quarters of a cent a pound, may be increased, to our great advantage in the export of cotton fabrics. By Edward Atkinson. 17 Crops op Cotton of the United States — Fifteen Years of Slave Labor. Season. Bales. 1840-7 1,860,479 1847-8 2,424,113 1848-9 2,808,596 1849-0 2,171,706 1850-1 2,415,257 1851-2 3,090,020 1852-3 3,352,882 1853-4 3,055,027 1854-5 2,932,339 1855-6 3,645,345 1856-7 3,056,579 1857-8 3,238,962 1858-9 3,994,481 1859-0 4,823,770 1860-1 3,826,086 46,675,591 It is doubtless true that a considerable part of the recent crops have been made by- white labor ; that proves yet more conclusively the redemption of the Cotton States from oppression. Crops op Cotton of the United States. — Fifteen Years of Free Labor. Season. Bales. 1865-6 2,228,987 1866-7 2,059,271 1867-8 2,498,898 1868-9 2,439,039 1869-0 3,154,946 1870-1 ; 4,352,317 1871-2 2,974,351 1872-3 3,930,508 1873-4 4,170,388 1874-5 3,832,991 1875-6 4,669,288 1876-7 4,485,423 aaaiiSi^sBsm 1877-8 4,811,000 1878-9 5,073,531 1879-0 5,757,397 56,438,335 Excess of 15 Free Labor Crops . 9,702,741 The crop of cotton of 1880-81 will probably reach 6,250,000 bales. IS Thpj Railroad and the Farmer. It may now be time to show the relation which the excess of our grain and cotton crops have borne to the reduction of our national debt. It is with the excess of farm products of grain and cotton that we have paid our foreign debt and have reduced tbe gross debt of the nation. The maximum debt, liquidated and unliquidated, as computed by Hon. Hugh McCulloch in his last report as Secretary of the Treasury : On the 1st. August, 1865, amounted to $2,997,386,203 On the 1st M irch, 1881, it was 1,879,956,412 Decrease in 15 years and 7 months $1,117,429,791 The excess of cotton raised in this period above the quantity raised in the last 15 years of slavery, 9,762,741 bales, all of which has been exported, has been worth in gold coin over $650,000,000. When this year’s crop is added and sixteen years are compared, the excess of free over slave labor will be nearly 14,000,000 bales, worth in gold coin at least $800,000,000. The great progress of this nation and its relief from the burthen of debt are due two factors — free labor and free railroads. Add to the first fruits of liberty in the Cotton States the sum that has been saved on our grain crop by the reduction of the charge upon our railroads, and the aggregate of the two sums is vastly more than equal to the amount that we have paid upon our national debt in the period that has elapsed since the surrender of the Rebel armies. Without this reduction in the railway charge the export of grain and meat would have been very limited, and the grain would either have been wasted or it could not have been produced. The relief from the crowded state of the cities that took effect during the war would not have been possible, nor could the disbanded armies have found peace and prosperity on the farms of the Great West. In the four years after our armies were disbanded, preceding January 1, 1870, to wit, 1866 to 1869 inclusive, the actual tons moved over the New York Central and Hudson River Railroads numbered 10,102,569 ; the tons moved one mile numbered 1,868,448,779 ; the freight earnings were $50,556,875 in currency, or, reducing each year’s earnings to gold at the average rate of each year, $36,560,000 in gold. The average charge per ton per mile for this period was, therefore, In currency 2.7058 cents. In gold 1.9567 “ In the ten years ensuing, 1870 to 1879 inclusive, the actual tons moved on the same line numbered 60,221,553 ; the tons moved one mile numbered 14,353,521,585 ; the freight earnings in currency were $174,594,548 ; reduced to gold, $159,658,000. The average charge per ton per mile in this period was, therefore. In currency 1.2164 cents. In gold 1.1123 “ The reduction in currency has therefore been 1.4894 cents per ton per mile, in gold .8444 cents in the latter period as compared to the former. Applying these rates of reduction to the tons moved one mile in the ten years, 1870 to 1879, inclusive, to wit, 14,353,521,585, we get the following results : Reduction in currency $213,781,350 Reduction in gold $121,201,136 That is to say, had this line been able to charge the same rate in gold from January 1, 1870, to January 1, 1880, that it did charge from January 1, 1866, to January 1, 1870, its earnings from freight would have been $121,201,136, or 70 per cent, more than the actual charge made and collected. Does any one suppose that this reduction was made from choice ? Would not the managers of this line have charged the same rate in each period if they could ? This change has been accomplished under the pressure of three separate factors : By Edward Atkinson. 19 First . — The competition of railroad with railroad, working in moderate degree. Second . — The competition of all the railroads with all the water-ways of the country, working constantly, and each year more and more effectively. Third . — The competition of product with product, in all the great markets of the world — the most potent factor of all the three. Had not this reduction in the charge for moving our crops been made upon this line, coupled with an equivalent reduction on all the lines between Chicago and the sea- board ; had there not been a reduction in substantially the same degree on aU the great Western lines centering in Chicago, the crops could not have been moved at all ; they could not even have been made, because the export of the surplus not required for home consumption would have been forbidden. Had not the production of these great crops been promoted and made possible by their further production or leading forth ui)on the railroad to the use of men, our dis- banded armies could not have found homes and work without long delay, but they would have been crowded back upon the cities and towns already occupied by the excess of population that the abnormal demands of war had centered in them. There is but one more example that needs to be given. In the single year 1879 the tons moved one mile on the N. Y. C. and H. R. R.R. numbered 2,295,827,387 Ereight earnings $18,270,250 In the four years 1866 to 1869 inclusive, the tons moved one mile num- bered 1,868,448,779 Freight earnings in currency $50,556,875 “ in gold $36,560,000 Grold charge per ton per mile in 1866 to 1869 inclusive 1.9567 cents. “ “ “ in 1879 7954 “ Reduction 1.1613 Had the charge of the first period been made upon the traffic of 1879 the difference would have been $26,650,000 more than the actual amount collected. The following table gives in a graphial form the facts that mark the changes that have occurred on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, comparing the average of each year, 1866 to 1869 inclusive, with the single year 1879 : Each Year’s Average from 1866 to 1869, Inclusive, Compared to 1879. New York Centrai. & Hudson River R.R. Increase. Per Cent. Actual tons moved 374 Tons moved one mile 491 iiiiriii mil III III II llllllllllllll||lllllllllllllllllll■■l■lllll■l«^ Earnings in gold 200 Decrease. Charge per ton per mile in gold 59.35 Actual charge on 9,441,213 tons moved in 1879 818,270,550 Actual charge on 9,441,213 tons moved in 1879 818,270,550 Caarge as it would have been had the average gold rate of 1866 to 1869 inclusive, been made in 1879 844,920.250 in 1879 844,920.250 Deference saved on the traffic of 1879. 826,650,000 20 The Railroad and the Farmer. In the consideration of this table two facts should be observed : First. — That the increase in the tons per mile moved exceeds the increase of twe actual tons moved 117 per cent., from which fact it would appear that the local or Sta«e traffic has gained in more than a full proportion from the reduction in the charge per ton per mile. Second. — The prices of the leading products of agriculture named in a preceding table, at the port of New York, were substantially the same in 1879 as they were if computed in gold in 1869, from which it may be assumed that Western producers have received the full benefit of the reduction upon the through traffic. All the data for the above computations have been taken from ‘ ‘ Poor’s Railroad Manuals ” without any knowledge on the part of any person connected with any railroad line of the writer’s intention to prepare this statement ; some of the tables have been submitted to railroad officials for examination, but the writer has no con- nection with and hardly any interest in any railroad ; his sole purpose in the preparation of this paper has been to clear away the rubbish that obscures a most important public question. The traffic upon the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad in 1880 amounted to over ten million (10,000,000) tons. Mr. H. V. Poor estimates the traffic on all the railroads of the United States in the same year, including coal, at two hundred and fifty million tons (250,000,000). The traffic on this line has not increased in any greater degree than it has upon many other mam lines to Chicago, or from Chicago to the sea, although it may have increased more than that of other lines in other directions. The reduction on the freight charge has been equalled, or even exceeded, on some other important lines, but is probably greater than the average on all the lines of the country taken together. The saving on this line only, in the ten years from 1870 to 1879 inclusive, was over one hundred and twenty million dollars in gold coin ($120,000,000). If the traffic on this line represents a twentieth part of the traffic of all the railroade of the United States, and the charge has been decreased in the same ratio, it proves a saving of twenty-four hundred million dollars ($2,400,000,000) in ten years time. But there is another more certain method of establishing the ratio of the traffic of this line to all the rest. In the Railroad Manual for 1880 the freight earning, of all the roads of the United States are given for nine years, 1871 to 1879 inclusive, amounting to $3,228,808,877. The freight receipts of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad during the same nine years were $160,105,322, or substantially one-twentieth of the whole amount. But this ratio may be contested, and neither time nor space suffice for the necessary proof. It may be alleged that the reduction of charge on this line Mas exceeded the average. Let it suffice to prove what cannot be gainsaid, and what will presently be more than proved when the compilation of the traffic of all the great through lines is com- pleted, on which Mr. H. V. Poor is now engaged for his Manual of 18jsl. If the reduction on ail lines has only been one-half that upon this line ; if one-half remains yet to be gained, still the aggregate saved has been twelve hundred million dollars ($1,200,000,000), or a larger amount in ten years than the aggregate reduction of the national debt in more than fifteen years. If this he admitted, then the point is well taken that no man has worked harder or longer in order to make this payment; hut it has heen the result of only a partial solu- tion of one of the prohlems of distrihution. The function of statute laws in this matter has been, that so far as general laws have rendered the co-operation of labor and capital possible, by means of the organiza- By Edward Atkinson. 21 tion of corporations competent to do the work, they have been necessary; and it is for that work, in part, that governments exist and that statutes are needed. So far as attempts have been made to impose special conditions, and by statutes to regulate rates of traffic and to control the executive work of the railway service, they have either obstructed progress or failed to meet the intention of those who framed them; or else they have become inopera+^ive within a very short time after their enact- ment. The forces that rule this country, North and South alike, are the great industrial powers born of agriculture, and promoted by commerce among men and nations. These forces are reconstructing Southern society, and forcing even the most unrepent- ant Bourbon to obey their behest ; while the ship-loads of corn with Which we have at- tacked the privileges of those classes in England, who would have destroyed this nation, have been more potent than any weapons of war that were ever forged. The writer has treated this subject in another place, but is permitted to present it again, in order to show yet more conclusively the power of the farmer and the rail- road when united in the bonds of a common interest. In so doing he must indulge in some repetition. He has no apology to offer for this or any other repetition in pre- senting this case. It must be considered in every aspect in order to be comprehended. American competition in grain, meat and dairy products is making it almost im- possible that rent shall continue to be paid on land devoted to agriculture in Great Britain. From recent investigation it appears that out of 72,117,766 acres comprising the total acreage of Great Britain, exclusive of the metropolis, 15,303,165 acres, or a little more than one-fifth, are divided into 1,593 separate landed estates, and are held by 525 dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons, constituting the House of Peers. These estates have yielded an annual rent of £12,529,068, over $60,000,000. Even this statement, startling as it appears, is believed by Mr. Arthur Arnold to be an under- estimate both of the acreage and of the rental, as the estates of peeresses were not in- cluded in this compilation, neither were many estates held in special trusts. In the further treatment of the question of land-tenure, Mr. Arnold reaches the conclusion that more than four-fifths of the land of Great Britain is in the possession of about 7,000 persons ; but in regard to their title he makes a distinction between possession and ownership, in view of the fact that at least 52,000,000 acres of this land are held by those who are only life-tenants under entails or other settlements. Mr. Arnold’s words are, “ I say, in possession, because the landed gentry in this country are not owners, in the strict and proper sense of the word, of the lands with which their names and titles are connected.” He contests the view commonly held in this country, that the price of land is very high in England, and that the high price is induced by the social distinction that its possession implies ; but holds, on the contrary, that the price of land is far below its true value, and that it pays but a low rate of interest, for the reason that its use and product are restricted by the necessary conditions that must be imposed upon the tenant, in order that the system of landlord and tenant may be sustained at all ; that, if it could be freely used in the cultivation of a variety of products, the income would be much greater and the price would then advance. It is difficult for any one in this country to imagine such a condition as is pictured hy these figures ; four-fifths of the area of a country inhabited by about 33,000,000 people, owned by 7,000 persons, and four-fifths of that portion held only under a life- estate ! Such is the system now approaching its end under the effect of our competition. The longer legislative abuses or obstructions are maintained, the more severe must be the struggle for their removal ; yet when the time comes they must yield, because The Railroad and the Farmer. I 22 the further attempt to maintain them means war or anarchy. Witness the condition of Ireland at this very time. Let the bitter struggle through which England passed in the great contest over the corn-laws be remembered ; let it be considered that the power of the House of Lords and of the Established Church is founded mainly on the possession of and the rent of land ; further, that the very existence of the present system depends absolutely upon a body of trained tenant farmers,' estimated at about 560,000 in number, in Great Britain, (there are over 600,000 tenants in Ireland) whose capital has been invested in improvement of these lands ; which capital has been, or is now being, destroyed by a series of bad seasons and by our competition ; that without these tenant-farmers the possessors of the soil are as powerless to use land as they now are to dispose of it ; and then the true meaning of wheat at forty shillings a quarter, and beef at sixpence a pound, will be apparent, if it be true that these prices will continue to be profitable to us, and yet forbid any rent being paid upon land devoted to their pro4uction in England.* It may be as true of the economic as of the spiritual gospel, that it brings not peace, but a sword. It cuts away abuses, that in their fall will promote much misery before the righteous conclusion is attained. No return to the protection of agriculture in Great Britain can be considered for a moment : the rent of land is but a tithe of the income of the people, and cheap food is vital to the very existence of the vast majority who are engaged in manufactures, in commerce, and in the mechanic arts. It may well befit us who are spared the distress which must ensue before this revo- lution on which Great Britain is now entering is ended, to remember that we are mem- bers one of another, bound by the inter-dependence of nations, and that upon the wel- fare of England our prosperity greatly depends, because she is our principal customer. As the fall of slavery brought misery on both North and South here, so must the fall of privilege work sadness over the sea. It is this system, with all its good and evil, that is now tottering to its fall. The pleasant country life, of which Washington Irving gave us such charming pictures, and of which we have read so much in English literature, may have to give place, in order that pauperism may be abated. The abounding charity of those who enjoyed its benefits could only alleviate this evil ; almost a revolution is needed to remove its cause. Rented land must of necessity be cultivated under conditions that will maintain its fertility, whether held under lease or only at will. These conditions can only be applied in any large measure to staple crops or to grazing and dairy farm- ing ; they are inconsistent with small farming, unless the landlord himself owns but a small area of land, and gives close personal supervision to the manner of its cultiva- tion by his tenants. Great estates can only be rented on the conditions that are applic- able to the great staple crops of grain, or to the products of the dairy and of meat. The competition in the sale of wheat in Great Britain, on the part of this country, has already caused a reduction in the area of land devoted to wheat, from a little under 4,000,000 acres to a little over 3,000,000, during the last seven years — a reduction of one- fourth. A portion or the whole of this discarded area has been devoted to grazing, but during the latter part of this period our competition in meat, butter and cheese, has effected the rent of land used even- for these purposes. The English Commis- sioners, Messrs. Pell and Reed, who lately visited this country, concluded that there was more permanent danger of our competition in the production of meat than of the permanent continuance of our export of wheat. ' * Seventy per cent, of the tenant-farmers of England occupy less than 50 acres each ; 12 per cent, between 50 and 100 ; IS per cent, over 100. Five thousand occupy between 500 and 1,000 acres each ; 600 occupy over 1,000 acres each. — Jas. Caird, Tlie Landed Interest. By Edward Atkinson. 23 They seem to have come to the conclusion that our railway service had reached its lowest cost, and could not be much more reduced ; and that as the virgin soil of the far West became exhausted, we should be unable to export wheat at less than forty- eight shillings a quarter, although they admit that the day is still far distant when this upward limit will be reached. In the meantime rents are not only being greatly reduced in England, but many of the heavy lands as yet undrained are thrown entirely out of cultivation — the encum- bered owners being unable to drain or improve them, and no tenant being willing or able to work them. The Irish land question is but the beginning ; the English land ques- tion must come next, and cannot long be deferred. It may happen that no delay in the change of the system of land tenure in Great Britain need be made in the expectation that there will not be a continuance of our supply of wheat, and that as our product increases in ratio to our home demand we may not supply wheat in Liverpool even at thirty shillings a quarter, if we can get no more. For instance, the Blue Limestone, commonly known as the “ Blue Grass” section of Kentucky, covers 10,000 square miles or 6,400,000 acres — more than double the pres- ent wheat acreage of Great Britain. It appears to have been overlooked by the Com- missioners, but with a tolerable system of farming it is capable of producing as large a crop of wheat per acre, without manure, as the average of the high farming of Eng- land — the rotten limestone containing a very large proportion of phosphates sending up new elements of fertility every year, so that the cost of production is only the cost of cultivation and of harvesting the crop. This section has had only an indirect con- nection with the seaboard, but will presently have one or more direct lines of com- munication averaging about 650 miles. The only reason that a full supply of wheat may not then be profitably sent to Eng- land at thirty shillings a quarter will be that hemp, tobacco, horses, mules and cattle will pay better. There are several other sections of the T^ew South from which nearly or quite as good results may be expected, of which even we at the North as yet know but little. Lest it seem rash to make positive assertions, let us consider some questions in regard to a small section of the New South, that may even make it necessary for some of our own countrymen to study geography again. Cannot a square of land, about three-fourths as large as France, be marked off in the centre of that portion of the United States, lying east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio, comprising a jxjrtion only of the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Virginia, covering the “Blue Grass,” the “ Piedmont District,” the ranges of the Southern Alleghenies and the Blue Ridge, with the rich upland valleys lying between ; all of which section will range from 650 to 6,700 feet above the sea, and be quite free from malaria, unless it be in some of the river bottoms? Is not this section, which is nearly twice the area of Great Britain, equal to Great Britain and France combined, in the variety and quantity of its possible mineral products, and more than equal to either in its possible agricultural products ? It contains the purest iron and coal in close proximity ; salt, sulphur, copper, lead, zinc, corundum in greatest abundance, and also gold, which could well be spared if tin might take its place. . In fact it may well be asked could not this single section of the New South sustain the present agricultural and mining population of the United States in health and comfort, and under much better average climatic conditions than they now enjoy ? Is not this terra (almost) incognita of this country, yet inhabited as to about one- half its area, only by a very sparse population, so isolated by the surrounding pall of slavery until recent years, as to have depended wholly upon themselves ? Are there not even yet numbers of inhabitants in these fertile mountains and valleys clad in 24 The Railroad and the Farmer. homespun, some of whom have never even seen a wheeled veliicle,* and greater num- bers who have never seen a locomotive engine. la not a national survey of this territory called for, in order that the facts as yet observed only by a few may be spread upon the national record so as to turn the tide of emigration, especially of the English, tovv-ard a land which may be vastly more congenial to them than the distant prairies of the far West ? ■VVeli may the laborers of Europe, borne down by the burthen of debts that can never be paid, and that have been mainly incurred in sustaining the vested wrongs that oppress them, have watched the struggle for personal liberty in this land as one in which they also had the greatest stake. The great crops that have been treated in this paper, are but the first fruits of that personal liberty — the shadow only of the substance yet to come. The population of Europe, aside from Russia and Turkey, numbers about 225,000,000. They occupy an area equal to the arable land only of this country, or a little over 1,500,- 000 square miles. Upon the continent of Europe more than one in every hundred and ten ofthe population is a soldier in active service. This means that the work of one adult man in every twenty-two is withdrawn from productive seiwice, and he must be sustained at a heavy cost by those who remain at work ; of whom again one and most couni ries two more are forced to waste a large part of their time in the reserve, and are subject to be called into active war at a moment’s notice. What may be the changes that the adverse conditions of Europe and the prosper- ity of this country may bring into action, few can yet conceive. Of this we may be sure — that the coming century of liberty and commerce will only serve to make the past century of slavery and war more dark than it ever seemed before, as the North and the New South united, emerge from the shadow not yet quite dispelled, into the glorious sunlight DOW flashing in the dawn. In this again, the figures fail to convey the impression, and the graphical method must be adopted. In order to convey the impression, let us omit from the consideration the half civilized nations of Russia and Turkey in Europe, and omit Alaska in the United States. Austria, Germany, Roumania, Servia, Montenegro, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Switzerland, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Norway comprise 1,546,802 square miles. The United States, aside from Alaska comprise 3,034,399 square miles. The national debts of the Empires and Kingdoms of Europe in the above list, according to the latest data as given in “ Mulhali’s Progress of the World,” amounted to $16,794,800,000. The debt of the United States on the 1st March, 1880, was $1,880,000,000. The national expenditures of the above named States of Europe in 1879, amounted to $2,282,800,000. The national expenditures of the U nited States in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, amounted to $267,642,957. The population of the States of Europe named, according to the latest census taken at different dates since 1875, approximates 225,000,000. The population of the United States, .lune 1, 1880, was a trifle over 50,000,000. The staading armies of the States of Europe named, in actual service in camp or barracks, together with smaller but more expensive force in the navies of the maritime states number over 2,100,000 men, to whom must be added a much greater number in the reserves who have wasted years of their lives in preparing for war, and who may be called into active service at a moment’s notice. * Such is the testimony of recent scientific evplorers. By Edward Atkinson. 25 The standing army of the United States numbers 25,000 men. The following table will convey a much more vivid impression of the relative burthens than these figures can give : The Burthens upon Europe and America Compared (Omitting Russia, Turkey AND Alaska). Relative Areas, QAO c!/~* Tniloc ihlirop©, lUlloo United States, 3,034,399 “ 1 Relative Population to One Square Mile. Europe, 145 per sq. mile United States, 16>^ “ Relative Burthen of Debts to Each Inhabitant. Since 1848 the debt of Europe has nearly trebled and is still increasing. In 1880 it was $16,794,800,000, or an average to each inhabitant of $74.64 In 1848 the United States owed no debt of any moment. On the 1st August, 1866, our war debt was at its maximum, and was estimated (liquidated and unliquidated) by Secretary McCulloch at $2,997,386,203— an average to each inhabitant at that date of $83.35 March 1, 1881, the debt had been more than one-third paid, and was reduced to $l,879,-j 956,412— an average to each person of $38.85 Relative Burthen op National Expenditures to Each Inhabitant. Europe in 1880, $2,282,800,000— or an average In the United States, in 1866, after our armies were disbanded, our expenditures were $346,729,130— or an average of $9.63 to In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, they were $267,642,957— or an average of $5.35. Relative Burthen of Standing Armies. In Europe each 110 inhabitants, or at the ra- tio of one able-bodied man to each five, each 22 men sustain one soldier in active service. Tfie reserves, liable to be called into active war at any moment, are esti- mntpft at t.wipp t.tift rpgiila.r armips In the United States each 2,000 inhabitants, or each 400 men, sustain 1 soldier 1 If these lines do not convey an impression of duties as well as privileges to the citi- zens of this country, they will fail of their purpose. 26 The Railroad and the Farmer. ■While our Senators are debating questions of appointment to petty ofiices connected with that body, the great industrial forces of the Nation are seeking true statesmen who shall give them opportunity to work with freedom. It was well said by Carl Schurz on a recent occasion, “that it proved the strength of this Nation that the most important question on wliich the last Congress divided, was the question whether the rate of interest that the Secretary of the Treasury might be permitted to offer on refrmding the National Debt, should be three or three and one- half per cent.” It is a sign both of the strength and of the weakness of the Nation that in the present session of the Senate of the United States, the most important question at issue appears to be, what person shall occupy the position of Sergeant-at-Arms of that body, and dispense the patronage of that petty office. The war is ended and slavery is dead ; the new forces born of hberty are recon- structing the late Slave States with a power that no act of Congress can much affect. The wise policy of the late Administration has given these forces almost free play, and their results have been made evident in the welfare of white and black alike, such as has never been witnessed in the past, however short it may be of that which will surely be attained in the future. The interest of the people demands general laws that shall give equal opportunity to all ; Congresses and Legislatures spend year after year in special legislation, hence the greatest confidence exists, and therefore the greatest progress is made, when neither are in session. If they would spend their time in removing the obstructive statutes that their predecessors have enacted, their sessions would be welcome. In the last century the inventions that have been applied to textile manufacturing have reduced the work of furnishing all the cotton cloth that 1,000 inhabitants of this country, 1,600 Chinese or 3,200 East Indians need in a year — to the measure of the labor of two hands in the cotton field, one man’s work or its equivalent in money to move the cotton to the factory and two operatives tending the spindles and looms — only five in all. A less proportion of each thousand can furnish ail the woolen fabrics needed. In twenty years the improvements in the handling of timber have reduced the labor of conversion into boards and other building material so much that one man is sure to take the place of eight then employed. Who can measure the potentiality of machinery applied to agriculture ? The week’s ration of a Southern negro, which he chooses in preference to any other food, is a peck of meal and three-and-a-half pounds of bacon, worth at wholesale prices 35 to 50 cents. One man working a pair of horses in Iowa can work sixty acres of land, each acre pro- ducing sixty bushels of corn at sixty pounds to the bushel, or 216,000 pounds — 108 tons. In every art the labor and drudgery have been reduced and the product increased, while science has, at the same time, abated most of this noxious and dangerous con- dition of work. The problems of the future are not how to produce but how to distribute the abun- dance of the field, the mine and the factory. Abundance and inteUigence go hand in hand, and the measure in which this assured abundance may be enjoyed is but the measure of the service that each section, each State, or each person, of our common country can render to his neighbor. With each improvement in machinery, wages or earnings become larger, and the hours of labor necessary to subsistence are diminished ; the absolute share of the capitalist is increased, while his relative share of each year’s product is diminished ; on the other hand, the share of the laborer is increased both absolutely and relatively. The common allegation that the use of machinery decreases employment and reduces wages is without foundation. The “progressive desires” that distinguish men from By Edward Atkinson. 27 beasts bring new wants into existence, and as the possibility for better conditions of life ensues the standard rises in respect to what is necessary to a comfortable subsistence. Imports continually increase as the export of our excess enables us to pay for them, and “ the ships that pass between this land and that, are like the shuttle of the loom, weaving the web of concord among the nations. ” Since the end of the Rebellion of Slavery against Liberty, the great forces of industry and commerce have assured prosperity in spite of the malignant effects of inconvertible paper money, of the constant attempts of Congress to tamper with the standard of value, and of State Legislatures to hamper and restrict the movements of trade by means of obstructive and meddlesome statutes applied to railroads. But the common sense of the people always finds its exponent, and by the veto messages of President Grant and President Hayes, some of the most obnoxious measures have been stopped, while the Granger Acts applied to railway service defeated themselves as soon as any attempt was made to enforce them. It only now remains for legislators to learn that their chief duty is to remove obstructions rather than to attempt to impose conditions upon commerce. It is useless to palter over names that have ceased to represent ideas or facts. This nation has a function in the world that is yet almost a vision. There are three economic principles that it needs first to learn before the vision can be realized. First, In this coimtry earnings or wages are limited only by want of intelligence, skill, or industry. Second. The man or woman that earns the highest wages in the factory,* on the farm or in any department of indusiry in which machinery is largely employed com- passes the largest production at the lowest cost. Third. The State that exchanges the product of its machinery and skill with another in which manual labor is still the rule, gains most in wealth. Liberty under laws that forbid injustice and oppression, but leave the whole move- ment of society perfectly free, is the condition under which the greatest material results can be attained. When South and West shall strive alike, with equal skill and equal intelligence, to do the work best adapted to their climate and soil, aU sectional antagonism must cease, and all alike shall 'prosper. In order that this prosperity may be most fully enjoyed, it will be necessary that the two instrumentalities by means of which aU exchanges are made possible — the railroads and the banks — shall be relieved from the obstructions that ignorance and prejudice combiued seem deter- mined to place in their way. But one thing more remains to be considered, and that is, the revision of the tariff. On the one side are the advocates of the system of protection, who have themselves petitioned Congress to appoint a Commission of Experts to do the necessary work. On the other side are those who, like the writer, believe that true protection to American industry would consist in the gradual removal of all legal obstructions to commerce, but who yet well know that for many years to come a tariff must be maintained for the purpose of collecting a large revenue from customs. If once this question could be fairly reached and the necessary legislation secured for the appointment of such a commission, a moderate tariff might be enacted that the reason- able men in both these schools would sustain ; the country might have a long period of rest from the danger of meddlesome legislation upon this vexed question. It would be an interesting task, did time and space permit, to add to the computa- tion made in this paper of the sum saved and annually added to the quick capital of this country by the service of the railroads — another computation of the yet larger amount of added capital that now represents the increased efficiency of the annual work of the people of the United States. It would be safe to assume that, where the 28 The Railroad and the Farmer. mechanical work of distribution has been reduced one-half in the last ten years by the service of the railroads, the primary work of the production of our fields and of our mines, and the secondary work of manufacturing their crude products into other forms ready for consumption, have been reduced at least one-fourth by the improve- ments in machinery and metallurgy during the same period. As a productive unit, every man in the United States possesses fully one-third more power than he did in the year 1866, when personal liberty had been finally established and forever assured in this land. It is this abundance of quick or active capital, the product of these new forces — of corn and pork, of beef and bread, of iron, of cotton, of copper, wool and the like, and all their secondary products — that is borrowed and lent by the instrumentality of money. It is the title to these commodities, measured in money, that is deposited in banks and that is lent by their officers. It is this vast increase of actual substance that has reduced the safe rate of interest to only three per cent, now where it used to be six or more. Whether the rate that shall be paid for the borrowing of this capital shall remain at three per cent, or even less, or be advanced by its quicker and more productive use, is no longer a material question, but one of intelligence and integrity. The field for its use is as broad as the land itself, of which as yet less than one-sixth part of the arable portion fit for cultivation is under the plow, and even that produces only half the crop that more skillful cultivation would give. One-half at least of the territory of the United States, aside from Alaska, is believed to be good arable land, exceeding 1,500,000 square miles, while the area cultivated in grain, cotton and root crops in 1879 was less than 225,000 square miles. Who then shall NOT fully enjoy the use of this new capital ? First . — The States either South or North that repudiate their debts. Second . — The citizens of these States. Where public integrity is not maintained, private confidence and credit cannot be established. Third . — The States in which the laws relating to the title of land are not simple and well devised to give security to him who buys. Fourth . — -The States in which the laborer is not honored, and where justice is not accorded to rich and poor alike without distinction of race, color or condition. Fifth . — The cities in which mimicipal integrity is not assured. They may be centers of material wealth by the mere power of their position, but they wdl be in constant danger until public duties are as well performed as the work that is done for private gain. Sixth , — All persons whose intelligence, education or opportunity has not sufficed to train them in the use of borrowed capital in a way that shall be f)rofitable to them and at the same time safe for the lenders. This last exception of those who cannot yet fully benefit by the greater power of producing and accumulating capital is the most material one in the list. It seems very certain that the power of accumulating has for the time being outrun the power of using, hence capital must increase rapidly in ratio to the demand, until the general standard of intelligence and education is advanced in an equal degree. This will take a long period, especially as new forces are being constantly applied to even greater production and distribution. This country never needed the world for a market so much as it does now. From this reasoning it may follow that for a very long period the rate of interest on Government bonds, mortgages and other safe investments must be very low indeed. Finally it may be asked : Does not the future material prosperity of this nation depend solely upon the character of its people ? By Edward Atkinson. 29 If the mental and moral characteristics of the people are equal to the opportunity which they enjoy, what will be the influence of this nation upon other coimtries ? Finally, there are certain conclusions that must follow from the propositions sub- mitted in the foregoing paper, of which the following is a summary. It has been held that the cost of railway seiwice has been reduced not less than an average of one hundred and twenty million dollars in each year of the last decade. This is equivalent to a general relief from taxation to that extent, because the things moved by rail are mainly those of universal and common consumption. Next it has been held that if with this saving be coupled the increased power of production ensuing from the application of more effective machinery, each human unit, i. e., each man, woman or child engaged in farming, mining, metallurgy, or manufac- turing, possesses a potentiality for production at least one- third greater than each unit engaged in the same pursuits possessed in the decade previous to 1870. Under the application of these great industrial and commercial forces, capital has rapidly accumulated, and the power of accumulation may now be even greater than the power to use in a safe, well-established and customary manner. It has been the general conviction that it would be useless to offer a United States bond, payable at a fixed date, not to be sold at less than par, at any lower rate of interest than three and one-half per cent ; but may not the computations given in this paper lead to the conclusion that if a bond is oft'ered at three per cent., not redeemable or payable at a date fixed, but purchaseable by the Government at the market price when needed for the reduction of debt, such a bond may be placed at par ; may there not then be greater assurance of its being maintained at par than English Consols in just such degree as our position is now safer and stronger than that of Great Britain ? This again leads to another important consideration, to wit : the expediency of ceasing for a time the rapid reduction of the debt of the United States. There may be many reasons for adopting such a course. First . — In case the Supreme Court should righteously declare the reissue of legal tender United States notes unlawful, a large and immediate addition to the circulation of National Bank notes would be desirable, and such an issue ought to be secured, like the present issue, by the deposit of United States bonds. Second . — Nothing would more conduce to the prosperity of many of the States, especially many of the Southern States, than the establishment of Savings Banks organized under State laws. The taint of repudiation, unfortunately forbids recourse to State or Municipal bonds as security for the investment of trust funds in many States, and until State credit is re-established it is very desirable that United States bonds should be available. It may therefore be held that the present reduction of the debt of the United States should now be checked, and should cease for a time, when the total debt has been re- duced to $1,500,000,000. This debt would then consist of the 3 per cent, consols now proposed, and the remainder might consist of the outstanding 4 per cent, bonds. The total interest would therefore be, in round figures, $54,000,000, or about $22,000,000 per annum less than it was March 1, 1881. The reduction of debt for the year ending March 1, 1881, was $115,000,000. It is not likely to be less in any future year under our present system of taxation, as the increase of population, and the elasticity of the revenue that ensues therefrom, will fully offset the additional sums that may be added to the pension list under the unwise acts lately passed. The debt on the 1st of March was . . $1,881,000,000 Before any action can be had to reduce the taxes, the debt may be, January 1, 1882, below, $1,800,000,000 30 The Railroad and the Farmer. Assuming a continuous surplus revenue at the rate of the year ending March 1, 1881, in which year our interest was $77,000,000, that is to say, at the rate of $115,000,000 Add thereto the interest to be saved by the payment or conversion of the 6 and 5 per cent, bonds into 8 per cent, consols in 1881 and 1882, say on $100,000,000 paid $6,000,000 Reduction of interest upon the balance 11,000,000 17,000,000 Available Surplus $132,000,000 The excess of revenue for the year ensuing after January 1, 1882, may therefore be one hundred and thirty-two million dollars. If it be then assumed that a reduction of debt of $32,000,000 per annum will there- after be sufidcient, a sum that, annually applied, would bring the principal of the debt to $1,500,000,000 before 1892, there would remain a further surplus of revenue of one hundred million dollars per year, to he applied by the Congress now elected, at its next session, beginning Dec. 1, 1881, to the reduction of the national taxes after Jan. 1, 1882. Peace, order and industry, free labor and free railroads have therefore brought this nation, in sixteen years from the date when nearly two million men returned to the pursuits of peace from the camps in which they had been gradually gathered during four years of civil war, to this point. That it is entitled to the highest credit of any nation in the world, and that its legislators at the next session of Congress, only eight months distant, may apply a surplus revenue of one hundred million dollars to the reduction of national taxation. May it not therefore be hoped that the Senate of the United States will then have determined the question on which it is now engaged, as to who shall fill one or more of its petty offices, in order that when it meets in December it may be prepared to give some attention to the fiscal questions of the future; in dealing with which the reputation and political standing of each and all of itsmembers will be made or marred. By that time it may be impossible to conceal incapacity to deal with the great questions of the future by wrangling over the dead issues of the past. This article has been prepared simply as a study of one of the pending questions in political science ; in presenting it to those who, like myself, are especially interested in the study of political economy, I beg to call attention to another phase of the main questions treated in this article. It has often been held that the application of machinery to agriculture worked in the direction of large estates operated by great capitalists. This is undoubtedly the first effect of machinery applied to almost unlimited areas of virgin soil, as in Dakota, and it may also be true in respect to lands that need irrigation ; but this tendency is only perceived in respect to grain crops. In regard to all other crops, the very reverse is true. The great crops, like the great factories, appeal to the imagination and impose upon the observer. Wheat, as an aggregate, assumes an immense importance; but man does not live by bread alone, and a barrel of flour a year more than suffices for the use of each inhabitant of this country. One barrel can now be moved from any part of the northern or central sections of the United States devoted to wheat culture to any point on the coast, east, west or south, for less than a dollar. The very conditions of the cultivation of cotton and tobacco are converting the Southern States into great communities of small farmers, and the beneficent political effects of this social revolution are yet to appear. In the North, again, but not confined to it, a new force has lately been developed. If “ Ensilage ’’ means, in fact, one-half what is claimed for it, it may work social and By Edward Atkinson. 31 political changes in almost as great a degree as the railroad itself. It begins to appear that sixty pounds (60 lbs.) of ensilaged maize, or other green crop, will serve as the daily ration of one milch cow or one steer, if combined with a small quantity of bran or of cotton-seed meal. It also appears that from twenty-five to seventy-five tons of maize can be produced on a single acre in almost any part of the United States, that is not without the climatic area of Indian corn cultivation ; that is to say, 833 to 2,500 daily rations to a single acre, of food suitable to keep cattle, hogs and poultry fed almost wholly, and horses fed in part, in good and healthy condition the year through. If this be so, this force works intensely in the direction of small farms under high cultivation, without implying very hard or long hours of labor. From such conditions, the following changes must ensue : — aggregations of small farms arouud very numerous central towns; a restoration of a numerous, independent and intelligent class of prosper- ous farmers in New England and elsewhere in the eastern parts of the United States, in sections where agriculture has been somewhat depressed by distant competition; and a return to forms of society like unto those on which oar very liberties were founded, but under much less arduous conditions. The railroad at first tended to segregation, or to a very wide diffusion of population in the farming districts, but to concentration in the manufacturing States. The various new forces tend now to aggregation, not concentration, under the best conditions of life, around common centres in respect to agriculture ; while the telegraph, the telephone, and, in yet greater measure, rapid transit and the transmission of power by steam or by electricity over long distances, must surely tend to diffuse the popula- tion of cities, now dwelling and working under very bad conditions, over a much wider area than has heretofore been consistent with the nature of the occupations now con- ducted in cities ; that is, to aggregation rather than concentration. It would hardly be consistent with the main purpose of this paper to attempt to picture the city of the future, when it shall have been reconstructed under the benefi- cent infiuence of these new forces. Edward Atkinson. Brookline, Mass.. April 3, 1881. It may well be alleged by the managers of the railway service of the country that an injustice is done to them in limiting the comparison of the rates charged to a gold standard, inasmuch as the transactions of the country have been conducted upon a currency basis, and the so-called “ lawful money ” has consisted of United States notes during the whole period under consideration, from Jan. 1, 1866, to Jan. 1, 1879, when the difference between theie notes and gold coin was removed. In fact, it is true that all transactions except the payment of interest on the public debt and the collection of duties have been in currency, and the true measure of the saving brought about by the railway service should be stated in dollars of lawful money. The average rate charged upon the New York Central & Hudson River R.R., from 1866 to 1869, inclusive, w-as 2.7058 cents per ton per mile ; from 1870 to 1879, inclusive 1.2164 cents per ton per mile ; difference, 1.4894 cents. At this rate of difference the saving on 14,353,521,585 tons carried one mile w^as $213,781,350. As has been stated, this line has performed one-twentieth part of the railway service 32 The Railroad and the Farmer. of the United States during this period. If we multiply the saving on this line by twenty the quotient is $4,275,627,000, a sum more than equal to the money cost of the Civil War to the people of the United States. But it is not probable that the rate of reduction on all lines has been equal to that on the N. Y. Central. The reduction that can be proved, however, and will he prov- able, when “ Poor’s Manual” of 1881 is issued, is fully three-fourths of this sum — that is to say, $3,206,720,250, or an average of three hundred and twenty million dollars a year for ten years, from 1870 to 1879, inclusive. The revenue of the United States from all sources during the same period has aver- aged three hundred and seventeen million dollars a year. The claim that the railway managers may therefore present and substantially prove is, that they have made such a reduction in their charge for moving merchandise during the past ten years as to have equaled the sum levied upon the people of the United States during the same period, for the payment of National Expenses as well as for the reduction of the National Debt. There is one other aspect in which the saving that has been compassed in the cost of moving merchandise by railroad can be presented. It is perhaps superfluous, but yet meets a comment that has often been made, especially in England, namely, that we were converting our quick capital into fixed investments in this country with too great rapidity, especially in the construction of railroads. The panic of 1873 has been, without sufficient reason, attributed to this cause ; and some predictions of other difficulties of like kind have been made affecting the present time. We may therefore present the case in the following manner : There will probably be constructed within the limits of the United States, in the year 1881, eight thousand, perhaps ten thousand, miles of new railroad. Their average cost may be computed at $25,000 per mile. The total expenditure may therefore reach ($250,000,000) two hundred and fifty million dollars. It has been said previously that railroad begets railroad ; and we may now make the following almost incredible statement : Computing the rates again in gold coin for both periods, we find that the reduction in the charge for moving merchandise in the year 1879, as compared to the years 1866 to ’69 inclusive, on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, amounted to $26,650,000 for the work done by this single line in that single year, 1879. As has been stated, this road performed one-twentieth part of the railroad service of the United States in the year 1879. If we therefore multiply the sum saved by 20 we reach an aggregate of $533,000,000. Let us admit, in order to cover contingencies, that the reduction on other lines has been only one-half that on the line named, which is yielding altogether too much for the sake of a safe computation, and we reach a saving in the year 1879 of $266,500,000 ; in other words, a sum sufficient to cover the entire cost of the construction of 1880, with a large surplus over. Assuming that the saving in 1880 was substantially the same in ratio to the price of commodities as in 1879, and it appears that the sum saved on last year’s work, namely, 1880, will suffice to build the ten thousand miles now under construction in 1881. It would therefore follow that the conversion of quick capital into fixed railroad By Edward Atkinson. 33 investments will not be likely to create a commercial crisis at present, except so far as its expenditure in unprofitable lines, or on a merely speculative basis, may create distrust even in respect to other lines that are needed. The saving compassed by ex- isting lines as compared to the period 1866 and 1869 is sufiicient to cover the cost of the apparently excessive construction of the present time. In this connection it should be remembered that the construction of new lines works a yet greater saving, because it substitutes the service of the rail for the service of the wagon. The most conspicuous example of the saving compassed by this latter change may be found in the case of the Central and Union Pacific Railroad. The saving in the cost of moving supplies for the Government of the United States as compared to the rates that were paid to wagon-trains before their completion, long since exceeded the entire amount of the bonds of the United States that were lent to these two corporations to aid in their construction. In fact, from whatever point and in whatever aspect the service of the railway is considered, it becomes evident that it has been the prime factor in enabling the people of this country to overcome the losses of the civil war, in enabling the Government to resume specie payment, and in establishing prosperity on a solid basis. Edward Atkinson. Brookline, Mass., May 5, 1881. The following letter from Mr. Atkinson deserves a place hero, and we publish it. — [Ed. Boston, Sept. 21, 1881. J. H. Reall, Esq. , Editor. Dear Sir:— Your letter of the 19th has been received; and I am obliged to you for your courtesy in submitting to me the manuscript of an article by Mr. L. E. Chittenden, which purports to be a reply to my article contained in your first number upon the ^‘Railroad and the Farmer.” As to the propriety of publishing an article which is greatly marred by its personal allusions, its mis-statements of my position, and of my argument, you will be the judge, and not I. I am greatly disappointed that you have not been able to obtain a judicious and able statement of the argument in favor of State interference with the conduct of railroad service, and State regulations of the rates of traffic. The writer of this article appears to me to waste a great deal of time and space in rather a feeble treatment of the legal power of the National and State Government to aFempt such regulations as have been proposed by what has been curiously named as the “Anti-Monopoly League.” So far as this article was intended to be a reply to m'ne, this portion of it is entirely out of place, as I have not contested the power, either of Congress or of the States, to pass such act if they so elect. The point of my argument is, that such acts, if passed, will do more harm than good, and will not reach the difficulty. It is much to be regretted that Judge J. S. Black had not given his attention exclusively to this legal argument, and had not presented it with the ability of which he is capable, without attempting to enter i into the discussion of the facts, in which discussion he has been so far misled by the fallacious statements wMch were evidently prepared for his use by some incapable person, that ms whole case has become absurd and ridiculous, and does not even call for the attention which his known ability would otherwise warrant. The writer of the present article, the publication of which we are now considering, appears to be unaware that although I have myself never been connected with the management of any railroad, and have had very slight personal interest in their ownership, I have, on the other hand, conducted a large business, in which I have obtained intimate knowledge of their methods, and have been called upon to pay many hundred thousand dollars of freight money. I am not sure that it might not amount to two or three millions on the cotton which I have been charged with the receipt of during the last thirty years. I probably have much more accurate knowledge than any member of the legal profession could possibly attain in respect to differential rates, discriminations, and other matters connected with the rail- road traffic. I have had occasion to protest against excessive charges on short routes, and am perfectly familiar with aU the faults alleged by the members of the so-called Anti-Monopoly League. The result of this practical experience is mainly what has led me to the conclusions presented in the “ Railroad and the Farmer,” and to an utter distrust of all attempts to regulate railroad traffic by legis- lation. I have never foimd any difficulty in obtaining an adequate remedy within a reasonable time by making proper representations and using reasonable tact in the management of the business. In some cases, what appeared to be unjust, discriminating charges, have, when examined, proved to- be perfectly reasonable and proper. You ask me to respond to the paper submitted by Mr. Chittenden. I should have been glad to do so, even in spite of its offensive and persona, one, out Ido not find any sufficient substance in the paper to which I can respond. Whenever you can obtain either a critical review of my own statement of facts, or a carefully pre- pared argument upon the other side, based on testimony and proved by citations of fact, I may find it a matter of interest to respond. Until then I beg you to be satisfied with my paper as it now stands, and am glad to know that it has '.xcited sufficient interest to induce you to reprint it Yours very truly, Edward Atkinson. BALL ^4DEQU_ATE E AILAVAY SERVICE. drawer Ho. - Jjramung Ho. EDWARD ATKINSON. When the Massachusetts Central RR. is completed, of which a portion is now open, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will possess more miles of railway in ratio to its area than any other State or country in the world. The completion of this line in the year 1881 will make our railway mileage more than 1,950 miles in a territory of 7,800 square miles, or one linear mile to each four square miles of territory. If we may assume that this is a fairly adequate service to meet our present need, we may establish it as a standard, or 100 per cent. For the purpose of comparison by the graphical method previously adopted in the article on “The Railroad and the Farmer ” (to which this is an appendix), we will define the standard of 100 per cent, by this formula: — MASSACHUSETTS RAILROADS IN 1881— COMPLETE. 1 MILE OF RAILWAY TO 4 MILES OF AREA, 100 PER CENT. The following table shows the ratio of the railway service of the United States and Europe to this standard of adequate service, the miles of railway in operation being taken from “ Poor’s Railroad Manual of 1881,” with some slight variations as to Euro- pean States, derived from “ Martin’s Year Book of 1881.” It would be interesting to compare the miles of railroad with the population of these several States, but the table would need to be changed every month, as in our Western States and Territories the railroad leads and makes the way for the incoming population, while in Europe the practice is the reverse. In “ Poor’s Manual ” the miles of railway stated to be in operation in Texas at the end of 1880 numbered 3,293. The Galveston News computes 4,389 in operation Sept. 1, 1881. The number of miles chartered since Sept. 1, 1880, many of which are in pro- gress, comprise more than 5,000 additional miles. It thus appears that the railway mileage of Texas is extending more rapidly than the population increases, and may con- tinue to do so for some time to come. The same rule holds with respect to all our prin- cipal Territories. The railway precedes population, gives value to land, and creates its own traffic. It may be observed, also, that the pioneer crops upon the land thus opened are bulky, and require railroads in order to be moved. They consist of grain and meat, of ores and timber, or of wool and hides. The occupations of the new settlers are there- fore of a kind that give a large quantity of traffic for a small number of persons. Hence ' the measure of miles of railroad to population might be a more fallacious standard than , the comparison to relative areas. But neither standard can be taken as an absolute one, and the only purpose of the present computation is to present some rather inter- esting facts, and to make a rough-and-ready estimate of what increase in railway ser- vice we may need in the immediate future, and also to prove how easily we may meet this need as it comes, be it greater or less. The Standard of Adequate Eailway Service. 35 Subject as such statistics are to the quahfications stated, we may yet affirm that there is, perhaps, no single standard by which the progress of a State or Nation may be more accurately measured than by a full consideration of its means of com- munication. In former times the standard was the highway; next came the canal; and now it is the railroad. Of course this rule is subject to many exceptions; for instance, it is not fair to compare Maine to Massachusetts, because of the vast area of territory in the former State, which is at present unoccupied if not uninhabitable. Neither would it be just to apply this rule to Norway and Sweden, or to like countries where mountain ranges are a barrier to railway service. In such a State as the Netherlands, also, the vast network of canals needs to be considered in addition to the railroaas. But after all suitable qualifications have been made, it will be perfectly apparent that the extension of the railway service is a tolerably fair and just measure of the in- teUigence of the people, and of their freedom from the burthen of standing armies or from the curse of slavery. It will be an interesting study to reconstruct this table in 1891, and then to mark the progress of the Southern States ; then can be measured the first decade of genuine progress on which these States are just now entering, and it wih be seen in what degree liberty may have enabled the old Slave States of the South to overtake their younger sisters in the West. Is there not a lesson in these facts, that among European States, England and Wales, Belgium, Switzerland, and Scotland, the four States which enjoy the greatest freedom or the most adequate system of education also possess the most adequate rail- way service ? Even Ireland, under English rule, exceeds France. Germany is far in advance of Austria, Italy, Spain, and Eussia. All the great States of Europe, which have wasted their substance in sustaining standing armies, and which have built up barriers to trade in the shape of hostile tariffs, stand far below our own States of the free North. Mark, once more, that among our own States, in just the measure in which they have wasted their substance in slaves have they been deprived of railroads. The Border States suffered the least, but in just equal proportion to the darkness of the pall of slavery has been the privation of railroads in the Cotton States. The free young State of Iowa is far in advance of her neighbor, Missouri. The Ger- mans, who constitute so large an element of the population of Iowa, have already pro-"> vided themselves with better means of communication than the fatherland enjoys. The Scandinavians of Wisconsin and Minnesota have more than double the railway service of the countries whence they came; but Virginia, crippled by slavery, notwithstanding its vast resources, lags far behind, and only finds poor company with Austria and Italy. Kansas, hardly yet of age, stands even with Georgia, the most progressive of the Cotton States. Nebraska, younger yet, already leads Mississippi, while Texas, also held back by slavery until recent times, will yet soon pass up the column, and has already escaped the comparison with Turkey, below which country she stood last year. There is another aspect of this question, which possesses great interest. Massachu- setts has now, including the Massachusetts Central line, a part of which has just been opened, one hnear mile of railway to each four square miles of territory; yet a large portion of the State is mountainous or sterile, and does not need railway communication to one-half the extent in which such service will be called for in the near future in many other States. When we consider the wealth of minerals in the mountain sections of the Middle States, and of many of the Southern States, and the agricultural potentiahties of the West, it must surely happen that very many, if not all, the present States of the Union will ultimately demand railroads equal to Massachusetts, and that their con- struction will be profitable. The following table wiU therefore give some idea of the immediate future of railway construction, if the States named may be assumed to L • 36 The Standard op Adequate Railway Service. have the need of railways in the proportions indicated, the present service of the State of Massachusetts being the standard. In establishing these ratios in this rough-and-ready way, consideration has been given to the general configuration of the several States and Territories, to the probability of diversity of occupation, to climate, and in some measure to relative fertility Of course the divisions are very general, and can only give an approximate idea of the future construction. It will be seen that about 117,500 miles of new railroads may be required, which, at the rate of construction of the year 1881, will occupy the next fifteen years. It would, however, be safer to consider twenty years as the period which will be needed for this construction, as we may assume at least one commercial crisis and a railway panic in the next seven years, by which our progress may for a time be a little checked. The States and Terrritories are divided into five classes. Class I. is assumed to need very soon a railway service equal to that of Massachusetts at the present time, to wit, one mile to four square miles; Class II., one-half as much, or one to eight; Class III., one-quarter as much, or one to sixteen; Class IV., one-eighth as much, or one to thirty- two; Class V., the present Territories, one-sixteenth, or one mile of railway to each sixty-four miles of territory: — Massachusetts In 1881 1950 miles = 100 per cent. Class I. — 1 mile to 4 square miles. Miles in operat'n Jan. 1, 1881. Needed. Total, say A. D. 1900. 116 326 233 1,187 5,731 11,750 379 2,080 5,257 11,500 250 530 1,769 2,781 4,079 9,991 3,998 8,452 5,898 13,853 8,526 13,761 76,211 Rhode Island. Connecticut . . New York New Jersey.. Pennsylvania Delaware — Maryland Ohio Indiana Illinois Iowa 39,975 210 954 6,019 1,701 6,243 280 1,012 5,912 4,454 7,955 5,235 36,236 Class II. — 1 mile to 8 square miles. New Hampshire Vermont Michigan Wisconsin Missotui Virginia West Virginia... South Carolina.. Georgia Kentucky 21.081 1,015 145 912 365 3,931 3,125 3,130 3,610 4,011 4,158 1,826 2,967 694 2,181 1,429 2,821 2,535 4,715 1,598 3,112 27,199 48,280 '1,160 1,277 7,056 6,740 8,169 4,793 2,875 4.250 7.250 4,710 By Edward Atkinson. 37 Class III. — 1 mile to 16 square miles. Miles in operaVn Jan. 1, 1881. Needed. Total, say A. D. 1900. 3,108 2,113 5,221 2,000 2,750 4,750 ^8fIlS300 worth of fruit. A pear orchard of ten acres has produced fruit in a single year thai.sold for $5,000. se references will show how some farmers are enabled to use their 2,3p.d in such a way realize much larger profits than before the opening of Western e^jmpe- ^tion. Ana capacity of this region for the production of fruit has not'bt?- gun*t84jC^velopt/3. It ruight be incr^>afeed a hundred fold if the demand would warrant, an^m^e market should extend as rapidly in the future as it has in the past few years it "^>iiLwarrar]t extensions of orchards quite as fast as the trees can be grown, planted, and>hr^ght tnto bearing condition. The facilities for canning, evaporating, and otherwi^^hserving, are so rapidly increasing that we may confidently expect that all tlm^uit*tliat cannot be consumed and exported in their fresh state may be preserve<^^Aj^ansported to remote markets. But the mere assertions of one' given considerable attention to the sub- ject will not satisfy the public, s^T'lfe^'had recourse to statistics to see whetbei: ' the farms of Western New Yqi|c^^^jbbcoming exhausted, or roo.r£' productive. The statistics of the census gat^^|:^^^»hough evidently imperfect, a;te the most ' Liviijgston, Madison, Monroe, Niagara, un«. o, Schuylj^r, Seneca, Steuben, Tompkins, Wayne, esented in tabular form the values of farms, ma- ve stock, &o, and yields of leading products in the us censuses: em’ts and Mach’y Products, ock. els [ishels Beans, bushels s, bushels ons 1, pounds ter, lbs eese, lbs ilk, gallons Value of Dairy Products Value of Nursery Products Value of Market Garden Products, 1840. $ 595 ^ 8 ^ 1860. <217,268,223 $9,566,295 $774,347 ^■'*’^fr;^i^i^,755,078 $2:5ft7,636!^.’> ■|l7,84'4 . 1860. S327,505,215 $12,511,128 $2,323,791 $44,730,705 5,643,364 10,667,731 12,984,947 3,350,178 760,724 10,527,237 1,108,043 4,602,729 39,939,041 14,638,952 1870. $537,109,719 $18,650,848 $5,211,244 $74,112,459 9,341,543 8,754,138 17,284,602 6,238,984 710,700 8,366,290 1,958,725 6,871,650 38,314,447 5,428,161 44,906,492 $19,9^,619.83 $667’396 1880. 9,844,552 14,746,673 18,444,927 6,768,121 10,458,360 COMMENTS vfv' ;l850 to 1870 the value of farms considerably more than doubled. I think the ii^preii^ tp value from 1870 to 1880 was small. The financial revulsion of 1873 caused <\uit^ o- decline in value, and since the return of prosperity ordinary farms have ordy ajbt»ut!^^.vered what was lost in the depression. Yet one fact is well understood by and other holders of farm mort- gages. While during the flush timeaj irrai(||!^diately following the rebellion, farmers went recklessly Into debt, after the reyel^ 1873 they began to pay their debts and soon savings banks began to coriapl nn that farm mortgages were coming in muphi faster than they were going out, and,^^hey were troubled to find secn^' • vestments.' The value of farm implements and i^^hinery nearly doubled 'h-vweeri^^^^^ Jfid 1870, and I have no doubt that there hi a great incrpr.^e dun^>^e last ten years. Mowers and reapers are b* < ord; common, and gjany have adopted binders. Drills, with fertilizer attachm^j^ts, improved piows, harrows and cultiva- tors, have rapidly multiplied. ' ’ Although the value of orchard prodv dt^ u>n to 1870, 1 think the increase during tlu 1^- preceding ten. Our bearing year for aji jfpur to ten times that of the odd or i»p[ for tlie wm-bearing year, and consequey-Tjj| We ahe able to show the value of a\ lea nearly nine times from 1840 ^urs must have equaled that of the le even one, when the yield is from ng year. The census gives returns lowing is below the average, at two decades only, but that shows