either less in quantity or injured in quality. This loss has been averaged by our most intelligent merchants at seven per cent on the value of importations. These charges and losses in the shipment of merchandise by the way of Cape Horn may be thus stated: Insurance on $100,000,000 merchandise, at 4 per cent. Interest on $100,000,000, at 5 per cent.... Losses on $100,000,000 merchandise, not covered by insurance Making an aggregate of.... $4,000,000 5,000,000 7,000,000 12,696,900 28,696,900 It is estimated, and fairly estimated, that during the last year 110,000 passenger transits were made to and fro between the Atlantic and Western States and the Pacific coast, including travelers by sea and land. The average cost to each has not been less than $250, and the average of time consumed not less than forty days; and if the value of time consumed is estimated at $2 per day, the following statement may be made: Cost of transit for 110,000 passengers, at $250 each.. Making an aggregate of. $27,500,000 8,800,000 36,300,000 There is, besides what has been stated, the Isthmus transportations of $60,000,000 of gold dust, and not less than 2,500 tons of other freight. Gold dust pays two per cent freight and one per cent insurance, and the cost of other freights by the Isthmus route is $500 per ton, making Freight on $60,000,000 of gold dust, at two per cent.. $1,200,000 Insurance one per cent Freight on 2,500,000 tons besides gold dust, at $500.. Making an aggregate of 600,000 1,250,000 3,050.000 There still remains the amount paid by the Federal Government for the transportation of its mails, military and naval stores, officers and troops, which I have already estimated at $3,739,000. If these aggregates be taken together, we have Charges and loss on merchandise by Cape Horn. Government transportation... In all..... $27,696,900 36,300,000 3,050,000 3,739,000 70,785,900 This enormous amount is the tax now paid by the people of the United States for transportation and travel between the Atlantic and the Pacific; and it is to be considered, sir, that this is not a burden assessed alone upon the people of California. It is a burden upon the people and a tax upon the industry and enterprise of the people of every State and upon all classes of our citizens. I will now compare the amount thus charged upon the country with the amount of charge and loss in doing the same business and transporting the same number of passengers by railroad. A railroad of 3,000 miles in length would connect any one of the Atlantic cities with San Francisco. I will first inquire into the cost of carrying freight per ton over this line. A single engine will draw 100 tons in addition to the cars. In Hunt's Merchants' Magazine of July last, are tables taken from the American Railway Times, said to be prepared by one of the most experienced and intelligent managers, and from those tables it appears that the cost of running a full train of cars is but 33 cents per mile, or $990 for 3,000 miles, which makes the entire cost of transportation to the proprietors of a road but $9 90 per ton from the Atlantic to San Francisco. The same article states that the Reading road carries coal 100 miles for $1 per ton, although the cars go back empty, and that the cost of the round trip of 200 miles is but 38 cents per ton. It also states that the Baltimore and Ohio road carries coal 200 miles at $2 per ton. I am informed that, as a general rule, when the income of a road is 100 per cent greater than the running expenses, it is a paying road. I also understand that the expenses of a road are diminished in proportion to the amount of its business and the length of its line. If this be so, merchandise can be transported from the Atlantic to San Francisco at $19 80 per ton-a sum much less than what is now charged for ocean transportation. But, assuming the charge upon this long and continuous line the same now charged on the Reading and the Baltimore and Ohio roads, which is over 200 per cent on the running cost of the road, I will proceed to state the charges and loss upon the amount of business between the termini. There will be no damage to merchandise by exposure or climate, and insurance will be merely nominal. The time of transit need not be more than ten days. Passengers would not pay more than $50 each, on an average, departing from their various points. Gold dust would go as freight, with an additional charge for its protection, and the amount of that would be about 125 tons per annum. Assume the cost of that item at $300 per ton, and the statement can then be made as follows: Cost of transportation of merchandise, 425,730 tons, at $30 Interest ten days on merchandise, per cent on $100,000,000 125 tons gold dust, at $300 per ton 110,000 passengers, at $50 each Ten days' time of passengers, at $2 per diem... Government transportation, 2,000 miles, at $600 per mile Making an aggregate of ...... $12,771,900 333,000 37,500 5,500,000 2,200,000 1,200,000 22,042,400 The road would be thus receiving $19.471,900 for passengers and freights-full 20 per cent on its cost, and more than sufficient to support it with present trade and travel, and, at the same time, making a clear saving to the country of forty-eight million seven hundred and forty-three thousand five hundred dollars. These figures may seem extravagant; but, extravagant as they may appear, they fall within the truth. If they are questioned, I ask whoever questions to correct them. Now, sir, I wish it understood by this committee, and I wish it understood by the country, that the want of a railroad to the Pacific is a loss to the country of a sum sufficient to support the whole machinery of the Federal Government-a sum sufficient in two years to build the best double track railroad in the world all the way from the Mississippi to San Francisco. And I wish it further understood that, apart from the political importance of our Pacific possessions; apart from all questions of political necessity; apart from the illimitable promises of the future, as a present fact, the present commercial and economical interests of the country demand the construction of the road. I will go further; I feel that I am justified in going further, and asserting that it is not only demanded by the interests, but it is demanded by the people of the country. I will even take issue with some of my honorable friends from Virginia, and insist that it is demanded by their people. Upon this subject the country has already been aroused; concerning its merits they have already become intelligent; from every cabin of the West, from every workshop in the North, from every precinct and village in the South, the deliberations of this body upon this subject are being watched, watched earnestly; and I assure you, sir, that if we fail or refuse to act now, there will be those placed in our stead more prompt and ready for the work. ANTHRACITE BURNING LOCOMOTIVE. Mr. Leonard Phleger, of Tamaqua, has constructed an improved locomotive for burning anthracite coal, which promises to reduce the expense of railroad transportation very greatly. One of his locomotive engines, the Philadelphia Ledger states, has been running daily between Philadelphia and Havre de Grace, on the Wilmington and Delaware Railroad, for over two weeks. It has been attached to the express train, consisting of six or eight passenger cars, and consumes, as we are informed, only two dollars' worth of coal per day. The woodburning locomotive which it replaced consumed 824 worth of wood per day. Phleger's engine has, it is said, fully as much power as the other locomotive, and runs at the same speed. The furnace and boilers of the locomotive do not now show the slightest signs of injury from fire. The above information was derived from the engineer in charge of the locomotive, from whom we also learn that the locomotive has given great satisfaction to all upon the line of the road, who have examined it, and that it also effectually prevents the annoyance and danger of sparks. These are facts to be verified by the personal examination of those interested in the success of the experiment. If these representations are fully borne out after a sufficient test, the invention is a very important one to railroad companies. The furnaces and boilers of the Phleger locomotive are all built on an entirely new plan, from which the above improvements result. STEAMBOAT ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES AT CINCINNATI IN 1853-4. We give below a statement derived from the Cincinnati Price Current of the arrival and clearance of steamboats during the year ending August 31, 1854 : COTTON RECEIVED AT VICKSBURG BY RAILROAD. We give below a statement of the quantity of cotton (in bales) delivered at Vicksburg, by the Vicksburg and Jackson railroad, for each of the last eight years, ending September 1st: 1817. 1848. 1849. 5,996 7,261 10,881 3,310 7,973 7,623 1850. 1851. 1852. 1853. 1854. 1,143 2,079 4,711 8,224 2,316 4,895 11,811 12,665 20,316 10,610 5,369 5,313 3,329 4,463 2,554 Total.... 34,901 51,797 59,682 29,878 55,880 70,523 97,868 88,378 ENGINEERS' RAILWAY CLOCK. John N. Robertson, of Columbus, South Carolin, proposes a time-table clock for engineers on locomotives, which is worthy of attention as a most useful improvement. He has sent a diagram of this "time-piece" to the editors of the Scientific American, with a folding dial, on the outside circle of which, on one side, is the time-table of the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad, for the up, and on the other side a like timetable for the down trains. The distances between the stations are laid out on the outer circles, and the hands of the clock point to the hours and minutes, which are laid out on an inner circle. The clock is to be made perfectly tight and secured to the locomotive in front of the engineer. It may be regulated and locked by the local superintendents, which will prevent disasters arising from a difference of time in the different watches of the conductors or engineers. By such a clock the engineer will know at a glance the rate at which he should run his engine to arrive at the exact time at every station. STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c. RESULTS OF THE CENSUS OF GREAT BRITAIN. NO. IV. FAMILIES AND HOUSES. The following table gives the number of inhabited houses and the number of families in Great Britain at each Census, from 1801 to 1851, inclusive; also the number of persons to a house, and the number of persons to a family : INHABITED HOUSES AND FAMILIES IN GREAT BRITAIN AT EACH CENSUS FROM 1801 TO The above table does not include the Islands in the British Seas. It will be seen by the foregoing table that the number of inhabited houses in Great Britain have nearly doubled in the last half century, and that upwards of two millions of new families have been founded; the number of persons to a house have increased from 5.6 to 5.7; consequently the increase in the number of houses has not quite kept pace with the increase in the population. The increase in the number of persons to a family, in the same period, has been from 4.6 to 4.8. The number of families to a house varied considerably in different counties, and it is difficult to account for all the anomalies which are presented. In Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, few houses contained more than one family. Plymouth and the adjacent districts had more than two families, together averaging ten persons, to a house. In Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire, a large proportion of the people lived in separate houses, with the exception of Bristol, Clifton, Gloucester, Hereford and Birmingham. In the counties of Leices ter, Rutland, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, and Yorkshire, nearly all the families lived in separate houses, the city of York, and Hull being scarcely exceptional cases to the rule. In Lancashire and Cheshire, more than 300,000 out of 472,907 families lived in separate houses. Liverpool, Bolton, Manchester, and Salford, were the chief places where two or more families in many cases occupied the same house. In the northern division of England, comprising Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham, and Westmoreland, the proportional number of families and persons to a house increased. In Wales, the system of isolated dwellings generally prevailed, with some few exceptions. In Scotland, the plan of dividing the houses into flats was not confined to cities; consequently, the proportional number of families and of persons to a house greatly exceeded the average of England. In Glasgow, the number of families to a house was 5.4; of persons to a house, 27.5. In Edinburgh, the number of families to a house was 4.2, and of persons to a house, 20.6. In all Scotland, the number of persons to a house was 7.8, or about the same as in London. In England and Wales, the number of persons to a house was only 5.5. In order to throw some light," says the Report, "on the constituent parts of families, the returns of fourteen sub-districts in different parts of the kingdom were analyzed. Of 67,609 families, 41,916 heads of families were husbands and wives, 10,854 widowers or widows, and 14,399 bachelors or spinsters; in 440 cases the head of the family was absent from home; 36,719 heads of families, or more than half, had children living with them; 7,375, or nearly a tenth, had servants; 4,070, or a seventeenth, had visitors with them; 8,543 had relatives with them; and 1,020 had apprentices or assistants in their respective trades. Of the 67,609 families, only 3,503, or 5.2 per cent, consisted of husband, wife, children and servants, generally considered the requisites of domestic felicity; whilst 4,874 consisted of man, wife, and servants. The heads in 24,180 instances had neither children, relatives, visitors, nor servants; like some corporations, they might be characterized as 'sole,' man and wife being considered one. 14,399 families, or occupiers, were either bachelors or spinsters." "A num ber of other combinations are given, far too numerous to mention. The number of children at home in families varied considerably. Of the 41,916 families having man and wife at their head, 11,947 had no children at home; 8,570 had each one child at home; 7,376 had each two children at home; 5,611 had each three children at home; 4,027 had each four children at home; and so forth in a decreasing scale, until we come to 14 familles having each ten children at home; 5 having each eleven children at home; and 1 having twelve children at home. These results applied to Great Britain generally would indicate that 893 families had each ten children at home, 317 had each eleven, and 64 had each twelve children at home; nevertheless, the average number of children at home in families did not exceed two; thus showing, that however violent may be the fluctuations in a small number of observed facts, the average is not disturbed if the area of observation is sufficiently extended. A certain portion of the people, for various reasons, are lodged in detached large buildings, such as barracks, prisons, workhouses, lunatic asylums, hospitals, asylums, and the like; in these the family organization is broken up, and the inmates are under the rule of certain governing bodies. The annexed table gives the number and class of such public institutions in Great Britain, in 1851, and the number of persons inhabiting them :— PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN IN 1851. Of the 295,856 persons in the aggregate occupying these 2,017 institutions, 260,840 were inmates, and 35,516 officers and servants; consequently, there were about seven inmates to one officer or servant. The excess of males over females in these institutions, about 60,000 is chiefly exhibited in the barracks and in the prisons; in the latter, from the fact that crime is four times as prevalent among men as among women. The equality of the sexes in workhouses is remarkable. In the lunatic asylums there is a preponderance of females. The population sleeping in barns, in tents, and in the open air, is comprised chiefly of gipsies, beggars, criminals, and the like, together with some honest but unfortunate people out of employment, or only temporarily employed. The number of these houseless classes in 1851 was 18,249; in 1841 they amounted to 22,303. It is mentioned as a curious trait of gipsy feeling, that a whole tribe struck their tents, and passed into another parish, in order to escape enumeration. The subjoined table gives the number of persons enumerated in barns, tents, and barges, and in vessels in ports, either engaged in inland navigation or sea-going ves sels, on the night of the census of 1851 : |