roads having been taken from the hands of receivers and a like number having been placed in charge of the courts.

EQUIPMENT.

On June 30, 1903, there were in the service of the railways 43,871 locomotives, the increase being 2,646. As classified, these locomotives were: Passenger, 10,570; freight, 25,444; switching, 7,058. There were also 799 not assigned to any class.

The total number of cars of all classes was 1,753,389, this total having increased 113,204 during the year. The assignment of this rolling stock was, to the passenger service, 38,140 cars; to the freight service, 1,653,782 cars; the remaining 61,467 cars being those employed directly by the railways in their own service. Cars used by the railways that were owned by private companies and firms are not included in this statement. The average number of locomotives per 1,000 miles of line was 214, showing an increase of 8. The average number of cars per 1,000 miles of line was 8,540, showing an increase of 345 as compared with the previous year. The number of passenger-miles per passenger locomotive was 1,978,786, showing an increase of 70,476 miles. The number of ton-miles per freight locomotive was 6,807,981, showing an increase of 141,482 miles as compared with June 30, 1902.

The aggregate number of locomotives and cars in the service of the railways was 1,797,260. Of this number 1,462,259 were fitted with train brakes, indicating an increase during the year of 155,414, and 1,770,558 were fitted with automatic couplers, indicating an increase of 122,028. Practically all locomotives and cars in passenger service had train brakes, and of the 10,570 locomotives in that service. 10 110 were fitted with automatic couplers. Only a few cars in passenger service were without automatic couplers. With respect to freight equipment it appears that most of the freight locomotives had train brakes and 98 per cent of them automatic couplers. Of 1,653.782 cars in freight service on June 30, 1903, 1.352,123 had train brakes and 1,632,330 automatic couplers. In this report · there have been continued several summaries, first presented in the report for 1902. to show the general type of efficiency of locomotives and the capacity of freight cars.

In these summaries locomotives are classified under the heads of single-expansion locomotives, four-cylinder compound locomotives, and two-cylinder compound or cross-compound locomotives. Each of these classes of locomotives is further classified according to the number of drivers, and the number of pilot wheels and trailers.

Freight cars are first classified as box cars, flat cars, stock cars, coal cars, tank cars, refrigerator cars, and other cars. The cars in these classes are further distributed among the requisite number of subclasses, the lowest of which. Class I, being for cars having capacities in the 10,000 of pounds; Class II for cars in the 20,000 of pounds, the other classes successively increasing in the same ratio.

EMPLOYEES.

The number of persons on the pay rolls of the railways in the United States, as returned for June 30, 1903, was 1,312,537, or 639 per 100 miles of line. These figures, when compared with the corresponding ones for the year 1902, show an increase of 123,222 in the number of employees, or 45 per 100 miles of line. The classification of employees includes enginemen, 52,993; firemen, 56,041; conductors, 39.741, and other trainmen, 104,885. There were 49.961 switch tenders, crossing tenders, and watchmen. With regard to the four general divisions of railway employment it appears that general administration required the services of 45,222 employees; maintenance of way and structures, 433,648 employees; maintenance of equipment, 253.889 employees, and conducting transportation, 576,881 employees. This statement disregards a few employees of which no assignment was made.

The usual statement of the average daily compensation of the 18 classes of employees for a series of years is continued in the present report, which shows also the aggregate amount of compensation paid to more than 97 per cent of the number of employees for the year 1903 and more than 99 per cent for the six years preceding. The amount of wages and salaries paid to employees during the year ending June 30. 1903, as reported, was $757,321,415; but this amount, as compared with the total reported for the year 1902, is understated for want of returns by $18,000,000 at least.

CAPITALIZATION OF RAILWAY PROPERTY.

The par value of the amount of railway capital outstanding on June 30, 1903, was $12,599,990,258, which represents a capitalization of $63,186 per mile for the railways of the United States. Of this capital, $6,155,559,032 existed as stock, of which $4,876,961,012 was common and $1,278,598.020 preferred, and the remaining part, $6,444,431,226, as funded debt, which consisted of mortgage bonds, $5,426,730.154; miscellaneous obligations, $640,704,135; income bonds, $234,016,821, and equipment trust obligations, $142,980,116. Current liabilities are not included in railway capital for the reason that this class of indebtedness has to do with the operation rather than with the construction and equipment of a road. Current liabilities for the year amounted to $864,552,960, or $4,211 per mile of line.

Of the total capital stock outstanding, $2,704,821,163, or 43.94 per cent, paid no dividends. The amount of dividends declared during the year was $196.728,176, being equivalent to 5.70 per cent on dividend-paying stock. For the year ending June 30, 1902, the amount of dividends declared was $185,391,655. Of the total amount of stock outstanding, $6,155,559,032, 6.59 per cent paid from 1 to 4 per cent; 13.51 per cent from 4 to 5 per cent; 10.34 per cent from 5 to 6 per cent; 11.39 per cent from 6 to 7 per cent, and 9.10 per cent from 7 to 8 per cent. The amount of funded debt (omitting equipment trust obligations) that paid no interest was $272.788.421, or 4.33 per cent. Of mortgage bonds, $194,295,524, or 3.58 per cent, of miscellaneous obligations, $7.377,925, or 1.15 per cent, and of income bonds, $71,114,972, or 30.39 per cent, paid no interest.

PUBLIC SERVICE OF RAILWAYS.

The number of passengers reported as carried by the railways in the year ending June 30, 1903, was 694,891,535, indicating an increase of 45,013.030 as compared with the year ending June 30. 1902. The passenger-mileage, or the number of passengers carried 1 mile, was 20.915.763,881, having increased 1.225,826 261.

The number of tons of freight reported as carried (including freight received from connecting roads and other carriers) was 1,304,394,323,

which exceeds the tonnage of the previous year by 104,078,536 tons. The ton-mileage, or the number of tons carried 1 mile, was 173 222,278,993, the increase being 15,932,908,940. The number of tons carried 1 mile per mile of line was 855,447, which figures indicate an increase in the density of freight traffic of 62,096 ton-miles per mile of line.

The average revenue per passenger per mile for the year mentioned was 2.006 cents, the average for the preceding year being 1.986 cents. The average revenue per ton per mile was 0.763 cent. This average for the preceding year was 0.757 cent. Earnings per train mile show an increase both for passenger and freight trains. The average cost of running a train 1 mile appears to have increased between 8 and 9 cents. The ratio of operating expenses to earnings, 66.16 per cent, also increased in comparison with the preceding year, when it was 64.66 per

cent.

A summary of freight traffic, classified on the basis of a commodity classification embracing some thirty-eight items, is continued for the year under review.

EARNINGS AND EXPENSES.

The gross earnings of the railways in the United States from the operation of 205,313.54 miles of line were, for the year ending June 30, 1903, $1,900,846,907, being $174.466,640 greater than for the previous year. Their operating expenses were $1,257,538,852, or $141,290,105 more than in 1902. The following figures give gross earnings in detail, with the increase or the decrease of the several items as compared with the previous year: Passenger revenue, $421,704.592 increase, $28,741,344; mail, $41,709,396-increase, $1.873,552; express, $38.331,964-increase, $4,078,505; other earnings from passenger service, $9,821,277-increase. $962,508; freight reve$1,338,020,026—increase, $130,791,181; other earnings from freight service, $4.467,025-decrease. $379,693; other earnings from operation, including unclassified items, $46,792,627 increase, $8,399,243. Gross earnings from operation per mile of line averaged $9.258, the corresponding average for the year 1902 being $633 less.

nue,

The operating expenses were assigned to the four general divisions of such expenses, as follows: Mainte

nance of way and structures, $266,421,774; maintenance of equipment, $240,429,742; conducting transportation, $702,509,818; general expenses, $47,767,947; undistributed, $409,571. Operating expenses were $6,125 per mile of line, having increased $548 per mile in comparison with the preceding year. The statistical report contains an analysis of the operating expenses for the year according to the fifty-three accounts prescribed in the official classification of these expenses, with the percentage of each item of the expenses as classified for the years 1897 to 1903.

The income from operation, or the net earnings, of the railways amounted to $643,308,055. This item, when compared with the net earnings of the year 1902, shows an increase of $33,176,535. Net earnings per mile for 1903 averaged $3,133; for 1902, $3,048, and for 1901, $2,854. The amount of income obtained from other sources than operation was $205.687,480. In this amount are included the following items: Income from lease of road, $109,696,201; dividends on stocks owned, $40,081,725; interest on bonds owned, $17,696,586, and miscellaneous income, $38,212,968. The total income of the railways, $848,995,535 that is, the income from operation and from other sources-is the amount from which fixed charges and similar items of expenditure are deducted to ascertain the sum available for dividends. Deductions of such nature totalized $552,619,490, leaving $296,376,045 as the net income for the year available for dividends or surplus.

The amount of dividends declared during the year (including $420,400. other payments from net income) was $197,148,576, leaving as the surplus from the operations of the year ending June 30, 1903, $99,227.469, that of the previous year having been $94,855,088. The amount stated above for deductions from income, $552,619,490, comprises the following items: Salaries and maintenance of organization. $430,427; interest accrued on funded debt, $283,953,124; interest on current liabilities, $9,060,645: rents paid for lease of road, $112.230,384; taxes, $57,849,569; permanent improvements charged to income account, $41,948,183; other deductions, $47,147,158.

It is perhaps appropriate to mention that the foregoing figures for the income and expenditures of the railways. being compiled from the annual re

turns of leased roads as well as of operating roads, necessarily include duplications in certain items of income, and also of expenditure, since, in general, the income of a leased road is the rent paid by the company which operates it.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

The statement of accidents to persons in the summaries in the statistical report under consideration are presented under the two general classes of accidents resulting from the movement of trains, locomotives, or cars, and of accidents arising from causes other than those resulting from the movement of trains, locomotives, or cars. These classes include all the casualties returned by the carriers in their annual reports to the Commission, whether sustained by passengers, employees, trespassers, or other persons, and for a number of reasons they are not in all respects comparable with others in the bulletins that are based on monthly reports.

The total number of casualties to persons on the railways for the year ending June 30, 1903, was 86,393, of which 9,840 represented the number of persons killed and 76,553 the number injured. Casualties occurred among three general classes of railway employees, as follows: Trainmen, 2,070 killed and 25,676 injured;. switch tenders, crossing tenders and watchmen, 283 killed, 2,352 injured; other employees, 1,253 killed, 32,453 injured. The casualties to employees coupling and uncoupling cars were, employees killed, 281; injured, 3,551. For the year 1902 the corresponding figures were, killed, 167; injured, 2.864. The casualties connected with coupling and uncoupling cars are assigned as follows: Trainmen killed, 211; injured, 3,023; switch tenders, crossing tenders and watchmen killed, 57; injured, 416; other employees killed, 13; injured, 112.

The casualties due to falling from trains, locomotives, or cars in motion were: Trainmen killed, 440; injured, 4,191; switch tenders, crossing tenders and watchmen killed, 39; injured, 461; other employees killed, 72; injured, 536. The casualties due to jumping on or off trains, locomotives, or cars in motion were: Trainmen killed, 101; injured, 3,133; switch tenders, crossing tenders and watchmen killed, 15; injured, 279; other employees killed, 82; injured, 508.

The casualties to the same three classes of employees in consequence of collisions and derailments were: Trainmen killed, 648; injured, 4,526; switch tenders, crossing tenders and watchmen killed, 17; injured, 137; other employees killed, 128; injured, 743.

The number of passengers killed in the course of the year 1903 was 355, and the number injured 8,231. In the previous year 345 passengers were killed and 6,683 injured. There were 173 passengers killed and 4,584 injured because of collisions and derailments. The total number of persons, other than employees and passengers, killed was 5,879; injured, 7,841. These figures include the casualties to persons classed as trespassing, of whom 5,000 were killed and 5,079 were injured. The total number of casualties to persons other than employees from being struck by trains, locomotives, or cars, were 4,534 killed and 4,029 injured. The casualties of this class were as

follows: At highway crossings, passengers killed, 3; injured, 7; other persons killed, 895; injured, 1,474; at stations, passengers killed, 24; injured, 108; other persons killed, 390; injured, 501; at other points along track, passengers killed, 8; injured, 14: other persons killed, 3,214; injured, 1,925. The ratios of casualties indicate that 1 employee in every 364 was killed, and 1 employee in every 22 was injured. With regard to trainmen-that is, enginemen, firemen, conductors, and other trainmen-it appears that 1 trainman was killed for every 123 employed, and 1 was injured for every 10 employed.

One passenger was killed for every 1,957,441 carried, and 1 injured for every 84,424 carried. With respect to the number of miles traveled. however, the figures show that 58,917,645 passenger-miles were accomplished for each passenger killed, and 2,541,096 passenger-miles for each passenger injured.

Differences of Gauge.-It is not really known what, if any, principle governed the determination in the first instance of the gauge between the rails of 4 ft. 8 ins., which is the standard railway gauge of the world. It is supposed to have been adopted from the roads of the collieries in the north of England, whose uniform width necessitated the use of wagons having axles of an outside width of 5 feet. In places these wagons ran on tramways, with a flange on the outer edge of the rail. Then came the edge rail, which transferred the flange to the wheel. However, the same width of track was continued, but measured from the inner edge of the rail it gave a gauge of 4 ft. 8 ins. When Stephenson was

selected from these collieries to build the Liverpool and Manchester railway, he brought with him the gauge with which he was familiar. The 4 ft. 8 ins. gauge is the standard one in Europe, with but few exceptions, and in North America, and throughout the world generally, though every country possesses lines of narrower gauges. European countries having a different gauge are Ireland, 5 ft. 3 ins., Russia, 5 ft., and Spain, 5 ft. 6 ins. The standard gauge of India is 5 ft. 6 ins., while there are also a number of railways whose mileage amounts to 42 per cent. of the whole, built on the 3 ft. 3 ins. gauge. In New Zealand, Tasmania, South Africa and the Sudan the standard gauge is 3 ft. 6 ins. Australia has no standard gauge. In New South Wales the gauge is 4 ft. 8 ins., in Queensland 3 ft. 6 ins., and in Victoria, 5 ft. 3 ins.

The Cape to Cairo Railway, which was the late Mr. Rhodes's scheme for joining the south and north of Africa, a distance of nearly 5,000 miles, is making rapid progress. Northwards from the Cape the line has been carried forward by the Chartered Company to the Wankie coal-fields, which are 200 miles north of Buluwayo (or 1,560 miles north from the sea), and some 70 miles south of the Victoria Falls. At the present rate of progress it is expected that the railway will reach the Victoria Falls about April, 1905. In the north the railway only runs as far as Khartoum, and in spite of the agreement with Abyssinia permitting the making of a line through its territory, no extension south is likely in the present generation.

Mr. Rhodes's idea was to fit the main lines with branches to the coast; there will be many of these in time. Two are finished, the Uganda Railway (British) and the Beira-Salisbury line (Portuguese); others are planned, such as the Congo-Katanga Railway (Belgian) to Rhodesia and one through German East Africa. The Cape to Cairo telegraph is rapidly approaching completion; it has now reached Central Africa.