. 7 ? . & ' : * r
. . . , $
. ;
-I - ' " ° * - - _ _ _ , . . . , - . Si"1- lit fit
u. .
Conservative.
country ( and the payments of the people
ple ) would have been more than one
billion dollars ( more than $1,000,000,000) )
greater than they were in the last year
alone.
THIS SAFETY OF Last'ycar on
RAILWAY TRAVEL. American rail
ways one passenger was killed in acci
dents out of every 2,827,474 passengers
carried. That is to say , that you can
take a train 2,827,474 times before , on
the law of averages , your turn comes to
be killed. You will have to travel 72-
098,963 miles on the cars before that
turn comes , and 4,541,945 miles before
you are injured. If you travel 20 miles
every day for 800 days in the year , you
can keep on at it for 758 years before
your turn comes to bo hurt. If there
had been railways when our Savior was
born and you had begun to travel on the
first day of the year A. D. 1 , and had
traveled 100 miles in every day of every
month of every year since then , you
would still have ( in this year 1898) )
nearly three million miles yet to travel
before your turn came to be killed.
PASSENGER AND FREIGHT RATES ON
AMERICAN RAILWAYS.
From the reports of the Interstate
Commerce Commission a table show
ing average rate received in United
States per passenger and ton per mile
since 1888 :
Per pass. Per ton
per mile , per mile.
Year. ( Cents. ) ( Cents. )
1888 2.849 1.001
1889 2.165 .922
1890 2.167 .941
1891 2.142 .895
1892 2.126 .898
1893 2.108 .878
1894 1.986 .860
1895 2.040 .889
1896 2.019 . 806
# # #
From the report of the Illinois State
Railroad and Warehouse commission
for 1895 :
"Tho passenger tariffs of the railroad
companies of Illinois in 1870 , just prior
to the establishment of the railroad and
warehouse commission , were from S %
to 6 cents per mile , averaging more than
4 cents per mile , including through
rates. At the some time their tariffs for
all classes of freight , through and local ,
averaged more than 2.48 cents per ton
per mile. The average of the local and
through fares for passengers in this
state for 1895 does not exceed 2.75 cents
per mile , and the average tariff for all
classes of freight , local and through , does
not exceed 1.85 cents per ton ppr mile.
It will bo seen from these facts that ,
comparing the cost to the public of trans
porting passengers and freight in 1870
and 1895 , the rates in 1870 , for passen
gers , were about 46 per cent higher , and
the rates for freight were 80 per cent
higher than in 1895.
"Under the force of these enactments ,
and the competition of the roads , pro
digious results have been obtained. The
direct saving to the people of the state
individually , in the cost of transporting
their persons and property for twenty -
1897 a statement of receipts in cents
per passsengor per mile and per ton of
freight per mile for all railroads in the
United States for 18 years :
Pass. Freight
Year. rate. rate.
1884 2.856 1.124
1885 * . . . . 2.199 1.057
1886 2.194 1.042
1887 2.276 1.084
1888 2.246 .977
1889 2.169 .970
1890 2.174 .927
1891 2.184 .929
1892 2.168 .941
1898 2.072 .898
1894 2.025 .864
1895 2.069 .889
1896 2.082 .821
# # *
From an article by 'Olios. A. Prouty ,
member of the Interstate Commerce
Commission , in the Forum for Decem
ber , 1897 :
"In 1871 , it cost 81 cents to transport
a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New
York. In 1896 , the cost of the same
service was 12 cents. At a recent hear
ing before the Interstate Commerce
Commission , the general manager of
the Chicago & Alton railroad testified
that within the lost twenty years freight
rates in the state of Illinois had declined
48 per cent. Mr. Blanchard states that ,
if the current freight rates of 1873 had
been charged for the freight actually
carried in 1895 , the earnings of the rail
roads of the United States would have
been -$1,215,844,000 more than they
were. These figures sufficiently indi
cate the enormous reduction in railway
transportation charges during the last
quarter century , and the consequent
saving to the people who have paid those
charges. "
* * *
From a paper by Dwight 0. Morgan ,
engineer of the Illinois State Railroad
and Warehouse Commission , 1897 :
"In 1871 the average revenue in Illi
nois for the transportation of all classes
of freight per ton per mile was 2.48
cents. In 1895 the average revenue was
1.28 cents. The average freight revenue
in Illinois has therefore been reduced
49.4 per cent since 1871.
"In 1871 the passenger rates in effect
in Illinois were from 8 cents to 6 cents
per mile , averaging for all roads about
4.25 cents. In 1895 the passenger rates
were from 1 % to 8 cents per mile , aver
aging for all roads 2.26 cents per mile.
"Comparing the volume of passenger
traffic , the average distance hauled and
the average rates charged as deduced
from the sworn reports filed with the
commission it shows that in 1871 the
railroads of Illinois carried per mile only
about one-third the number of passen
gers carried today , but that in the con
duct of their business the average dis
tance hauled was 50 per cent further ,
and a comparison of the average rates
charged per mile shows a reduction since
1871 of 46.8 per cent.
"What reduction has taken place in
the prices of commodities ? From the
comprehensive data compiled by the
Committee on Finance and submitted to
the United States Senate in March , 1898 ,
bearing upon wholesale prices , wages
and transportation , in the United States
at large , the report shows that , from
1878 to 1891 , there was an average reduc
tion in nine principal agricultural pro-
ductsincludingmeatwheatcorncotton ,
oats , barley , rye , hemp , and tobacco , of
7.2 per cent , food , 12.8 per cent , clothing ,
28.9 per cent.
"Two hundred and twenty- three
other articles affecting the average con-
