. Railroad freight transportation . bering, agriculture, or in manufacture, produces quantitywhich can be determined in terms of weight. The transporterproduces ton-mileage, which is the product of weight anddistance. A study of Figure I, prepared by the FederalReserve Bank for the District of New York, shows: 1. The average annual increase through the last 30 years, from1890, was about per cent for quantity production of commodities,etc., and about per cent for the ton-mileage. This means thatthe ton-miles increased each year about twice as fast as the quantityproduction. 2. As the ra
. Railroad freight transportation . bering, agriculture, or in manufacture, produces quantitywhich can be determined in terms of weight. The transporterproduces ton-mileage, which is the product of weight anddistance. A study of Figure I, prepared by the FederalReserve Bank for the District of New York, shows: 1. The average annual increase through the last 30 years, from1890, was about per cent for quantity production of commodities,etc., and about per cent for the ton-mileage. This means thatthe ton-miles increased each year about twice as fast as the quantityproduction. 2. As the rate of increase is double each year and is compound-ing year after year, the effect has been that the total ton-miles from1882 to 1920 have increased over seven times as much as the totalquantity production for the same period. Nor is there appreciation of the manner in which thetraffic is divided among the railroads and the problems to soo 440420 360340 PRODUCTIONTON MILEAGE OF FREIGHT CARRIED PRICES AND LOANS IN THE 1870-1920. mo 1680 1890 1900 1310 1920 CHART OF PERCENTAGES NOT OF UNITS Fig. 1.—Commodity Prduction and Prices; Ton Mileage; Loans AND Discounts. xiii 3dv FOREWORD which this gives rise. The railroads of the country embrace253,708 miles. It seems probable that 28,708 miles should beabandoned as no longer economically justified. Half thetraffic is concentrated on about 25,000 miles of railroad, orless than 10 per cent of the whole. The companies operatingthe remainder have to get along as best they can on suchprofits as may be derived from handling the other half ofthe traffic, and this with wide variations in climatic condi-tions, physical geography, and in the grades necessitated bythe topography of the country served. In our country, as Blanchard has pointed out, the com-plexities and difficulties of railroad administration are greaterthan in any other because of its greater area, larger railroadmileage, longer coast lines, the great navigable lakes, dive
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