RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. RAILROAD STOCKS HELD BY FOREIGNERS. The following is one of the tables communicated to the Senate of the United States by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the purpose of showing the amount of American securities held by foreigners on the 30th of June, 1853: From returns made, with a few exceptions, by their own officers, (222 railroads :)— Returns from 22 other railroad companies, part obtained from the American Railroad Journal, and part obtained from brokers: Capital paid in........ Bouds outstanding. $53,143,545 26,151,684 Supposing the proportion of capital stock and bonds held by foreigners in these companies to be the same as in the companies from which returns have been directly received, we have the following results: In the Merchants' Magazine for May, 1854, (vol. xxx., pp. 631-3,) we published very complete tabular statements of operations of all the railroads of Massachusetts for the year 1853, carefully compiled for our magazine from the annual reports made to the Legislature of that State. We are now indebted to WILLIAM J. MOALPINE, Esq., State Engineer and Surveyor, for an official copy of his Report on the Railroads of the State of New York, for the year 1853. It is a very able, full, and complete document. The manner adopted by Mr. McALPINE of preparing these tables, furnishes the means of detecting many of the errors; and it is believed that the publication of the errors will be found one of the most effectual means of inducing more care in the preparation of the reports hereafter. We will now lay before our readers Mr. MCALPINE's admirable abstract of the report, which covers 424 octavo pages, and in a future number of the Merchants' Magazine we shall give the most important tabular statements of the operations of the different roads in the State. The length of all the railroads in operation in the State is The length of railroads laid is about.. The length of double track in addition to the above is. .miles. 2,432 2,497 664 The whole number of miles traveled by the passengers is about..... number of tons moved one mile, is. The capital stock of which is about.... The amount of funded and floating debt is... The amount paid for construction and equipment is. 531,572,298 246,554,492 $112,038,131 45 61,238,829 22 59,669,478 38 117,707,620 58 The average distance which each passenger traveled would appear, from the footing of the report, to be 444 miles, and the average distance which each ton of freight was moved would appear to be 65 miles. But these average distances should be slightly increased, in consequuence of a portion of the passengers and freight being carried over two or more roads, and the number of passengers and tons of freight being in those cases reported on each road. Twenty-three railroad corporations have made full reports, from which the following statements are made: The amount expended in engine houses and machine shops. 1,209,205 76 The amount expended for land damages and fences. 7,781,299 73 The amount expended for engineering and agencies. 3,254,501 64 The amount expended for locomotives and cars.. 9,686,520 77 The total amount expended in construction and equipment, including grading and superstructure.... 95,466,243 59 The total amount expended in construction and equipment, includ ing grading and superstructure, during the year 19,130,411 44 The whole length of road is .... Miles run by the passenger trains for the year. Passengers carried in the cars, as reported*. The number of miles traveled by all the passengers.. Number of miles run by the freight trains. Miles of movement of the freight... The cost of maintenance of way (17 roads only reporting this item) The cost of repairs of machinery on 18 roads reporting is ..... 5,234,963 2,841,147 397,272,298 3,564,807 219,454,492 $1,447,876 65 $874,895 50 606,893 08 1,403,154 81 $817,570 51 freight business. 564,771 35 The actual number of passengers carried is considerably less than the number above stated. The payments, other than for construction, on 19 roads were:— The average cost of construction and equipment per mile of road of those railroads which have reported these items, has been as follows: Total expense per mile of construction and equipment for 2,105 miles of road...... For graduation, masonry, and bridges for 2,663 miles.. The average cost per mile of single track: Superstructure, including iron, for do..... Station buildings for do. Engine houses and machine shops for do.. 3,751 30 45,091 84 $13,315 04 9,244 30 Land and fencing for do..... All expenses of construction and equipment for 2,723 miles..... The number of locomotives on 2,076 miles is one to 4 miles of road. 1,207 00 450 96 2,922 00 35,059 32 The average mileage of the passengers for each mile run by the trains, 76. The average distance traveled by each passenger is nearly 484 miles. The average speed of the express trains when in motion is 40 miles per hour. The average number of tons of freight for each mile run by the trains is 62. The average distance each ton of freight was moved is 724 miles. The average speed of the freight trains when in motion is 16 miles per hour. The average weight of the freight trains, exclusive of the freight carried, is 160 tons. The roads reporting the amount of freight carried show an aggregate of 2,831,336 tons passing over those roads, but as the same freight is frequently carried over two or more connecting roads, on each of which it is reported, the footing of these several amounts does not show the true aggregate of the tonnage carried. As near as can be ascertained, about one and a half millions of tons of freight were carried on all the railroads of the State. The reports furnish the number of tons of each classification of freight carried, but as the aggregate returns must necessarily contain the errors above mentioned, these aggregates are only useful to show the proportions of each description of freight shipped, which are nearly as follow:— The tonnage of the product of the forest is 4 per cent of the whole tonnage; product of animals, 20 per cent; vegetable food, 22 per cent; other agricultural products, 4 per cent; manufactures, 12 per cent; merchandise, 11 per cent; unclassified articles, 17 per cent. THE AVERAGE COST OF MAINTENANCE OF WAY PER MILE OF ROAD. For repairs of road bed.. Freight. $259 61 For repairs of buildings. 22 87 For repairs of fences. 11 38 17 62 6 83 For taxes... All expenses of maintenance of way. 8455 43 $322 81 For all expenses, both passengers and freight, $699 12. THE AVERAGE COST OF REPAIRS OF MACHINERY PER MILE RUN BY THE TRAINS. THE AVERAGE COST OF REPAIRS OF MACHINERY PER PASSENGER AND PER TON OF FREIGHT CARRIED ONE MILE. THE AVERAGE COST OF OPERATING THE ROADS PER MILE RUN BY THE TRAINS. THE SAME PER PASSENGER AND FER TON CARRIED ONE MILE. The receipts per mile run by the trains are as follows: By comparing the foregoing average expenses with those furnished in the last report, it will be observed that the cost of the repairs of the track per mile of road, exceeds that of the preceding year nearly fifty per cent, but that the repairs of machinery per mile run by the trains is about the same. The better condition of the track has pre vented the expense for repairs of machinery from increasing with the increased rates of speed which are now adopted. The expenses of operating the roads have increased about twenty per cent over those of the preceding year, owing to the increased speed of the trains, and to the higher price of labor. The following statements, which are exhibited by the tables, will show how widely the cost and expenses of the various roads differ from each other: To obtain an accurate average, it has been necessary to reject some of the lowest results, and such of the reports as appeared to be evidently erroneous. The tables, in some cases, show pretty plainly that these errors are caused either by carelessness or design, probably for the purpose of reducing the expense of some particular item. The number of passengers carried on the cars, as reported by 20 roads, |