One passenger was killed for every 35,516,116 miles traveled, and one passenger was injured for every 48,834,660 miles traveled.

The classification of these accidents is as follows:

The whole number of passengers carried in the cars on 20 railroads, was

8,174,363

The number of miles traveled..

397,272,298

The whole number of passengers injured...

19

Of whom were killed.

11

One passenger was killed for every 36,115,663 miles traveled, and one passenger was injured for every 49,669,037 miles traveled.

The classification of these accidents is as follows:

Jumping on or off trains in motion.

Fell or thrown from trains...

Run over while walking, standing, or lying on the track.

Collisions of trains....

Trains thrown off the track

Collisions with vehicles at road crossings..

It will be observed how few accidents have occurred to passengers from causes beyond their own control. One passenger was killed from such causes for every 198,636,149 miles traveled, and one passenger injured for every 66,212,050 miles traveled. Twenty-one per cent only of the accidents causing death, and thirty-three per cent of the accidents not causing death to the employees, were from causes beyond their control. By a comparison of the ratio of accidents and miles traveled in 1852 with that of 1853, it will be observed that during the last year the passengers traveled nearly three times the distance traveled in the former year before meeting with an accident causing death, and one quarter farther before meeting with an accident not resulting in death. These evidences of the increased safety of railroad traveling, both to the passenger and the workman, will be as gratifying to the passengers of railroads as they are to the public, especially when it is remembered that the speed of trains has been greatly increased during the past year.

This is partly due to the better condition in which the track and machinery are now maintained, and partly to the observance of greater care on the part of the travelers, and to the exercise of greater skill on the part of the managers and workmen.

RATES OF TRANSPORTATION ON CANALS AND RAILROADS.

A correspondent of the Toledo Blade states that there exist great errors of opinion and action in reference to the value of these modes of conveyance. For passengers. the railroad has no rival in the canal; and for the transportation of most kinds of heavy freight, the canal is not less pre-eminent over the railroad. One great cause of error lies in the fact, now becoming apparent among well-informed railroad men, that many of our railroads, for the purpose of making a great show of business, have carried freights at a loss. This is notorious in reference to the Northern Railroad between Ogdensburg and Rouse's Point, and of the connected lines thence to Boston. The through freights on the New York and Erie Railroad have, undoubtedly, been below the cost to the company.

The following are the rates, according to the New York State Engineer, Mr. McAlpin, of transportation between the seaboard and the West, by the various railroads and water lines as now used :

The charge on the Wabash and Erie Canal is probably based on information obtained of the business of 1852.

Mr. McAlpin, in his late report to the Legislature of New York, says that his full examination of the subject of railroad and canal transportation "resulted in showing that the aggregate cost of the Central and Erie roads was much greater than that of the Erie Canal, when its enlargement is completed, while their capacity was less than one-fourth as great; and also, that the cost of transportation on these roads was three times that of the Canal, and the charges more than double."

His conclusion is, that railroads are not rivals of canals in the carriage of freight, but auxiliaries, giving them more freight than they take away; and that no line of railway is better located for a paying business, other things being equal, than in the neighborhood of a canal.

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THE CANALS AND OTHER PUBLIC WORKS OF NEW YORK.

NUMBER I.

PROGRESS OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE STATE.

The last annual report of WM. J. MCALPINE, Esq., who retired from the office of State Engineer and Surveyor, at the close of 1853, is a document of more than ordinary interest, furnishing, as it does, a brief retrospect of the public works of New York, their past history, their present condition, and the effects of their completion. The report is at once systematic, concise, and comprehensive, and we propose in the present and subsequent numbers of the Merchants' Magazine, to embody under general heads, the substance of the report, adopting the facts and generally the language of the author. We begin with THE PROGress of internal IMPROVEMENST IN NEW YORK.

The canals of this State have mostly been constructed at the expense of the State government, and the railroads by private capital, aided in some instances by loans and donations from the government. These works are more remarkable for their extent than for the natural obstacles overcome, and required in their execution more ability from their financial than from their engineering managers. The latter have, in most cases, been restrained by the former from expenditures for any purpose not demanded by the most rigid utility, and hence no opportunity has been afforded for those exhibitions of engineering talent which have distinguished the profession in other

countries.

The State works, especially, have been constructed with an economy of expenditure that is hardly credited by the engineers of Europe. In some instances this economy has been carried to such an extent as to require the works to be re-built in a more permanent manner. Yet this policy has seldom proved injudicious, as the construction of the first works lessened the cost of those subsequently built, by facilitating the transportation of the materials used, and by developing the resources of the country and demonstrating the value of the improvement.

The State works exhibit the best specimens of the construction of earthen banks for the retention of water, and of well arranged and durable masonry, which are to be found in the world. In this respect, the enlarged Erie Canal and the Croton Aqueduct, (built by the City of New York,) surpass any similar undertakings in the judicious permanency of their various works.

The works of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, built by an incorporated company, and those of the Chenango Canal, built by the State, furnish the most favorable speci- . mens of a rigidly economical application of expenditure suited to the circumstances of the respective cases.

The railroads of New York State show every variety of construction, from that which involved the largest expenditure, to that which was executed with the most rigid economy. The former has been chiefly caused by the progressive improvements which have been made in the construction of this species of internal improvement. The engineers of this country began the construction of railroads by following the plans laid down by their European brethren; as the latter had unlimited command of capital, so long as their plans were followed in this country the progress of the railroad system was comparatively slow, because capital could not be obtained, and roads thus constructed were not remunerative.

The Albany and Schenectady Railroad, in New York State, and the Baltimore and Ohio, in Maryland, were commenced on these expensive plans, copied mainly from those of the Liverpool and Manchester Road, in England. The substitution of a gravel road bed and wooden cross-ties for the expensive foundations of McAdanized stone, timber, and cross-ties of the English roads, is due to an engineer of this State. This substitution has caused a radical change in the system of railroad construction, not only in this country but in Europe. The railroads of New York now furnish the best specimens of large wooden bridges, locomotives, engines, and cars, and we hope soon to be able also to record the successful application of wire suspension bridges to railroad purposes, which has been pronounced impracticable by European engineers.

The project of improving the navigation of the Mohawk, and extending a water line across the portage to Lake Ontario, attracted the attention of the public men of this State at a very early day.

The cost of transportation of furs and the Indian supplies between the interior lakes and the Hudson was alluded to by the surveyor general in 1724, and the improvement, by means of a canal, of the rapids of the Mohawk, by the governor in 1768.

Immediately after the Revolution this subject was again brought forward. In 1784 a plan for improving the Mohawk was proposed to the Legislature, and in 1791 they directed surveys and estimates to be made for building canals across the portage from the Mohawk to Lake Ontario, and from the Hudson to Lake Champlain. The following year they chartered a company who built canals and locks at the Little Falls, the German Flats, and at Wood Creek, at a cost of $400,000.

In 1808 the surveyor general was directed to survey a route for a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie. He employed James Geddes, who reported that canals could be made from Oneida Lake to Lake Ontario, around the Falls of Niagara, and on a direct route from Seneca River to Lake Erie. Three years later a commission reported that a continuous canal, on an inclined plane, from Lake Erie to the Hudson was practicable, and would cost $5,000,000.

The Legislature of that year, 1811, directed the construction of the Erie Canal, but the war prevented any further action until 1816, when a new commission was formed,

who employed Messrs. Broadhead, Wright, and Geddes, to commence the construction of the Erie, and Mr. Garvin, that of the Champlain Canal. The following year the dimensions of these canals were fixed at forty feet surface and four feet depth, with locks ninety feet long and fifteen feet wide. The estimated cost of both canals was stated at $7,750,000. (The actual cost was about $8,500,000.) Work was commenced on the Erie Canal by the ceremony of breaking ground, July 4, 1817.

In 1819 the Canal Commissioners appointed Benjamin Wright principal, and Canvass White and Nathan S. Roberts chief engineers. To Mr. White is due the arrangement of some of the most important plans and details of the works of the Erie Canal, and also the discovery of the hydraulic cement rocks of Onondaga, which have continued to furnish the supply of that article for the State works. A portion of the middle section of the Erie Canal, and also of the Champlain Canal, was open for navigation in the fall of 1819, and the Erie Canal was completed in the fall of 1826.

In 1825 the Legislature directed the construction of the Cayuga and Seneca, and the Oswego Canals, and surveys for fifteen other canals, amounting to seven hundred and fifteen miles in length. The Oswego Canal was completed in 1828, and the Cayuga

and Seneca in 1829.

In 1829 the construction of the Chemung and Crooked Lake Canals was authorized. The former was completed in 1833, and the latter in 1836, under the direction of Holmes Hutchinson, as chief engineer.

The construction of the Chenango Canal was commenced in 1833, and completed in 1837, under the charge of John B. Jervis, as chief engineer. The Black River and the Genesee Valley Canals were commenced in 1836. The two last named works are yet unfinished.

In 1825 the Canal Commissioners stated that "the great press of business on the eastern end, before long, will exclude packet (passenger) boats from this section of the canal." ***" and it is presumed that the experience of two or three years more will satisfy the public that it would be proper to commence the construction of another parallel caual on the eastern section."

The Legislature of 1834 passed an act directing double locks to be constructed east of Syracuse, and in the following year directed the enlargement of the Erie Canal for its whole extent.

The Canal Board determined the dimensions of the enlarged canal at seventy feet surface and seven feet depth, with locks one hundred and eighteen feet long and eighteen feet wide.

The work was commenced in 1836 and prosecuted until 1812, when the embarrassed condition of the treasury and the financial difficulties of the country induced the Legislature to direct a suspension of the work. A small amount of work has been performed annually since that date, chiefly for the purpose of bringing into use structures and portions of the canals which had been nearly completed previous to 1842, and those which were necessary to replace the decayed sturctures, and those portions of the canal the navigation of which was most embarrassed.

The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company was incorporated in 1823, and the work was commenced in 1825, and completed in 1830. The canal is one hundred and eight miles long, and as originally constructed had a surface width of forty feet and a depth of three feet, with locks seventy-six feet long and eight-and a half feet wide. Its dimensions were enlarged in 1848, so as to allow the use of boats of nearly three times the tonnage of those first built.*

In 1827 the Legislature loaned the company $500,000, and in 1829 $300,000 to aid the completion of the work. Mr. Wright was, at first, the chief engineer, and was succeeded by Mr. Jervis.

The Legislature, in 1825, directed William Campbell, who was afterwards surveyor general, "to locate and survey a good road from Lake Erie to the Hudson, through the southern tier of counties."

In 1826 the Legislature gave the first charter for a railroad from Albany to Schenectady, seventeen miles long, which was completed in 1830, by John B. Jervis, as chief engineer.

In 1829, Dewitt Clinton, Jr., published a pamphlet giving a sketch of the route for a railway to connect the navigable waters of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indi na, Illinois, and Michigan, with those of the valley of the Mississippi. This route started from Piermont, on the Hudson River, followed nearly on the line on which the New

• This was effected at a cost of $2,500,000, and a saving of one-half the expense of transportation.

York and Erie Railroad has since been built to the Alleghany River, and thence through Northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to the junction of Rock River and the Mississippi, and thence to Council Bluffs on the Missouri.*

The New York and Erie Railroad Company was chartered in 1832, and a survey of the road made by Mr. Clinton at the expense of the general government. Another survey was made in 1834, by Mr. Wright, at the expense of the State government. In 1836 the Legislature loaned the company $3,000,000, which sum was subsequently (in 1845) donated to them. The work on the road was commenced in 1835, but was SOOD suspended. In 1838 it was resumed; very little was however accomplished until 1845, when new parties took hold of it and opened one-half of it in 1849, and completed it to Lake Erie early in 1851. Horatio Allen was prominently connected with this work as consulting, and T. S. Brown as chief engineer, during its construction.

The first link in the Central Line of Railroad was completed in 1830, but it was not until 1848 that the whole line between the Hudson and Lake Erie was finished. The continuation of this line from Albany to New York was commenced in 1847, and completed in 1851. The line through the northern part of this State was completed in 1850. The other railroads of the State are generally tributaries of these main trunk lines.

In 1838 the legislature made loans to the Ithaca and Owego, the Canajoharie and Catskill, and the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad Companies, to the amount of $637,700, and in 1840 to the Auburn and Rochester, the Hudson and Berkshire, the Tioga, the Tonawanda, the Schenectady and Troy, and the Long Island Railroad Companies, to the amount of $648,000.

By the last returns made to this office of the several railroad corporations, and from other sources, it is ascertained that there has been expended on all the railroads of this State, the sum of $117,707,620 58, and that the number of miles in operation is 2,432.

STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c.

RESULTS OF THE CENSUS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

NUMBER II.

LAW OF POPULATION IN GREAT BRITAIN.

The increase of population depends on many varying elements; but it is not intended here to discuss at any length what is termed the Law of Population.

The increase or decrease of a people depends upon the age of marriage, the age of parents when children are born, the numbers who marry, the fertility of the marriages, the duration of life, and the activity of the migration flowing into or out of the country. These influences act more or less upon each other. The report here indi. cates the effect of a change in each element while the others remain constant.

1. The numbers of the population bear a definite relation to the duration of life, or to the mean lifetime. Thus, if the mean lifetime of a population is 30 years, then if the births are 100,000 a year, and remain uniform, the population will be 30 times 100,000, or 3,000,000. Now, the births remaining the same, let the lifetime be gradually extended to 49 years, then the population will become 4,000,000; or if the lifetime is extended to 50 years, the population, from the extension of life alone, will rise from three to five millions. The deaths, upon this hypothesis, will be equal to the births, and the same in number when the population is five as when it is four or three millions. It is probable that the mean lifetime of the great body of the population did increase from the year 1801 to 1821, when the increase of population was greatest in Great Britain.

2. The interval from the birth of one generation to the birth of their descendants of the generation following, bears also a definite relation to the numbers, which increase as the interval is shortened. Thus, if the population increases at the rate of 1.329 annually, and if the intervening time from generation to generation is 33 years, it

Connected lines of railroads are now completed or in rapid progress on the whole length of the route, and nearly on the line described by Mr. Clinton.