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MILEAGE.

The aggregate railway mileage in the United States on June 30, 1904, was 213,904 miles, of which 212,243 miles were covered in the official reports being 99.22 per cent of the aggregate mileage of the country. This is what is known in railway statistics as single track mileage that is to say, it excludes second track, third track, fourth track and yard track and sidings.

The single track mileage covered in the following pages, for the year ending June 30, 1905, aggregates 193,404 miles, or 91.12 per cent of the officially reported mileage of the preceding year. This mileage classified by states and territories as compared with that given by the Commission's Statistician was as follows:

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There is a variation of 334 miles in the above total for 1904 as compared with the 212,243 miles for which operating reports were made to the Commission that year. The latter figure includes 6,638 miles of line on which trackage rights were exercised, as compared with 6.390 miles similarly operated included in the returns for 1905.

It will be observed that in five states, viz.: Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and North Dakota the incomplete mileage reported for 1905 exceeds the complete mileage reported to the Commission in 1904. In several other states the variation is only a few miles.

The representative character of the returns here summarized is further emphasized in the following statement, showing the length of Single Track, Second Track, Third Track, Fourth Track, and Yard Track and Sidings covered by the returns for 1905 in comparison with the Commission's figures for the same items in 1903 and 1904:

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Total mileage (all tracks). 277,071 297,073.34 283,821.52

Attention is directed to the fact that the partial returns for 1905, while representing only 91.12% of the single track mileage of the United States in 1904, show an increase of 533 miles of Second Track, 110 of Third track and 100 miles of Fourth track; while the returns of total mileage (all tracks) to this bureau cover over 93.26% of all the trackage in the country. This means, in the language of the official statistician, "that the new construction for the purpose of developing the facilities of established lines to handle increased traffic is relatively greater than the new construction for the establishment of new lines."

It is apparent from the above table that the total mileage of all tracks operated in the United States in 1905 aggregated over 300,000 miles. It is this trackage and not the single track mileage which is the true measure of the efforts of the carriers to meet the ever increasing demand of American industrial and social advancement.

According to the Railroad Gazette, 4,388 miles of new line were built in the calendar year, 1905; more than one-quarter of the amount being credited to three states, North Dakota, 520 miles; Texas, 338, and Illinois, 249.

RAILWAY MILEAGE OF EUROPE.

In order to get a just perspective of the extent of American railways the following statement of the railway mileage of Europe may be studied to advantage:

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The total trackage of the railways of the United Kingdom on December 31, 1904, was officially reported "approximately" as

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