By following the rule laid down by Prof. Henry C. Adams, official statistician to the Interstate Commerce Commission, in his first report (1888), that "all questions should be simple and definite," and confining its inquiries to operating roads-the only railways engaged in interstate or intrastate commerce-this Bureau is enabled to furnish a comprehensive review of the railway situation for 94 per cent of the mileage and approximately 95 per cent of the traffic on June 30, 1907, and to present its summaries ten months in advance of those published by the Commission.

Owing to the labor and confusion incident to certain changes. in the accounting features inaugurated by the Commission on July 1, 1907, the returns for the preceding fiscal year were greatly delayed. These changes impose additional burdens upon the accounting departments of the railways and break the uniformity of the data upon which the usefulness of statistics for comparative purposes largely depends. Whether they will add anything to an intelligent public comprehension of railway matters remains to be seen.

For the sake of brevity, the Interstate Commerce Commission will be referred to herein as the "Commission"; the Commission's "Statistics of Railways in the United States," as "Official Statistics," and "the year ending June 30," will be implied before the figures of the year specified, unless otherwise stated.

The statements as to foreign railways are complied from the latest official sources accessible.

In this connection the writer wishes torake acknowledgment of the uniform courtesy extended to this Bureau by the executives and accounting officials of the railways, without whose co-operation and assistance its work would have been impossible. The public has little idea of the onerous task imposed upon railway accountants by the varied official demands-federal and state-upon them for reports weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually. They are all marked "MUST," with an imperative political pencil. And so it comes that the writer feels doubly grateful that his requests, adding ever so little more to their burdens as they may, have met with such universal and willing responses from accounting officers in every section of the United States.

March 12, 1908.

SLASON THOMPSON.

I

MILEAGE

The single track railway mileage in the United States on June 30, 1906, for which the Commission has substantially complete returns, was 222,340 miles, of which 7,865 was operated under trackage rights. The single track mileage reported to this Bureau for the year ending June 30, 1907, was 212,357, of which 1,053 miles was in Canada. Of this 8,682 was operated under trackage rights.

The mileage reporting to this Bureau for 1907, therefore, represents 95% of the total given in the final official report for 1906, and 94% of the operated mileage (225,584) covered by the preliminary report of the Commission for 1907.

In the following summary this operated mileage, classified by States and Territories, is given in comparison with the official figures of mileage owned in 1906, with its relation to area and population of the respective States and Territories:

SUMMARY OF RAILWAY MILEAGE IN THE UNITED STATES BY STATES AND TERRITORIES, AND ITS RELATION TO AREA AND POPULATION. Continued.

SUMMARY OF RAILWAY MILEAGE IN THE UNITED STATES BY STATES AND TERRITORIES, AND ITS RELATION TO AREA AND

POPULATION.-Continued.

It will be perceived that in eleven states-Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North

Dakota, South Dakota and Oklahoma-the mileage reported to this Bureau for 1907 exceeds the official mileage reported for the preceding year; while in other states the figures testify to the comprehensive character of the reports for 1907.

The significant feature of this table is that which shows the relation of miles of railway to area and population. The contrast between Rhode Island with its 20.11 miles of line per 100 square miles area and 10,000 inhabitants to each 4.49 miles, and Nevada. with only 1.31 miles of road per 100 square miles, but 306.27 per 10,000 inhabitants, is a striking illustration of the wide difference in conditions under which railways are operated in the United States.

Only in states where the density of population to railway mileage approaches that shown in the table for Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey is a two-cent passenger rate reasonable or practicable.

The table also shows that in the United States at large railway mileage has increased more rapidly than population.

RAILWAY MILEAGE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

For the purpose of comparison with the preceding table the following figures of the railway mileage of foreign countries relatively to area and population in 1905 have been extracted from Archiv fur Eisenbahnwesen:

FOREIGN RAILWAYS AND THE RATIO OF MILEAGE TO AREA AND POPULATION OF EACH COUNTRY IN 1905.

FOREIGN RAILWAYS AND THE RATIO OF MILEAGE TO AREA AND POPULATION OF EACH COUNTRY IN 1905—Continued.

It will be perceived that the United States has more miles of railway line than all Europe; that relatively to area its mileage is more than 50% greater, and 450% greater relatively to population. Only in the densely peopled state of Rhode Island is the average number of inhabitants per mile of line for all Europe approached.