Identifier: worldsopportunit00guer (find matches)
Title: The world's opportunities and how to use them
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Guernsey, Alfred H. (Alfred Hudson), 1824-1902
Subjects: Industries
Publisher: New York, Harper & brothers
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
les; in 1880, 93,671 miles; in1881, 104,813 miles. Dividing the half century from 1832 to 1881 into periods often years, we find that from 1832- 1841 3420 miles of railroadwere built; from 1842-1851, 7447 miles; from 1852-1861, 20,304miles. The civil war seriously checked railway-building, but itwas resumed with increased energy upon the restoration of peace,and from 1862-1871 were built 28,997 miles; from 1872-1881,44,503 miles. In 1881 were completed 11,142 niiles, against 7144in 1880, and 4721 in 1879. The total cost of building the railroads of the United States,up to June 30, 1880, was $4,112,367,176, or $47,387 per mile.The cost of equipment was $418,045,458; other items, such asbuildings, telegraph lines, etc., brought the whole permanentinvestments up to $5,182,445; or, including all cash assets, to$5,536,419. The capital stock paid in was $2,613,606,264; thedebt, funded and unfunded, was $2,812,116,296; thus, the totalcapital paid in and borrowed was $5,425,722,560. The gross
Text Appearing After Image:
TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION. 355 income, from all sources, was $661,295,391; the expenditure, forall purposes, including the interest upon debts, was $541,950,795;leaving, for net income or profit, $119,344,596, or 4.57 per cent,upon the capital stock. From this, dividends amounting to$70,550,342 were declared, $48,794,254 being retained as sur-plus. But about one-fifth of the railroad capital is invested incompanies which earn no dividends; that is, their income isnot sufficient to more than pay the interest upon their debtand the running expenses. There were reported 542 com-panies, with a capital of $510,538,018, earning no dividends.The remaining 623 companies, with a capital of $2,103,068,246,declared dividends of various amounts, from 1 per cent, up to20 per cent., the average of these for the entire United Statesbeing 6.32 per cent. These figures, taken together, show clearly that, as a whole,the capital in railroads has not as yet been profitably invest-ed. Immense fortunes have

Note About Images