| Year. | Miles of road at end of year. | Maintenance of Way. | ||||
| Labor on track. | New rails. | Cross-ties. | ||||
| $ | Tons. | $ | Number. | $ | ||
| 1879 | 1,286.72 | 297,363.40 | 9,276.00 | 125,062.70 | 264,520 | 93,107.51 |
| 1880 | 1,320.35 | 343,982.23 | 9,767.49 | 215,365.32 | 260,116 | 93,330.32 |
| 1881 | 1,320.35 | 411,018.91 | 10,098.47 | 169,718.80 | 345,260 | 127,279.76 |
| 1882 | 1,908.65 | 690,112.59 | 8,438.00 | 128,521.48 | 604,096 | 201,648.26 |
| 1883 | 1,927.99 | 742,476.20 | 8,191.79 | 183,239.65 | 425,627 | 153,739.00 |
| 1884 | 2,066.35 | 706,751.86 | 6,342.73 | 93,446.25 | 462,665 | 154,083.19 |
| 1885 | 2,066.35 | 749,254.19 | 8,747.31 | 87,331.95 | 508,756 | 176,835.69 |
| 1886 | 2,149.07 | 705.553.82 | 6,376.40 | 63,238.84 | 492,524 | 174,515.72 |
| 1887 | 2,355.12 | 760,093.33 | 6,092.66 | 79,917.84 | 573,898 | 197.989.47 |
| 1888 | 2,552.55 | 847,806.67 | 8,172.36 | 106,372.94 | 654,141 | 214,130.73 |
[Table—Part 2 of 2]
| Year. | Maintenance of Way. | Expense per mile run by engines. | Repairs of fences. | Repairs of station building and water-works. | ||
| Repair of bridges. | Other items. | Total. | ||||
| $ | $ | $ | Cents. | $ | $ | |
| 1879 | 73,119.56 | 125,041.92 | 640,575.53 | 11.73 | $33,416.86 | 45,755.09 |
| 1880 | 105,551.62 | 49,399.09 | 807,628.58 | 12.39 | 36,981.94 | 80,887.34 |
| 1881 | 114,193.18 | 30,399.46 | 852,610.11 | 12.16 | 36,690.33 | 70,699.58 |
| 1882 | 174,826.24 | 17,277.34 | 1,212,385.91 | 11.87 | 31,032.57 | 87,588.26 |
| 1883 | 121,101.03 | 72,294.71 | 1,272,850.59 | 11.89 | 30,084.49 | 87,291.93 |
| 1884 | 173,831.23 | 107,236.13 | 1,235,348.66 | 12.20 | 21,394.71 | 94,122.03 |
| 1885 | 164,586.39 | 88,126.28 | 1,266,134.50 | 11.27 | 21,932.48 | 94,518.19 |
| 1886 | 172,144.65 | 63,976.69 | 1,179,429.72 | 10.15 | 26,668.91 | 123,519.83 |
| 1887 | 250,337.47 | 61,441.88 | 1,349.779.99 | 9.95 | 31,905.46 | 129,526.76 |
| 1888 | 310,908.42 | 115,898.04 | 1,595,116.80 | 10.74 | 40,423.39 | 170,023.85 |
Employees.—This item is also one touching which railways make few reports. The New York Central & Hudson River Road reports as follows: "Average number of employees, 20,659, being at the rate of 14.54 per mile of road worked; aggregate wages, $12,460,708.89, or $603.16 each. Payments in wages equalled 50.60 per cent. of the total working expenses, against 51.90 per cent. in 1886–87." Reckoning that each employee's wages supports an average of three persons, we have a total of 61,977 persons clothed, housed, and fed by this one corporation.
"Poor's Manual" discusses this subject at some length, but mainly on theoretical ground.
Rolling Stock.—A table showing the history of the growth of the rolling stock of the country is given on [page 148]; it is therefore unnecessary to repeat it here.
Capital Invested.—It is folly for the human mind to attempt to grasp the immensity of the financial interest expressed in the statement, that the combined capital invested in the railways of the United States is $9,369,398,954. No more can it comprehend that this vast aggregate has been the growth of about fifty years in a single interest, in a single country.
Capital Invested.
| Year. | Capital. | Year. | Capital. |
| 1876 | $4,468,592,000 | 1883 | $7,477,866,000 |
| 1877 | 5,106,202,000 | 1884 | 7,676,399,000 |
| 1878 | 4,772,297,000 | 1885 | 7,842,533,000 |
| 1879 | 4,872,017,000 | 1886 | 8,163,149,000 |
| 1880 | 5,402,038,000 | 1887 | 8,673,187,000 |
| 1881 | 6,278,565,000 | 1888 | 9,369,399,000 |
| 1882 | 7,016,750,000 | ||
The first date in the table marks the close of the first century of our national life. Since that time the investment has more than doubled; an increase of nearly five billion dollars in twelve years—an average of over four hundred million dollars per year. More exactly expressed, this means $1,118,906 per day, or $46,621 for every hour, day and night, during the first twelve years of our second century.