EUROPEAN RAILROAD ECONOMY.

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which, with the soils, that are wonderfully rich, even to the peaks of the limestone knobs, render Saltville and the region around one of the righest districts in that peculiarly rich portion of a naturally rich and prolific State. A large part of the Southwest is mountainous and rugged, but the valleys and uplands are wonderfully productive; and even the mountains, which yield nothing to the hand of the farmer, contain countless treasures which can only be revealed and obtained by the pick of the miner.

"We may not be censured for remarking that we import and use more foreign salt in Virginia, than we use of our own manufucturing, notwithstanding the immense quantities we have naturally stored away on every hand. England, whose natural deposits of salt are but little greater than our ownthat is, in Virginia alone, without those of New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois and other Western States-produces thirty millions of bushels per annum, of which nearly twenty millions are exported, and much of this vast excess, in the manufacture of a single article, is sent to the Southern States. Virginia contains salt in abundance, in the East, South, and West, and yet she buys the article from England and the North, paying nearly a million of dollars per year, for that which might be obtained at home with advantage to the State as well as the manufacturers. We need not say that such a state of things results from the anti-improvement spirit that has been manifested in Virginia so exclusively, which, in turn, is the natural consequence of the single pursuit of tilling the soil, excluding all others, and, of course, all the great branches of industry, which develope the natural resources of nations and build up cities and commercial centres.

DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

1.-EUROPEAN RAILROAD ECONOMY.

Ar the March meeting of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Mr. Colburn presented some statements of the cost, working, and construction of English Railways. The average receipts and expenses of all English and French lines, per mile run, were, for 1856:

For the railroads of New York, for 1855, the receipts were $1 76, and the expenses of operating $1 per mile run.

The cost of maintenance and renewal of way, and of "engines and working," was for the railroads of New York 70 cents per mile run, against but 363 cents in England, and 424 cents in France. Maintenance of way averaged upon all the British lines, for 1855 and 1856, 10.56 cents per mile run. In France (1855,) 7.8 cents; in New York, 23.2 cents.

For the railroads of Massachusetts, this item of expenses has been as follows: 1855.... 25.40 cents per mile run.

Eighty miles are run for each ton of coke or coal consumed on all French railways. In Great Britain, the mileage per ton of coke or coal is 77 miles. In the Northern United States, equaling wood to coal, the average is 44 miles run to a ton. The average cost of fuel, per mile run, is about 6 cents in England, 11 cents in France, and 18 cents in New York and Massachusetts.

The average weight of passenger trains, including engine and tender, was given as 95 tons in England, and 130 tons in New York. On the other hand, the speeds in England average 25 per cent. higher than in this country, being 28 miles an hour for passenger and 15 miles for freight trains, including stops. The grades of English lines, though on the whole more favorable than in the Eastern United States, were sometimes severe. There were frequent instances

of grades, of 80, 100, 117, 120, 143, and some even of 196 feet per mile, on English lines, in every case worked by locomotive power.

The alignment of English and French lines was more favorable than that of American lines.

The climate of England, though not presenting such trying circumstances of frost and snow, and severe summer heat, had nevertheless some severe peenliarities, as compared with that of the United States. There is an average annual fall of over sixty inches of rain in England, much of which falls on a treacherous clay soil, rendering liable frequent slips, besides soaking and settling of roadbeds.

The prices of labor and iron were on an average two-thirds of those in the United States. Cross ties, on the other hand, cost from four to five times as much, and ballast nearly double. Coke averaged $4 50 a ton in England, and $9 a ton in France.

Allowing for all these circumstances, Mr. Colburn believed there was an absolute economy of from 30 to 40 per cent. over the corresponding results on American railways. He attributed this chiefly to superior construction, embracing the earth work, drainage, ballast, distribution, and preservation of sleepers, the make and form of rail, rail-joints, &c.

Much of the notoriously great cost of English lines had gone for items, wholly independant of the quality of the permanent way, and to such extent the cost of English lines was not chargeable to their superior construction.

Of such items were the following:

1. Parliamentary expenses, $7,500 per mile.

2. Land and damages, $43,000 per mile.

3. 70 miles of tunnels, costing $5,000 for every mile of railway in the kingdom.

4. 68,300 cubic yards of earthwork per mile on all British railways, costing $20,000 per mile.

5. 30,000 railway bridges, varying in cost, from the Britania bridge of $3,000,000, down.

6. Three-fourths of all the lines are double track.

7. Stations 24 miles apart on all the lines in the kingdom, many of them very large and expensive.

8. Station approaches, including viaducts, of which were over fifty miles. 9. Equipment. That of the London and Northwestern line cost $22,000 a mile; and on other roads the cost was proportionately heavy.

A mile of first class English permanent way, at English prices, cost but little more than a mile of ordinary American railway at American prices, including only earthwork, ballast, sleepers, rails and fastenings and laying.

In answer to a question from a member of the Institute, Mr. Colburn stated that the average divided on all English railway share capital was for 1856, 3 per cent.

The earth-work of English lines was more carefully laid up than is usual here; the cuttings and banks were wider at formation level, the slopes flatter, and grassed or sown, the drainage very thorough-sub-drainage being much practiced in difficult situations. The ballasting was deep and thorough, being 26 feet wide on double track, and 2 feet deep, one foot of which was under the ties. The ties were 9 feet long, 10 by 5 inches section, generally squared, spaced, in most cases, 3 feet apart centres, and were generally preserved, either by saturation with coal tar, creosote, or sulphate of copper. The rails were mostly of the double head form, inches deep, and weighing 72 pounds per yard. There was a general conviction in favor of lighter rails; 70 to 75 pound rails were taking the place of 85 and 92 pound iron. So, on the continent, 62 to 74 pound rails were taking the place of heavier bars. The height of the rails, 5 inches, was preserved, but the stem and head were lightened. A lighter head was found to give an advantageous elasticity, whereby the iron was saved from battering out. Much more pains was being taken in the manufacture of rails. The continental rails were flat footed, and fastened by spikes, as on American roads.

The best form of English rail joint fastening was believed to be a pair of angle

ENGLISH RAILROADS- THE DISMAL SWAMP CANAL.

365

irons, each 18 inches long, bolted by four bolts, through the rail of the joints, and spiked also to the sleeper. If the bolts got loose, the pressure of the rail on the heads of the angle irons, tended to nip them closer together; so, the angle irons gave the full great lateral support. About eight tons of angle irons and bolts were required per mile of single track, for an ordinary weight of rail.

2.-ENGLISH RAILROADS.

LAST year there were twenty-three collisions, twenty accidents of other kinds connected with the management of the lines, and two trains set on fire. Besides these examples, even in the twenty-one instances where engines or carriages ran off the rails, seven only are reported as due purely to unavoidable casualities, leaving twice that number to be more or less accounted for by some species of neglect. In 1853 there were seventy-six accidents to trains reported upon, of which five only were purely accidental, and eleven partly so. In 1854 the aggregate was eighty-five, of which sixteen were wholly, and five partially attributable to "accidents"-the term being here used as defining a casualty against which there had been no obvious means of guarding. In 1855 the pure accidents were only ten and the partial accidents—or those in which uncontrollable causes could be charged with some, though not all the blame-only thirteen out of a total of ninety-four. In the succeeding years the case becomes still stronger. In 1856, out of seventy-one casualties but three pure accidents could be selected, and in 1857 only sixteen out of eighty-one.

It is not yet thirty-eight years since George Stephenson drove the first engine over the first English railway opened as a public highway; yet the number of passengers now conveyed by railway in Great Britain and Ireland is about 134,000,000 per annum. The rate of increase in the passenger traffic of the collective lines is marvellous. In 1851 there were 81,000,000; in 1852, 89,000000; in 1853, 102,000,000; in 1854, 114,000,000; in 1855, 118,000,000; and in 1856, 129,000,000 of passengers carried by railway. The returns for the last half year of 1857 are not given, but those of the first half year show an excess of nearly five millions over those of the corresponding period of 1856; and even if we assume that the passenger traffic was no greater than that of the Autumn preceding, still we shall get a gross number of 134,000,000 passengers in that year. To conduct this enormous traffic over 9,000 miles of railway and through 3,121 stations, the different companies of the United Kingdom employ no fewer than 109,660 persons in various capacities. To speak first of those classes of officers who are immediately concerned in contributing to the safety of traveling, there are 2,471 station masters, 3,563 engine drivers, with as many assistants as firemen; 3,716 guards, 3,260 switchmen to attend to the points, 2,000 gatesmen, 2,400 policemen or watermen. Of porters, plate layers, and laborers, classes which generally supply victims rather than agents in railway accidents, there are 53,000 employed.

3. THE DISMAL SWAMP CANAL.

Was the first of the artificial lines leading from Norfolk into the Interior. It was sufficiently advanced for the passage of large boats in 1828, but was not completed until 1841, under the presidency of the late Marshall Parks. It cost half a million of dollars, of which were subscribed by

United States Government...

State of Virginia..

Individuals...

$200,000

200,000

100,000

$500,000

The canal is fed from Lake Drummond, or the "Lake of the Dismal Swamp," which affords an abundant and unfailing supply of water. It has five locks seventeen and a half feet wide and ninety-four feet long, capable of passing vessels of one hundred tons. It connects the waters of the Elizabeth river at a po int six miles from Norfolk, with those of the Pasquotank river in North Carolina. The latter is a narrow, tortuous stream, the difficult navigation of which

has materially interfered with the trade of the canal. This difficulty is being obviated, however, by the extension of the canal several miles further South, and the completion of this improvement will doubtless do much to increase the trade.

Below we present a table of the trade of the canal in twenty-five of the principal articles, from 1841 to 1857, inclusive. The table is full, perfectly reliable, and, therefore, of great value. It presents some interesting facts of the comparative state of trade on the canal, which could only be exhibited by going back to an extended period.

Thus in a comparison between the cotton trade of the first five and last five years, given in the table, a gain is shown in the latter over the former period of eight thousand nine hundred and twenty-three bales. In fish there has been a falling off. In naval stores there is a gain of thirty-four thousand three hundred and fifty bushels. In bacon of three hundred and thirteen thousand four hundred pounds; and in lard of nine hundred and forty kegs. In grain there has been a very decided increase. Corn having increased from two million seventysix thousand and ninety-four bushels in the first named five years to five million nine hundred and seventy-three thousand three hundred and twenty-four bushels in the last, or a gain of three million eight hundred and seventy-one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven bushels, equal to one hundred and eighty-six per cent. In the wheat there has been an increase of eighty-five per cent.—a slight gain in peas, and a gain of forty-five per cent. in potatoes.

In lumber there is also a gain. In mast timber we have no comparative data, but in merchantable timber there is an increase of five hundred and sixty-five thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight cubic feet, or ninety-one per cent.; and in plank and scantling of fifteen thousand three hundred and sixty-one feet, or over one hundred and twenty-five per cent. In pipe staves we observe a considerable falling off, also, a small falling off in barrel staves-while there is a gain in hogshead staves of about two millions. The receipts of pipe and barrel stave in 1857, show an increase of the former of one hundred and twentyeight thousand seven hundred and sixty-two, and of the latter of fifty-four thousand over the previous year. In long shingles there has been a decrease of five millions, while there has been a gain in building shingles of sixty-three millions, the per cent. of gain on the last two items being respectively about seventy-five and fifty per cent.

1. THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF CHARLESTON.

In no section of the Union does there exist at this time a more correct appreciation of the benefits of an efficient Common School system than in the city of Charleston, and nowhere are its results more gratifying. The improvement has been chiefly within the last few years, and the greatest emulation

REPORT OF HON. C. G. MEMMINGER.

pervades among citizens of all classes in elevating and perfecting what has been so well begun.

We have been recently furnished with the reports and other documents read at the second anniversary celebration, and cannot resist the desire to extract from them for the benefit of our readers in other quarters. Our early recollections of Charleston and its public schools, and of our own great indebtedness to them, are very vivid, and the acknowledgment for this indebtedness is made gratefully here.

The leading report, by the Hon. C. G. Memminger, who is himself one of the proudest monuments of the system, in another of its forms, is a most excellent paper. The schools are six in number, and the children under instruction, 1,698. The whole expense for the year was $21,145, which was an average of $13 19 to each pupil, including books, maps, &c., furnished to them free of cost. The sum of $10,000 was appropriated by the State, and an equal amount made up among the citizens for the establishment of a Normal School, for training female teachers, in connection with a High School for girls. In regard to the importance of female education, and of education generally, Mr. Memminger remarks:

"To forward this most important and desirable result as speedily as is consistent with the means of our citizens, it is only necessary to bear in mind the advantages of general education, and its absolute necessity where the people govern. A government without intelligence would be a body without a head. In other countries where one man, or a privileged class exercise all the power of the State, it is sufficient to educate the few. In fact, the few would prefer to keep the subject people in ignorance. But where every individual is a ruler where his opinion is felt in making up the public opinion-where each man is an actual and positive part of the great moving whole, it is necessary that all should be educated. If we will look back through a single year, and mark the important questions of municipal and international right which are brought before our people for their action, we will appreciate the value of an enlightened public opinion. And if we turn our steps to the Court House and see the Juryman taken from the workshop or the counter, and sitting in judgment upon the life and fortune of his neighbor; if we listen to the arguments which are addressed to him, and find that they involve nice questions of law, moral probabilities and social duty; if we hear the judge, with all his learning appealing to the understanding of the jury and declaring to them that they are the arbiters of the question at issue, we will then perceive the necessity which calls for precious knowledge and education.

"Whether then we entrust to a man power as a juryman to sit in judgment upon our lives and property, or as a voter, to confer political power upon whom he may please; or as a citizen, to become invested with the robe of office; or as a soldier, to sustain the honor and defend the interests of his country, we compel ourselves to provide for his education.

"If we turn to the female portion of society, considerations of equal importance plead for their education. The great moral lever of society has been entrusted by the Creator to female hands. The principles of religion and virtue are implanted by the mother upon the plastic mind of infancy. Her hand must foster her care must guard the tender plant. In the hour of trial she must sustain, in the day of affliction she must comfort. The first rays of intelligence must be collected by her, and the child, the youth and the man must find his surest and most sympathizing friend in the sister, the wife, the mother. Shall these be educated, or shall they be left in ignorance? Shall the mother be incapable of reading to her child that Word which God has given for her guidance and support? Shall the wife be incapable of reading or responding to her husband's letter-or to rise higher-of taking her fitting place as his companion and helpmeet? It is evident that the best interest of society de-,