at certain stations on the road, when the first which arrives is compelled to wait until the other, coming from the opposite direction, may pass it. This could hardly work if the trains were very numerous; but as a rule in America they are not numerous : certainly not so numerous as they ought to be. There are, however, instances where the traffic has got far beyond the capacity of a single line of rails, and the difficulty has been to arrange for it without laying down a second track, or doubling the line. On the Baltimore and Ohio Railway this has been very ingeniously accomplished. That railway has a very large coal and a very considerable goods traffic. It is obliged also to run three passenger trains each way a day. The way the trade is conducted is this. A passenger train is started early in the morning. In succession to it there is started "a convoy" of trains, consisting of as many as fifteen goods trains following each other at five minutes intervals. Some hours after another passenger train is started, followed again by convoy" of goods trains. And so on with a third passenger train, and a third "convoy" of coal or goods trains. By this arrangement the passenger trains are kept entirely clear of the goods trains; and of course the arrangements are so made that the convoys from each end pass each other without difficulty. Thus forty-five goods trains and three passenger trains are taken each way each day on one pair of rails. This struck me as being a very ingenious arrangement for meeting a great difficulty.

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CHAPTER III.

THE RAILWAY FUTURE OF AMERICA.

IN speaking of the railroads of America, we must not forget to look at the immense positive advantage they have conferred upon the country. It is to railways, that America owes its recent development. Its rivers and lakes afford, no doubt, great actual opportunities for internal communication; but the lands of America are so wide-spread, that the more distant territories could scarcely have been reached, or, if reached, could never have been cultivated to profit, without a means of rapidly communicating with the seats of population. The Commissioner of Census of 1860 declares, that so great are the benefits railroads have conferred on all departments of agriculture, "that, if the entire cost of the "railroads between the Atlantic and Western States had "been levied on the farmers of the Central West, they could "have paid it, and been immensely the gainers." This proposition, adds the writer, becomes evident, if we look at the mode in which railways have become beneficial. They effect that which could not have been done without them they secure to the producer very nearly the price of the Atlantic markets, which is greatly in advance of what could be obtained on his farm; they enable the producer to dispose of his products at all times, and consequently at the best prices; and they increase

rapidly the settlement and production of the interior States, which must be beneficial to the entire nation.

Forty years ago, the surplus products of Ohio had accumulated beyond the means of transport, and wheat sold in the interior at 37 cents. per bushel, and Indian corn at 10 cents. Then the Erie Canal was opened, and soon after the Ohio Canal, and prices were raised more than 50 per cent. Now that the means of transport have been increased, the price of flour at Cincinnati is nearly double its price in 1826, the price of Indian corn four times, and the price of pork three times as great. On the other hand, the prices of corn and meat on the sea-board have not been reduced in the least. It is therefore evident that the bulk of the gain obtained by the increased facility of transport, has gone to the producer.

Nor is this all. Not only have railroads cheapened the transport of the produce, but also the cost of the transport of every article of manufacture required by the producer. They have brought him labour and machinery, and articles of foreign growth, with which he could scarcely have been supplied without railways. Sugar and coffee were no dearer at Cincinnati in 1860 than in 1835, although the population of the Western States in that interval had increased in the enormous proportions already mentioned. During that interval, also, the lands of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and other States, had become of substantial value.*

"The best lands in Illinois were worth but $1. 25 an acre prior to the construction of railroads. They are now worth $20.”—Report of the Commissioner of Census, p. clxix. '.

Between 1850 and 1860, the value of the farms throughout the West had doubled; which would have been impossible had there not been the facilities afforded by railroads for conveying the produce of those farms to markets.

But it is to be added, that even now these facilities are by no means sufficient for the West. We have seen that the Atlantic and Great Western railroad has as yet been unable to convey from the oil-wells anything beyond a small proportion of their prolific and increasing supply. The traffic of the wonderful coal-fields which it traverses has been scarcely touched; its cattle traffic has not been commenced. In the same way, the corn-producers of the Western States are quite unable to find sufficient means of conveyance for their produce, because the railroads from west to east are choked with traffic.

The existing railroad requirements of the West are, in fact, insufficient. The main arteries of communication are the great railroads known as the "New York Central" Railway, the "Erie" Railway, with the "Atlantic and Great Western" Railway, the "Pennsylvania Central" Railway, and the "Baltimore and Ohio" Railway. But to ensure what is needed in America, these lines ought to be doubled, and no time ought to be lost in doing it. At present, because they cannot carry the produce, the whole traffic of the country is subject to two gigantic evils, arising, first, from uncertainty of conveyance; and second, from uncertainty of charge.

Out of about 9,000,000 tons of produce annually con

veyed from west to east, it is estimated that the canals carry one-third: the railways the remainder. But there is a period of the year when the canals are frozen up. The whole task of conveyance then falls upon the railways; and the consequence is, not only an immediate rise in their rates, but absolute inability to conduct the traffic. The results are often most disastrous. I know one case, in which 40,000 barrels of flour were detained at Toledo (nearly half-way between Chicago and New York) for several months, in consequence of want of carriage. A vast mass of produce is yearly destroyed, from the inability of the carriers to forward it. The owners are ruined, and parties in the Eastern States, who advance money on this produce, charge excessive rates to cover the risks of delay.

Now, what is the effect of this? The producer, the merchant, the railway company, and the consumer, are all directly injured: but the indirect injury extends far beyond those interests. The whole produce of the West, and consequently the entire cultivation of America, is affected. If the produce cannot be carried, it can only find local markets. If it only finds local markets, prices must abate. If prices abate, the stimulus to the cultivation of land is lost. If the land is not required for cultivation, in the same proportion it necessarily diminishes in value. The prosperity of the West, the value of its produce, the value of its land, and the extent of land cultivated-all depend, therefore, upon increased facilities for the conveyance of produce; and those facilities railroads must afford.