THE RAILROADS OF THE WORLD IN 1877-78. [From the New York Commercial and Financial Chronicle, Feb. 2, 1878, with variations.] BUSINESS OF THE SUEZ CANAL FROM ITS OPENING. This great ship canal, one hundred miles in length, connects Sucz on the Red Sea with Port Said on the Mediterranean. It was commenced by a company, aided by large subscriptions of the governments of Egypt, France, and England, in 1858, and opened November 17, 1869. It is 72 feet wide at the bottom, about 300 feet at the surface, and 26 feet in depth, casily passing the largest vessels. The contro'ling interest in the canal was purchased for £4,000,000, in 1875, by the British government, which now holds it. The following table exhibits the prodigious Increase of business on this great work: [Front the Economiste Français, June 22, 1878.] 758,400 3,626,000 1,007,800 2,618,200 1873.. 4,165,320 745,000 4,910,320 1,144,000 3,766,000 1874. 4,530,800 631,400 5,162,200 1,281,800 3,880,400 1870. Dollars. Dollars. Dollars. Dollars. Dollars. per cent. 1,031,800 353,600 1,385,400 1,291,600 94,000 93.21 1871.. 1,519,800 1,134,200 2,654,000 1,165,400 1,488,600 1872. 2,867.600 43.90 486 436,000 765 761,000 27.79 1,082 1,439,000 23.30 1,173 2,085,000 24.83 1,264 2,424,000 1875.. 5,286,200 583,800 5,870,000 1,243,200 4,625,800 1876.. 5,526,400 537,200 6,063,600 1,120,000 4,943,400 1877... 6,035,800 599,400 6,635,200 1,155,200 5,480,000 21.18 1,494 2,941,000 THE TELEGRAPHS OF THE UNITED STATES. Statement showing the Mileage of Lines and Wires, Number of Offices and Traffic of the Western Union Telegraph Company for each Year, from June 30, 1866, to June 30, 1878. [From the Journal of the Telegraph, Oct. 16, 1878.] 1866. 37,380 75,636 2,250 1867. 1868. 1869. 1870. 1871 1872. 1873. 1874.. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 46,270 85,291 2,565 5,879,282 6,568,925 3,944,006 2,624,920 89.3 54.7 34.6 75.5 51.2 24.3 69.5 45.7 23.8 66.2 43.8 22.4 62.5 43.4 19.1 54.9 39.5 15.4 54.0 35.2 18.8 50.9 33.5 17.4 13.8 Gross Operating NOTE.-There is to be added to the above the lines of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company, including in its system the Philadelphia and Reading Telegraph Company, and other Railway telegraph connections within the United States, as follows, Jan. 1, 1878: Miles of Line. Miles of Wire. No. of Offices. No. of Messages. Gross Earnings. 16,626 1,712 The Dominion Telegraph Co., operating almost wholly in Canada, had 3,656 miles of line owned and operated by the Atlantic and Pacific Co. (not included in above mileage). 34,651 3,046,120 $1,131,328 $1,048,703 Net l'ronts. $82,625 By an agreement in 1877, between the Western Union and Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Companies, the gross earnings of both are to be pooled or divided for 20 years, on the basis of 872 per cent. to the Western Union, and 121⁄2 per cent. to the Atlantic and Pacific, the expenditures being divided in nearly the same ratio. Combining the lines of both companies (which represent all the public telegraph wires in the country), there were in 1878, 97,628 miles of inland telegraph in the United States, besides private, railway, and government lines, length not known. * This does not include the railway lines of telegraph, of which no statement is published. Statement of Land Grants by Acts of Congress to States for Canal Purposes, from the first Grant in 1827 to 1877. [From the Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.] 66 Mar. 7, 1874. Apr. 10, 1866. Breakwater and Harbor and Ship Canal... 200,000 Michigan... Aug. 26, 1852. Saint Mary's Ship Canal. 750,000 Mar. 3, 1865. Portage Lake and Lake Superior Ship Canal 200,000 66 200,000 66 Lac La Belle Ship Canal 100,000 Total quantity of Acres granted for Canals. 4,405,986 Statistics of Railways in Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland) for Sixteen Years, 1861-1877. [From the Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom, 1878.] Miles. £ No. No. £ 1861.. 10,869 362,327,338 173,773,218 15,988 28,565,355 2,628 1862.. 11,551 385,218,438 180,485,727 15,625 29,128,558 2,522 1853.. 12,322 404,215,802 204,699,466 16,612 31,156,397 2,528 1864.. 12,789 425,719,613 229,348,664 17,933 33,911,547 2,651 1865.. 13,289 455,478,143 251,959,862 18,960 35,751,655 2,691 1866.. 13,854 481,872,181 274,403,895 19,734 38,164,354 2,754 1867.. 14,247 502,262,887 287,807,904 20,201 39,479,999 2,771 1869.. 15,145 518,779,761 312,779,381 20,189 41,075,321 2,712 1870. 15,537 529,908,673 336,701,800 21,249 43,417,070 2,794 1871.. 15,376 552,680,107 375,409,146 24,415 47,107,558 3,064 1872.. 15,814 569,047,346 423,147,164 26,758 51,304,114 3,244 1873.. 16,082 588,320,308 455,634,767 28,332 55,675,421 3,462 1874.. 16,448 609,895,931 478,334,368 29,081 56,899,498 3,459 1875.. 16,664 630,226,942 507,532,187 30,457 58,977,518 3,539 1876.. 16,872 658,214,776 538,681,722 31,928 59,917,868 3,551 1877.. 17,077 674,059,048 551,593,654 32,268 60,644,057 3,551 £ £ 13,843,337 14,722,018 14,268,409 14,860,149 15,027,231 16,129,163 16,000,308 17,911,239 17,149,072 18,602,582 18,811,673 19,352,681 19,848,952 19,631,047 20,780,078 21,915,849 21,715,525 23,362,618 23,152,860 25,739,923 26,293,304 26,957,870 30,752,848 26,989,152 32,612,712 26,643,003 33,211,031 28,020,298 33,535,509 28 680,266 33,857,978 29,115.350 |