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very soon will they present such attractions as will leave no excuse forw any merchants to visit New-York or any northern market.

The best remedy for our evils, we honestly believe, is a southern confederacy; the next is, commercial independence.

Respectfully, yours,

GILLILAND, HOWELL & Co.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

1.-REAL ESTATE AND POPULATION, AS EFFECTED BY INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

The taxable property of Minnesota in 1850 was $262,088, her population being 6,038. Up to 1859 the State authority had been granted for the expenditure on railroads of $2,500,000, of which $500,000 has been used. Her taxable property in 1858 was $18,000,000, and her population 150,842.

The total taxable property of Iowa in 1850 was $21,690,642, and her population being 191,681. Her railroad expenditure is $11,260,169; her taxable property in 1857, $240,044,534, and her population in 1859, 633,549.

The real estate valuation of Wisconsin was, in 1850, $22,458,442; her population being 304,756. Her railroad expenditure is $36,742,063; her real estate in 1859, $155,012,340; and her population in 1855, 552,451.

The real estate valuation of Missouri was, in 1850, $66,802,223; her population being 592,004. Her railroad expenditure is $30,871,363; and her real estate in 1858, $285,892,792.

The real estate valuation of Texas was, in 1850, $28,149,671; her population being 154,034. Her railroad expenditure is $5,000,000; and her real estate, in 1856, $86,539,306.

The real estate valuation of California, in 1853, was $16,347,442; her population in 1850 being 91,635. Her expenditures for improvements of all kinds are $2,532,500; her real estate in 1859 was $56,060,351; and her population in 1856 was 507,067.

The real estate valuation of Illinois was, in 1850, $81,524,235; her population being 846,034. Her railroad expenditure is $94,338,088; her real estate, in 1857, was $252,621,623; and her population, in 1855, 1,306,576.

The real estate valuation of Kentucky was, in 1850, $177,013,407; her population being 761,413. Her railroad expenditure is $13,314,059; and her real estate, in 1859, was $270,960,818.

The real estate valuation of Mississippi was, in 1850, $65.171,438; her population being 295,718. Her railroad expenditure is $7,998,298; her real estate, in 1857, being $141,747,536.

The real estate valuation of Arkansas was, in 1850, $17,372,524; her population being 162,189. Her railroad expenditure is $1,093,161; her real estate being, in 1858, $42,385,704; and her population 331,213.

The real estate valuation of Florida was, in 1850, 87,924,588; her population being 47,203. Her railroad expenditure is $1,675,000; her real estate, in 1855, being $13,910,981; and her population, 110,823.

The real estate valuation of New-York was, in 1850, $564,609,649; her population being 3,048,325. Her railroad expenditure is $135,314,197; and her State expenditure for canals and railroads $31,483,256 In 1858 her real estate was $1,095,403,134; and her population, in 1855, 3,466,212.

The real estate valuation of Ohio was, in 1850, $337,521,075; her population being 1,955,050. Her railroad expenditure is $124,821,055; her real estate, in 1859, being $590,285,947; and her population, in 1857, 2,368,000.

The real estate valuation of Tennessee was, in 1850, $107.981,793; her population being 756,836. Her railroad expenditure is $26,337,427; her real estate, in 1856, being $166,417,907.

The real estate valuation of Virginia was, in 1850, $252,105,824; her population being 894,800. Her railroad expenditure is $42,670,674 ; her real estate, in 1859, being $374,989,888; and her population 1,658,190.

The total valuation of Rhode Island was, in 1850, $77,758,974; her population being 143,875. Her railroad expenditure is $2,750,450; her valuation, in 1855, being $111,175,174.

The railroad expenditures above given, are made up to January 1, 1859.

The valuations of 1850, in the States named, have increased from a total of $1,844,794,015 to $3,851,448,035, or $2,006,652,020; the total railroad expenditure noted, from the commencement of construction, being $540,208,501.

2.-MOBILE AND OHIO RAILROAD.

The stockholders of this road assembled in annual meeting at Mobile. The report of President Brown shows, that during the year 44 miles of new track have been laid, making now, in running order, 363 in all. Of the new track 13 are on the Columbus branch, 29 on the main trunk extending northward from Jackson, Tenn.

Contracts have also been entered into for completing within the year, the road from Okolona to the Tennessee line, and for all but fifteen miles of the unfinished road in Tennessee, and that will be let out immediately. The iron, moreover, is either on the spot or on the way, so that the entire road from Mobile to Columbus, Kentucky, will be in running order by the first of Jannary,

1861.

The Paducah Branch is also progressing finely, and will be completed at an early day.

The net earnings of the year amount to $651,610-enough to pay the whole interest account, and leave a balance of $300,000 to be applied to rolling stock and construction.

The total earnings of the road amounted to $1,120,588; $468,987.

the expenses,

The total number of passengers carried over the road is 102,926, against 73,446 in 1858.

Of cotton, the number of bales transported over the road was 179,764 bales, of which 27,119 were of the crop of 1858, and 152,645 of the last year's crop. The earnings from the transportation of cotton were $412,295, equal to 421 per cent. of the whole earnings.

The funded debt of the company is $4,365,800; the floating debt, $873,749. Of the company's sterling bonds 874 have been disposed of, leaving 1,157, representing $1,157,000 still on hand. It is now proposed to put the lands of the company in market, allowing purchasers to pay for them in sterling bonds at par. There are 1,100,000 acres still unsold. During the last year they have averaged $6 35 the acre.

3.-COAL VERSUS WOOD FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

The American Railway Review enters into the following interesting particulars in regard to the respective merits of coal and wood upon our railroads :

As the wood is burned off the country, the amount, extent, and location of the best coals, or other fuel for making steam, becomes a very important question to all persons interested in railroads. Already many of the long lines have introduced coal-burning engines, and they are now upon the Baltimore and Ohio, the Pennsylvania Central, the Hudson River, the New-Jersey Central, the Boston and Worcester, and other roads, and within a few days the first coal burner has been introduced on the New-York Central. The fuel account for the last year of the leading lines of New-York and New-England, without the branches and local roads, amounted to upward of three million dollars, or the interest on an investment, at more than average railroad returns, of fifty million dollars.

In some localities, the cost of wood has been as high as twenty-seven cents a mile run, while in others, the engines have performed on wood as low as ten cents a mile run, rarely as low as seven cents, but it has been done. Now, it has VOL. III.NO. V.

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been demonstrated by fair trial, that coal burners have worked as low as three and four sevenths cents per mile run, where coal was worth three dollars and thirty cents per ton.

The great coal regions of the country are situated where they will in the future conduce greatly to the benefit of the railroad interest; there are, of course, many lines so located, that they can never obtain coal as cheaply and easily as others. But it is worthy of remark, taking a broad comprehensive view of the whole railway system of the country, and the natural disposition of the coal-bearing rocks, that the facility for procuring this kind of fuel exists in the greatest abundance where the largest amount of traffic and the highest summits are found.

According to Professor Le Conte, the area of the coal fields of the United States is 133,500 square miles. Professor Rodgers makes it much more; and Mr. Marron-all of them good authority-say, it amounts to nearly 200,000 square miles.

This so called Appalachian field, extending over a large portion of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and part of Virginia, and into Tennessee and Kentucky-the coal fields of Rhode Island, being so limited in extent, is left out of consideration. The second great field is in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana; the third is in Michigan, and the fourth in Missouri,

Outside the limits of the United States are the coal fields of New-Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which, according to Dr. Lyell, have an area of 36,000 square miles; Great Britain has but 11,800 square miles, while the annual production of coal raised to the surface in England, Scotland, and Ireland, together from their fields of about one sixth the extent of those of the United States, is about 32,000,000 tons per anuum, or nearly eight times as much as that raised in the United States, which, according to recent returns, is about 4,000,000 tons per

annum.

Now, it has been carefully computed that the augmentation of mechanical force, by using coal in a steam engine, as compared with manual labor, is at least three thousand to one-that is to say, let two men dig coal from a pit a hundred yards from a good steam engine, and bring it to the surface, and then burn it and tend the engine, the labor performed by that engine in pumping water, or any similar work, will be equal to that which six thousand men could do by the direct ction of their own strength on the same kind of pump in the same time. When we reason upon such generalities, and consider what a vast proportion of the work of the civilized world is already done by the mechanical force produced by the chemical action due to the combustion of coal, while, at the same time, the quantity that this agent at present is made to perform, is comparatively so limited, one cannot help being led to contemplate what may yet be done, when capital and enlightened thought are brought to bear upon the many methods that may be introduced for procuring the supply from the best localities, and working it to the greatest advantage.

4-SOUTHERN RAILROADS.

Nothing can give a more forcible idea of the growing importance of the Southern States of the Union, than a survey of their immeuse railroad system. There is a too numerous class of persons, resident in the Northern States, who from defective information or perverted party statements, have adopted most erroneous impressions as to the commercial status of the vast section of country located south of Mason and Dixon's line. They pride themselves on the idea that all the commercial enterprise of the country has by some unknown means centred in among Northern people. It is a settled fact in their minds, that the Southern States are half a century behind the advanced civilization of the rest of the Union, and that that region of country is in an altogether raw and undeveloped condition. The railroads of the South, however, are a standing refutation of all such misconceptions. We know of no surer indication of the wealth and enterprise of any people, than the extent of their railways. If their roads are few and ill conducted, there is either a lack of capital or of commerce, or of both, or there is an unwholesome adherence to old ideas; if, on the contrary, their

roads are numerous and well managed, the inference is clearly legitimate that a large amount of commerce is pressing for accommodation, and that it is under the control of a competent and intelligent people. Measured by this standard, the South has something of which to be proud. We have compiled the following statistics, showing the extent and the value of railroad property in the several Southern States. The figures date up to the close of 1859, and show the length of the road constructed or in course of construction, the length in actual operation, and the cost of the roads, including building and equipment: In Operation.

Virginia.....

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State.

Cost. $43.669,360

Length.

2,058.5.

1.525.7.

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It will be observed that Virginia has a greater length of road in operation than any other State, and that she has invested a much larger amount of capital in those works than has any other section of the South. The total length of the line in that State is 2,058 miles, and the length in operation, 1,525 miles; the cost of building and equipment having been over forty-three million dollars. In. 1855, the total mileage of road in operation in Virginia was 986 miles; the increase since that period having been 539 miles, or about fifty-five per cent.—a progress most creditable to the enterprise of that State. Next in importance comes the State of Missouri, which, although its length of road is not equal to that of some other States, has yet expended an amount of capital in its roads surpassed only by Virginia. Upon an operative mileage of 723 miles, that State has expended nearly thirty-two million dollars. Tennessee, with 339 miles more road than Missouri, has invested only twenty-seven million three hundred and forty-eight thousand one hundred and forty-one dollars in structure and equipment; while Georgia has built and equipped 1,241 miles (518 miles more than Missouri), at a cost of only twenty-five million six hundred and eightyseven thousand two hundred and twenty dollars. Alabama has secured a large extent of road at a comparatively light cost, having opened 998 miles at an outlay of twenty million nine hundred and seventy-five thousand six hundred and thirty-nine dollars. The growing wants of that State have caused the projection of a much larger extent of railway accommodation, there being at the present time 1,024 miles of road awaiting completion. In South Carolina the cost of the roads has been still lower than in the last-mentioned State-the length of road being nine miles additional, and the aggregate cost nearly two millions less. The cost of the North Carolina lines has been still lower than that of South. For somewhat less than fourteen million dollars, that State has constructed and equipped 770 miles of road, the average cost per mile having been only eighteen thousand one hundred and seventy-nine dollars. Louisiana, on the other hand, has invested a large capital for much more limited results. Her length of road in operation is 419 miles, at a cost of over sixteen million dollars-the average cost per mile being thirty-eight thousand three hundred and sixty-one dollars, or twenty thousand one hundred and eighty-two dollars more than that of the North Carolina roads. Louisiana has at the present time 741 miles of road uncompleted, which, if finished at the same rate of cost as that already in operation, will involve an additional outlay of twenty-eight million four hundred and twenty-five thousand five hundred and one dollars, making the total cost of railroads in that State nearly forty-four million five hundred thousand dollars. Kentucky is somewhat behind some other parts of the South in the extent of her railroad works. Her neighboring State, Virginia, has 1,525 miles of road in

operation, with a population of one and a half millions; while, with a population of one million, Kentucky herself has only 468 miles of operating line. The comparatively heavy cost of road building in this State, may have tended more or less to limit the extent of railway accommodation, the average outlay per mile on the completed lines having been twenty-nine thousand six hundred dollars. Mississippi does not own a great length of road, ranking in this respect tenth among the States of the South. She has, however, the great Mississippi river skirting her entire Western boundary, which renders unnecessary a proportionate length of road; and it is to be taken into the estimate, that her population being only 600,000, she has not such large requirements as have some of the more populous States. Texas has yet a great work to perform in railroad construction. She has only 284 miles of completed line for the development of her immense territory. With a population, however, of 350,000, she cannot be expected to do much more immediately; and the probability seems to be that she must wait patiently for some years ere the 2,383 miles which her enterprise has projected can be completed. Five years ago she had only 32 miles of road; and it is highly creditable to the State that, with so few inliabitants. she should have completed 250 miles of line in the interim. The roads of Florida, though limited, are probably proportioned to her wants-290 miles of railway to less than 100,000 inhabitants, being a very fair ratio of accommodation. Arkansas is as yet only commencing her railroad works. With a large territory, and a population of about 400 000, she has need of vastly more than 38 miles of railway, of which she seems to be fully aware, having in contemplation the construction of 663 miles additional. In 1855, the total length of line in operation in the Southern States was 4,426 miles; and since that period 4,368 miles have been completed, at a cost of about one hundred and fifteen million dollars-no evidence, certainly, that our Southern citizens are deficient in either capital or enterprise. The entire length of road completed in the whole of the United States since 1855, is 11,248 miles, of which 6,822 miles belong to the Northern States, and 4,426 to the Southern; from which it is apparent that, according to population, the South has built a greater length of road than the North.

In the States of the South, there are 745 miles of road more than in the whole of Great Britain; the total cost of the Southern roads being $235,560,842, against $1,575,006,000 of capital expended on the British lines. The total mileage of road in operation in the three countries of Austria, France, and Prussia in 1858, was 9,189-an excess over that of the Southern States amounting to only 345 miles! The total capital expended upon the lines of those countries is $680,000,000, or three times the amount of that invested in our Southern roads.-U. S. Economist.

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