created in its present form since the Civil War, and practically built and rebuilt within the last forty years. The railroad-owner has provided, in round figures, 250,000 miles of railroad, 370,000 miles of track, 62,000 locomotives, 51,000 passenger-cars, and 2,200,000 freight-cars. The fair present value of this tremendous piece of machinery is probably at least $18,000,000,000, and in keeping it in order and in operating it about 1,700,000 men are employed with an annual payroll of nearly $1,300,000,000.
The securities representing this value are held by hundreds of thousands of individuals, and also by insurance companies, savings banks and trust companies, hospitals, churches, and colleges; and the people as a whole have as vital an interest in maintaining the credit and prosperity of the railroads as they have in maintaining the solvency of the banks. It is stated on good authority, that the life-insurance companies doing business in the state of New York hold one eighth of the entire railroad-bond issue of the country. There are
