| Austria | $277 |
| Hungary | 283 |
| Italy | 287 |
| Switzerland | 292 |
| United States | 733 |
People who do not study the figures often look upon the railroad as a great piece of machinery with an unlimited ability to obtain money in indefinite amounts for increasing its capacity and improving the quality of the service. The transactions are so large and the figures run into so many millions that the impression prevails that the railroads must be very rich, and that any failure or refusal of the management to do the things that people want done is due to an unwillingness and to a spirit of parsimony, when as a matter of fact it is because of the absolute inability of the owners and managers to obtain the money from any source whatsoever.
The equipment of the railroads alone represents at least $3,500,000,000, and that equipment must be maintained in good order, that it may perform the duty imposed upon it by the public. It must be improved in quality and
