Show Western Railroad Building Tin story of the expansion of the Atchi sun railroad system from 470 miles in 1S74 t r71i miles in 1SS9 is only one of several suili marvels in the rapid increase of western west-ern trm portation facilities All the leading lead-ing lines west of the Mississippi have been extending their tracks at a similar rate in recent years There has never been anything any-thing like it in the way of busy and costly public improvements says an exchange nor is there any l parallel for the remarkable development which has thus been brought about in formerly waste and remote sections sec-tions of the country The amount of capi tal used in these vast enterprises is almost incredible and the same may be said of the energy the courage and the perseverance required to carry them through But after all it is a question if they were wisely conceived or if the conditions really justified them They have certainly so far failed to yield a reasonable profit to the investors whatever their advan tage may have been in other respects In fact it is doubtful if any one of them has at any time paid expenses and the outlook does HOt promise fair returns for a good many years to come All things considered it must be allowed that the business of railroad building in the sparselysettled west has been considerably consider-ably overdone The mistake can not be en tirelj l charged to the railroad companies They have acted too hastily in the matter OeSJ IYo Oe to be sure under the spur of rivalry and competition but at the same time the people peo-ple have constantly encouraged them with valuable inducements Bonds have been voted to them in a most lavish way and every community has exerted itself to the utmost to secure one or more connections with the several great lines in question There was not sufficient traffic to warrant Va construction of these various branch rOC 4 and extensions and the theory that the would quickly cause the traffic to grow to remunerative proportions has proved to be a fallacy The consequence is that the earnings of the main lines are all absorbed in supporting the new ventures and dividends are not to be expected even under the most favorable circumstances as to crops and other factors of the problem It Is necessary to go ahead with the operation opera-tion of the branches already built as the money invested in them can not be thrown away and some day they will reach the 1 aying point |