nstructive. For each dollar received from the passenger traffic the
American railroads earn $2.95 from their freight business, the German
roads $2.40, the French $1.31 and the British railways $1.17. The
United Kingdom has the greatest volume of passenger traffic per
population of any country in the world.

AMERICAN PASSENGER TRAFFIC ON RAILROADS RELATIVELY UNDEVELOPED

The long distances of the United States necessitate a large freight
traffic but act as a hindrance to travel. It is a generally accepted
but erroneous supposition that Americans travel more than any other
people. A comparison of the passenger traffic in the United States
with that in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France reveals some
surprising facts. The figures are for 1896. The number of passengers
carried one mile per mile of road upon the railroads of the United
States was 71,705, in France the number was 273,315, in Germany
315,399, and in the United Kingdom 440,000. The average distance which
the Briton travels per year by rail is 244 miles; for the American the
distance is 209 miles, for the Frenchman 176 miles, and for the German
165 miles. The Englishman takes 24.4 trips per year on an average, the
German 11.3, the Frenchman 9.6, and the American 8.2. Americans travel
extensively, but it is evident from the foregoing comparisons that the
possibility of developing the passenger service in this country has by
no means reached its limit.

RELATION OF TRANSPORTATION ON RAILROADS TO ECONOMIC ORGANISATION

The economic changes which have accompanied the great development of
transportation that has taken place during the last fifty years have
revolutionised our industrial and social life. Among the effects of
developed transportation upon the economic organisation may be noted:
First, that relations of producers and consumers have been
fundamentally changed by placing a larger market at the service of
both. Many classes of commodities are now bought and sold in a world
market that were formerly restricted to local trade. Second, improved
transportation has made the prices of commodities more uniform for
different producers and consumers. The variations due to situation
have been lessened. In a like manner there has been a decrease in
those time variations in prices that result from changes in the supply
of commodities. Improved transportation also makes prices lower--not
only because it reduces the costs of moving the raw materials of
manufactur