Date of Award

5-1937

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Business Administration

First Advisor

Nicholas J. Hoffman

Second Advisor

William J. Grace

Abstract

The importance of our railroads can be better grasped if their magnitude is appreciated. Just how extensive is the railroad system of the United States? One can answer this question best by using a few comparisons. The railroads of the United States represent one tenth of our national wealth. They are equal to all the combined value of the farmland in the country. Their worth is equal to more than two-thirds of all the minerals, oil and gas in the country. All the privately owned timber in the United States would only buy a half interest in our railroads. The machinery and equipment of all the factories in AMerica would barely be equal to the worth of the railroads. Our American railway system is 250,000 miles long. This amounts to over two fifths of the world's total of 750,000 miles. Our system is more than six times as big as that in Germany, the next most extensive system in the world. In 1929 the railways of America handled billion-ton miles of freight and seven billion passenger miles. The Interstate Commerce Commission, after spending twenty-four years investigating, reports that the fair value of the railroads is twenty-one billion dollars.

Comments

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts of Marquette University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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