The New International Encyclopædia/Transportation

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Edition of 1905. See also Transport on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.

2338074The New International Encyclopædia — Transportation

TRANSPORTATION. The carrying of persons and goods from place to place. The part which transportation plays in the practical life of a community depends most directly upon the complexity of its economic system. Wherever the division of labor and the localization of industry have reached a high degree of development transportation necessarily attains a correspondingly high development. The rise of industry on a great scale and the creation of efficient means of transportation mutually condition each other.

More than a thousand years before our era Phœnician ships were trading in the Mediterranean, and later along the shores of the same sea the Greek cities built up their colonial and trade system. Rome was relatively late in developing maritime traffic, but by the time of the Empire an extensive commercial system had arisen, bringing to Rome the raw produce of Sicily and North Africa, and extending westward even beyond Gibraltar. Ancient land transport was comparatively insignificant. The Greek roads were chiefly to sacred places, such as Delphi, and their economic importance was small. The Roman roads were established for military rather than economic reasons, but they were vastly more extensive. Centring at Rome, they not only stretched through Italy, but (under the Empire) to Constantinople and Asia Minor, along parts of the north coast of Africa, westward to Spain, over the Alps to Gaul, and through Britain. Excellent as these roads often were, their method of construction was wastefully expensive from the modern standpoint.

The return to a more primitive economy in the early Middle Ages meant that for a time transportation should cease to play any important part in the economic life of Europe. The salient points in the story of its gradual revival are the stimulus given by the Crusades to trade with the East, the consequent growth of the Italian cities, and, in the twelfth century, the formation of the great trade league (Hansa) of the North European towns. Although the rise of towns and the establishment of fairs made a certain amount of land or river transport necessary, it was slow, insecure, and costly, and, at least on the Continent, was subject to burdensome and arbitrary tolls. The destruction of the Eastern caravan routes through the Turkish and Mongol invasions gave especial importance to the discovery of an ocean route to the Indies made by Portuguese navigators at the end of the fifteenth century. The introduction of the compass made trans-oceanic voyages readily possible. The discovery of America made them profitable, and helped to shift the centre of trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, from the Italian cities to the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch. The growth of colonial empires, based essentially on transportation, marks a most important era in the world's economic history.

Land transport lagged far behind that on the sea. With the growth of centralized nations a political motive arose for the improvement of roads and of internal trade. Under Louis XIV. (1643-1715), during the Ministry of Colbert, the French roads were greatly bettered, and many of the local tolls were put aside. In England little effective action was taken by the central Government, and, despite many ‘Turnpike Acts’ (granting rights to levy tolls in return for maintaining roads) the English highways remained poor throughout the eighteenth century, till the efficient road-making methods of McAdam (1756-1836) and Telford made possible the great improvements of the nineteenth. In the United States, as in England, private or local activity has been chiefly relied on for road-making. Private turnpikes were constructed in colonial times, and during the ‘internal improvement’ era, after 1800, Federal roads were built. Road-building has been recently carried on systematically in many parts of the United States.

The slowness and costliness of land transportation, even in the eighteenth century, made it impossible to convey ordinary goods any long distance. An era of canal-building, which began in England soon after 1750, met in part the increasing need of the growing industrial centres for communication with one another and with the sea. The same movement appears in the United States in the first quarter of the next century. With the rise of the factory system following 1760, with the application of steam power to mining and manufactures, and the possibilities of machine production on a large scale, came an imperative need for more rapid and more adequate means of transport, which only the railroad and the steamship could supply. Through them, in the nineteenth century, international industry has been made possible.

The following table, from the Report of the United States Commissioner of Navigation (1902), shows the Merchant Marines of the World, according to Lloyd's Register (1902-03). Only vessels of over 100 tons are included.


COUNTRY Sail Steam Total



 Number  Net tons  Number  Gross tons  Number  Tonnage







British:
 United Kingdom 1,685  1,533,480  7,358  12,897,592  9,043  14,431,072 
 Colonies 1,004  360,962  994  754,863  1,998  1,115,825 






 Total 2,689  1,894,442  8,352  13,652,455  11,041  15,546,897 
 
United States:
 Sea 2,155  1,247,125  776  1,095,788  2,931  2,342,913 
 Lake 59  135,863  318  858,380  377  994,243 






 Total 2,214  1,382,988  1,094  1,954,168  3,308  3,337,166 
 
Germany 500  502,230  1,365  2,636,338  1,865  3,138,568 
Norway 1,345  766,003  905  866,754  2,250  1,632,757 
France 601  415,029  690  1,104,893  1,291  1,519,922 
Italy 862  467,241  361  691,841  1,223  1,159,082 
Russia 751  244,232  544  556,102  1,295  800,334 
Spain 150  48,364  464  736,209  614  784,573 
Japan 998  135,351  535  555,230  1,533  690,581 
Sweden 789  225,468  719  464,705  1,508  690,173 
Holland 109  57,873  320  555,047  429  612,920 
Austria-Hungary 42  26,784  259  529,319  301  556,103 
Denmark 411  98,483  366  440,010  777  538,493 






 World's total, including above with all other countries  12,472   6,577,776  17,156   25,859,987  29,628   32,437,763 

It appears from these figures that steamships now comprise 58 per cent. of the world's vessels (not reckoning China, Turkey, etc.) and 80 per cent. of their tonnage, although for some nations the percentages are much higher. The preponderance of British ships is most notable in steamships. In 1801 there was in the United Kingdom a total net tonnage of 1,786,000; in 1850 the figure was 3,565,000; in 1880, 6,575,000; in 1901, 9,608,000. The percentage of net steam tonnage was 4.7 in 1850, 41.4 in 1880, and 79.2 in 1901. German shipping has grown still more rapidly in recent years. The sailing tonnage has decreased from 1,223,000 in 1885 to 667,207 in 1901, but the (net) steam tonnage has risen from 520,186 in 1885 to 1,057,525 in 1895, and 1,548,667 in 1901.

Before the introduction of iron ships American builders were greatly favored by the cheapness of native timber, and for this and other reasons American shipping was dominant in the world's carrying trade. The tonnage engaged in foreign traffic was 667,000 in 1800; and, though somewhat set back by the War of 1812, it rose to 1,439,000 in 1850 and 2,497,000 in 1861. This was its maximum. The coasting trade has continued to rise from 1,177,000 in 1840 to 2,645,000 in 1860 and 4,859,000 in 1902, including vessels of all sizes. But foreign shipping had fallen to 1,314,000 in 1880, and in 1902 was but 873,000 tons. While in 1860 63 per cent. of the imports and exports of the United States was carried in American vessels, in 1870 the percentage was only 33.1; in 1880, 22.9; in 1890, 16.7; and in 1902, 12.1.

The growth of railway mileage since 1830 is shown in the following table, compiled from the Journal de la Société de Statistique de Paris (1901-02):

Growth of Railway Mileage Since 1830


YEAR United
States
 Great Britain 
and Ireland
 France   Germany   Russia  The
world







1830  23  57  24  ........ ........ 121 
1840 2,818  838  303  360  17  4,792 
1850 9,021  6,624  1,870  3,761  311  23,980 
1860 30,626  10,437  6,865  7,285  989  67,055 
1870 52,922  15,151  11,019  12,253  6,982  128,407 
1880 93,262  17,929  16,109  21,057  14,617  230,515 
1890 166,654  20,334  24,030  26,638  19,225  377,746 
1900  194,334  21,932  26,611  31,933  29,892   491,236 

The railway equipment, traffic, etc., of certain principal countries is shown in this table:


 United States, 
1891
 United States, 
1901
 United Kingdom, 
1901
Germany,
1900
France,
1900






 
EQUIPMENT
Number of locomotives 32,139  39,584  20,461  19,069  10,775 
Number of locomotives, per 100 miles of line 20  20.2  94  60  41 
Number of passenger cars 27,949  35.969  45,948  38,434  29,049 
Number of passenger cars, per 100 miles 17  18.4  211  123  112 
Number of freight cars [1]947,300  1,439,328  706,982  412,744  284,601 
Number of freight cars, per 100 miles 587  749  3260  1310  1100 
 
PASSENGERS
Number carried during year 531,183,998  [2]607,278,121  1,172,395,900  842,092,000  453,193 
Number carried one mile, in millions 12,844  17,354  .................. 12,427  7,802 
Number carried, per mile of line 79,642  89,721  .................. 400,960  297,400 
 
FREIGHT
Tons carried during year 675,608,323  1,089,226,440  413,623,025  367,180,000   (1899) 138,600,000 
Tons carried one mile, in millions 81,074  147,077  .................. 23,463  (1899) 10,819 
Tons carried per mile of line 502,705  760,414  .................. 757,040  (1899) 412,722 
 
REVENUE
Gross earnings from operation, million dols. 1,096.7  1,588.5  518.9  483  295.4 
Gross earnings from operation per mile of line, dollars  6,800  8,123  23,457  15,580  12,442 
Revenue per passenger per mile, cents 2.142  2.013  ..................
1st Cl. 1.83
2d  Cl. 1.10
3d  Cl. 0.638 
4th Cl. 0.464 
(1899) .709 
Revenue per ton of freight per mile, cents 0.895  0.750  .................. [3]1.318  1.49 
 
TRAFFIC DISTANCES
Average journey per passenger, miles 24.18  28.58  .................. (1899) 14.3  (1899) 18.1 
Average haul per ton of freight, miles ........ 251.98  .................. (1899) 63.5  (1899) 77.7 
Train miles, passenger trains, in millions 307.9  385.1  (1899) 216.4  (1899) 140.9  (1899) 106.1 
Train miles, all other trains, in millions 446.2  491.9  (1899) 179.6  (1899) 146.6  (1899) 106.5 
 

(Compiled for the United States from Interstate Commerce Commission Reports. For foreign countries, from various sources, chiefly the Archiv für Eisenbahnwesen, 1902.)

For further statistics and general discussion of this subject, see Railways and Steam Navigation.

Bibliography. Van der Borght, Das Verkehrswesen (Leipzig, 1894); Lindsay, History of Merchant Shipping (4 vols., London, 1874-76); Hadley, Railroad Transportation (New York, 1886); Picard, Traité des chemins de fer (4 vols., Paris, 1887); Gotz, Die Verkehrswege im Dienste des Welthandels (Stuttgart, 1888); Van Oss, American Railroads as Investments (New York, 1893); Davis, The Union Pacific Railway (Chicago, 1894); Fry, History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation (London, 1890); Bibliographies in Borght, op. cit., and Publications of Stanford University, 1895 (Hopkins Railroad Library); Interstate Commerce Commission Reports (annual); Poor's Manual of Railroads (annual); Reports of the Commissioner of Navigation (annual); Archiv für Eisenbahnwesen; Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom; Statistisches Jahrbuch des Deutschen Reichs (annual); etc.


COPYRIGHT, 1903, DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY. 
  1. Excluding 51,987 fast freight line cars.
  2. Excluding season-ticket holders.
  3. Excluding express goods.