Miles constructed     Total route miles
in decade.          in operation.

1830 ........................       23                     23
1840 ........................    2,795                  2,818
1850 ........................    6,203                  9,021
1800 ........................   21,605                 30,626
1870 ........................   22,296                 52,922
1880 ........................   40,345                 93,267
1890 ........................   73,924                167,191
1900 ........................   31,773                198,964
1910 ........................   51,028                249,992
1915 (5 yrs.) ...............   13,555                263,547

The extension of railroads was so rapid that there was not time for a gradual adjustment of industrial conditions.  In many places the resulting changes were revolutionary.  The building of railroads in the Mississippi valley in the seventies lowered the value of eastern farms, ruined many English farmers, and depressed the condition of the peasantry in all western Europe.[3] With the lower prices that resulted when the fertile lands of the western prairies were opened to the world’s markets, the less fertile lands of the older districts could not compete.  Many other changes, of no less moment in limited districts, resulted from the building of railroads.  Local trading-centers decreased in importance.  Villages and towns, hoping to be enriched by the railroads, saw their trade going to the cities.  Commerce became centralized.  Enormous increases of value at a few points were offset by losses in other localities.

Sec. 6. #Reasons for governmental aid#.  The growth of railroads in America was more rapid than in any other part of the world, but it did not occur without much help to private capital from governmental agencies.  The railroad enterprise was uncertain, the possibilities of its growth could not be foreseen, and private capital would not invest without great inducements.  In European countries the railways were built through comparatively densely populated districts to connect cities already of large size.  Yet railroad extension was very slow there, even tho the states in many ways aided the enterprises.  America was comparatively sparsely populated, and most of the railroads were built in advance of and to attract population, business, and traffic.  In many cases railroad building in America was part of a gigantic real-estate speculation undertaken collectively by the taxpayers of the communities.

Sec. 7. #Kinds of governmental aid#.  American states recklessly abandoned the policy of non-interference, and vied with each other in giving railroad enterprises lands, money, and privileges, in loaning bonds, in subscribing for stock, and in releasing from taxation.  These fostering measures were expected to increase wealth and to diffuse a greater welfare through the community.  Many states were forced to the point of bankruptcy by their reckless generosity, and some states repudiated the debts thus incurred.