The statistics of railway capitalization, as given by the Interstate Commerce Commission, are, unfortunately, not always computed according to the same rules. This weakens or destroys their value for comparison. A change of statisticians may involve a change of method. However conscientious the motive, the result alters relations which should be constant. Thus the official railway capitalization in 1909 was $59,259. In 1910 it is returned at $62,657. But the increase is chargeable mostly to changes in the assignment of capital stock to one account instead of another; and one such change alone operates to increase the average capitalization $700 per mile for the entire United States. “Manifestly”, says the Statistician of the Commission in his report, “a figure so constructed should not be subjected to the burden of sustaining any very weighty conclusions”. The Bureau of Railway News and Statistics estimates the capitalization of 1911 at $59,345 per mile; probably $60,000, in round numbers, represents about the average actual capitalization today. This figure is to be compared with the capitalization per mile in other countries, as shown in the following table: United Kingdom $275,040 England alone $314,000 Germany $109,788 France $139,237 The increase of capitalization per mile of railroad in England and Wales for the nineteen years between 1890 and 1909 was from $255,073 to $328,761, or $73,688; against a total capitalization for all the roads in the United States in 1909 of $59,259. It exceeded our total capitalization by $14,429 per mile. The average annual increase for the nineteen years has been $3,873 per mile, exceeding the entire annual net earnings per mile of railways in this country during the corresponding period. Our capitalization per mile is from one-half to one-fifth that of European countries; partly because the initial cost of construction was greater there, but largely because of a fixed difference in policy. The American railway makes improvements so far as possible out of earnings or surplus, leaving capital account to carry only new construction. The European road distributes earnings among its stockholders, and issues new capital to provide necessary betterments. The difference accounts for the sharp contrasts of the figures presented above.