It may be admitted that upon the whole the speed of American and English railroads is greater than that of continental roads, yet the difference is much less than Mr. Hadley would make us believe. The fast trains of the Berlin and Hamburg Railroad, according to Röll's "Railroad Encyclopedia," make the distance of 179 miles in three hours and forty-four minutes. The average speed is therefore 48 miles an hour. There are but few lines in the United States whose regular express trains run at a greater speed. The express trains of the Berlin and Brunswick line make 45-1/2 miles an hour. Trains are run on the Vienna and Buda-Pesth Railway at the rate of 42 miles an hour and on the Paris and Calais Railway at a rate of over 40 miles an hour. Official reports give the average speed of express trains in Northern Germany as 32.2 miles per hour, which is considerably more than the average speed of our Western trains, upon which the rates charged are twice as high as those charged by German roads. The average speed of the express trains in England was 35.7 miles per hour in 1890, in the Netherlands 30.7 miles, in France 30 miles, in Denmark and Southern Germany 28.8 miles and in Austria 27.8 miles per hour. Accurate statistics showing the average speed in America are not in existence, but it may well be questioned whether the difference between the speed of American and European trains is sufficient to justify upon that score any essential difference in the rates. Mr. Hadley's statement that the average traveler in the United States, or even in the English third class, fares better than he would in the corresponding class on continental railroads, is far too sweeping to be true. It is certain that the Belgian, German, Austrian or French second-class coupes are much to be preferred to the smoking and emigrant cars which in America are made to take their places. To prove that much more work is demanded of American railroads than of European railroads, Mr. Hadley presents the following table: Annual Train Miles run Service per by Trains head of Countries. Population. annually. Population. United States (1889) 61,000,000 724,000.000 12 Great Britain (1889) 38,000,000 303,000,000 8 Germany (1889) 48,000,000 181,000,000 3-3/4 France (1888) 38,000,000 145,000,000 3-3/4 Austria-Hungary (1887) 40,000,000 66,000,000 1-2/3 India (1889) 200,000,000 51,000,000 0-1/4