Railroad managers frequently make the assertion that the average freight rates charged in the United States are lower than those usually charged in European countries and that this fact is in itself sufficient proof that they are too low. A comparison of the transportation problem of Europe with our own will show this argument to be fallacious. While from $25,000 to $30,000 a mile is a very liberal estimate of the average cost of American roads, the average cost of European railroads, owing to their expensive rights of way, substantial road-beds and heavy grades, is probably not less than $75,000 per mile. British railway companies have laid out for the purchase of land, for right of way and depot accommodations an amount about equal to the entire average cost of American roads for the same number of miles. For instance, the Southeastern Company paid $20,000; the Manchester and Leeds Company, $30,750, and the London, Birmingham and Great Western, $31,500 per mile. The first Eastern Counties line paid even $60,000 per mile for land through an agricultural district. As nearly as can be ascertained, the average cost of the right of way of railroads was over $20,000 for the United Kingdom. In Belgium the average cost of the right of way was $11,000. It was lower, however, in the other countries of the European continent. The topography of the country through which the English railways are built is such as necessitated enormous expenses for heavy embankments, cuttings, viaducts, tunnels and bridges, and in some cases increased the cost of the roads to fabulous sums. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway actually cost $260,000 per mile for the whole of its 403 miles. European roads have been built in a much more permanent manner and have terminal facilities whose cost is far beyond any sum paid for such purposes in this country. In Great Britain, moreover, the expenses of contests and of procuring charters have been very great and have probably averaged $3,000 per mile. English railway men charge Americans with having indulged in stock-watering to a greater extent than any other people in the world. This is probably true, yet the English have not been dull students of this art, and they are far from free of having indulged in this luxury. Much of their railroad stock was issued in a wasteful manner and represents no actual investment, and it is safe to say that from 30 to 40 per cent. of their present railroad capitalization is water. If upon the above basis both European and American railroads are to yield an interest of 4-1/2 per cent. on the actual investment, the former will have to earn at least $2,250 per mile more than the latter, and this difference equals about 50 per cent. of the average operating expenses of American roads per mile. Labor is cheaper across the Atlantic, but this difference is more than equalized by the employment of a much larger number of men per mile, as the following table will show: