That speculation has been excited at different times by the opening up of our Western country, there can be no doubt. And if a comparison be made with Chart No. XVII (Book IV, Chap. III), which gives the total grain-crops of the United States, it will be seen that since 1879, although our population has increased from 12-½ per cent to 14 per cent, our grain-crops only 5 per cent, yet our railway mileage has increased 40 per cent. The extent to which the United States has carried railway-building, as compared with European countries, although we have a very much greater area, is distinctly shown by Chart No. VII. This application of one form of improvement to oppose the law of diminishing returns in the United States has produced extraordinary results, especially when we consider that we are probably not yet using all our best lands, or, in other words, that we have not yet felt the law of diminishing returns in some large districts. Chart VI. _Miles of Railroad in Operation on the 1st January in each Year, and the Miles added in the Year Ensuing._ Year. Miles of Railroad. Miles added. 1865 33,908 1,177 1866 35,085 1,716 1867 36,801 2,449 1868 39,250 2,979 1869 42,229 4,615 1870 46,844 6,070 1871 52,914 7,379 1872 60,293 5,878 1873 66,171 4,107 1874 70,278 2,105 1875 72,383 1,713 1876 74,096 2,712 1877 76,808 2,281 1878 79,089 2,687 1879 81,776 4,721 1880 86,497 7,048 1881 93,545 9,789 1882 103,334 11,591 1883 114,925 6,618 Railways and canals are virtually a diminution of the cost of production of all things sent to market by them; and literally so of all those the appliances and aids for producing which they serve to transmit. By their means land can be cultivated, which would not otherwise have remunerated the cultivators without a rise of price. Improvements in navigation have, with respect to food or materials brought from beyond sea, a corresponding effect. § 4. —In Manufactures.