and intelligence collected from various quarters, and not to be obtained elsewhere.

We have thus, in good faith, endeavored to fulfill our portion of the contract between ourselves and subscribers ;-it only remains for them punctually and fully to fulfil theirs—which is to pay us five dollars yearly, in advance, and as those who have neglected to pay for one, two or three years past, can no longer pay in advance for what they are in arrears, we shall be perfectly satisfied upon receiving their past dues in full and the advance for the new volume. If our journal is the means of doing any good in the cause for which we have so long labored, it must be supported, if not, we must withdraw from the field, and when the prospect is improving, suffer the mortification of seeing others reap the fruit of our labors. We confess that such complaints are unpleasant, but they are quite as much so to us as to others. Much as we desire the gratification of forwarding the cause of internal improvement, we have duties to ourselves and others, which are imperative and must be fulfilled.

But while we are bound to make known our disappointments and complaints, we are equally bound to express our deep feelings of obligation to those of our friends, who, not only have punctually paid their dues, but have also given us their advice and assistance. To those gentlemen who have been so kind as to contribute their share to our pages, we are happy in being able to tender publicly our hearty thanks and expressions of regard. To those personal friends, who have ever been present with counsel and assistance, we owe this acknowledgement of their labors, which have been called forth by their earnest and disinterested attachment to the cause, rather than by any merit of our own.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PROFESSION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, we beg leave to address a few remarks:

Up to this time there has been no organization of the profession, and from the infancy of the railroad cause, our journal has been the only means of inter-communication in existence, and although not accredited as such, it has nevertheless been regarded by many in that light. Whether we have entirely satisfied their expectations, is for them to determine. If we have ever failed, it has been rather from the want of means than of will.

The present period is remarkable for the intense interest excited in the public mind, upon the subjects with which we deal, and the desire for, and want of correct and authentic information, is universal. Our country is yet young and growing, and many generations must elapse before the absolute necessity for great public works

shall have permitted the equilibrium between the demand and the supply to be reached. In this state of things, the reputation and well-being of the profession is in its own hands, and in proportion to the exertion will be the reward. To supply the demand for information is the first object to be attained. Many points of practice, peculiar in their relations to our own country, have remained undiscovered. Many of the data upon which future labors must be built, are yet undetermined or even unknown. The subject of construction peculiar to our public works, may profitably receive much attention. The nature and preparation of materials- the effects of climate, both destructive and preservative, need far more observation and experiment before the best effects are produced. The economical relations of lines of travel, and the character of the means of transport, embracing generally-the "laws of trade," particularly the subject of fares, of public accommodation, of management, and of the force and capacity of the motive power-have already been discussed, but yet are by no means fully determined; and the united labors of the profession are required, to give the light that is needed upon these and the other topics mentioned.

We therefore call upon Civil Engineers generally, and, as members of a common society, to contribute each in his own line, the results of observation, experience or reflection, not only upon a few, but upon all branches of their duties. And in doing so, we desire them to consider the American Railroad Journal as their organ for communication and discussion with each other, and their representative and advocate, with the public in general. In making this request, we candidly admit, that we are alike desirous of advancing their interests and our own, and if any claim is to be urged for the privilege of performing services, the benefits of which are intended to be mutual, we rest that claim upon the long and unremitting exertions of the oldest railway journal in existence, either here or in Europe.

In making these remarks, we trust that our candour will be taken as a measure of our sincerity, and returned by our subscribers with a promptness, which we in like manner will consider as an evidence of their good will, and in proportion to which, will be the exertions and cost which we are prepared to expend upon our journal.

The receipt of the pamphlet of Mr. Ellet on the railroads of the United States, has rendered it necessary that an immediate notice should be made. We are sorry that in this instance we can by no means admit the general correctness of Mr. Ellet's reasoning, however appli

cable it may have been in a few instances which have passed under his observation. The investigation into the history of railroads in our country, particularly with reference to the causes of failure in some cases, is not to be disposed of in a hasty manner, and unless great care be used in the selection of information, more harm than good might be done. At some other time we propose going at length into this subject, and owing to the kindness of a friend, well versed in these matters, we are able to give a notice of Mr. Ellet's pamphlet, which contains a view of the subject nearly in accordance with our own.

(For the American Railroad Journal and Mechanics' Magazine.]

EXPOSITION OF THE CAUSES WHICH HAS CONDUCED TO THE FAILURE OF

MANY RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES.-BY CHARLES ELLET, JR., Civil Engineer.

The above is the title of a pamphlet lately put into our hands, the author of which, is already well known by his treatise on the Laws of Trade. The subject as expressed in this title is so much of a puzzle, that to unravel it fully, would take too much time and labor, and we shall therefore limit our notice of Mr. Ellet's attempt principally in expressing our dissent, in a general way, from his main position, which may be expressed by the following quotations:

"If railroads do not maintain themselves, it is not because they are railroads, but because great railroads have been contracted where little ones only were required."

"I propose to place large roads and strong roads and easy grades and powerful engines where there is a trade to justify the necessary expenditure. But to make the provision in all cases commensurate with the duties to be performed-the trade and travel to be accommodated."

"It should therefore be the business of every company, first to ascertain the trade and travel on the line where it is proposed to operate, but self-evident as it may appear, I am sustained by the history of our improvements in asserting, that it has never yet been observed."

"I put it to one hundred railways which are now lingering out a sickly existence, to say, under the light that experience has afforded them, whether the adoption of these recommendations would not have been their better policy."

First then, as to the real number and extent of lines which can legitimately be admitted into the category of railways. But indeed for the researches of a distinguished foreign engineer, the late Mr. de Gerstner, we should perhaps till now have been without any just idea

at all of the number and character of this description of improvement in our wide spread country. After enumerating large and small, main-stem and lateral of every kind, as well in use as in progress, and in contemplation, he makes a sum total of 181. In all new inventions it is common and only fair to allow a per centage for such as must inevitably be spoiled in the making; if therefore we strike off from this enumeration a portion on this account, and another for those which have never even been begun, or are otherwise utterly insignificant in such an issue as this-we may easily reduce the number worthy of any consideration to 80. The proportion again of these that are utterly unproductive, is very few, neither are those many that have been partly paralysed, from inefficient management and a reckless competition, including some others that are only now convalescent from early bad nursing, and the growing pains of youth; but putting all these at 20, there are still left 60 railways which are in themselves eminently successful, and fully corroborative of their original principle of construction having been the right one, but which had been unfortunately overlaid in its infancy, by the collusive ignorance and selfishness in those days, of the three culprits named by Mr. Ellet, the "engineer," the "president," and the "leading stockholder," to which list might be added a fourth, the "public"-whose rapacity in exactions for the right of way, then often dealt the fatal blow, when anything by accident had been spared from the cupidity of the other three: To speak of 200 railways in the United States, is, therefore, far too sweeping,—and equally so of 100 of them being failures, which is entirely disproved, by the fact of the successful practical operation of the 60 railways just alluded to, and of double that number in England, from which ours are indeed imitated,—and further shows the accusation of utter recklessness conveyed in our third quotation from Mr. Ellet, to be as unfounded as it is little complimentary to the good sense of this enterprizing portion of our citizens.

It is now only a truism, to say, that the most active springs of prosperity in a community, are its facilities of intercourse, and these it has been more particularly of late, an anxious object among every people almost, to extend and improve. The degree of such improvement is of course tested, by how much cheaper, and as the principal item in the estimate of that cheapness, at how much less loss of time comparatively, it exceeds the best in actual use. It was thought the turnpike, and afterwards the Macadamized road, over which the stage coach was passed at 8 to 10 miles per hour by horse power, were great strides in land travel. On the water, however, steam

power ad been for sometime successfully introduced, (thanks to our immortal Fulton,) and thence arose the idea, and the stimulus given to an invention by which it could, with at least, equal success, be applied to land carriages. Railways had existed for a long time as an old invention in the collieries of England, to give more efficiency both to the power of man and horse,-the greatest known in those days,-and in their then incipient state, much economy resulted from them; but this was not enough, and it came to pass, that within the last few years, and the honor may be divided between the free and restless energies of England and America, that the locomotive was invented, and which, after successive improvements, and a truer adaptation to it of the old improvement of the railway, have now come to form together an improvement which has attained that degree of perfection, that with profit to its projectors, enables it to supercede all others, whose purpose may be transportation of whatever kind. To secure all this, great expense was necessarily incurred, and although the trade and travel actually existing, should be some rule for such outlay, yet the nature of this improvement carried in it, an unavoidable and large surplus of power, which rendered the business to be created thereby, a principal consideration in risking its construction; and the result in almost every case, has fully confirmed the justness of such an anticipation. It is therefore that the accommodating this improvement exactly to the present immediate wants of the community, would be neither wise nor practicable, as most of the roads in Mr. Ellet's scale would be only to retrogade, such for instance as were only to cost $12 to $1500 per mile, with locomotives at $500 to match, on which according to our estimate, there could not be furnished as quick despatch and as good accommodation in the long run, as from the old turnpike with good horses.

An instance where a great road instead of a little one, or rather none at all, would have answered better, is the case of the New York and Harlem, which, for 20 miles of single track, mostly plate rail, now costs its proprietors $83,000 per mile, and is still accumulating, which is not, however, attributable to an original defect in the principle of construction, but altogether to improvident management. An instance of another kind, is the road from Jersey City to New Brunswick, of 37 miles, of single track edge rail, which costs, with an equipment equal to all the traffic and travel between New York and Philadelphia, $52,000 per mile, including the heavy item of $10,000 per mile for the right of way, and yet yields 6 per cent. nett, on that cost. In this case, its enterprising projectors,