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Railways, Telegraphs, &c.

The growth of the railway system of the United States dates from 1827, when the first line was opened for traffic at Quincy, Massachusetts. The extent of railways in operation in 1830 was 23 miles; it rose to 2,818 miles in 1840; to 9,021 miles in 1850; to 30,635 miles in 1860; to 53,399 miles in 1870; to 84,393 miles in 1880; to 91,147 miles in 1881; and to 121,532 miles in the beginning of 1884. The following table gives the length of lines opened for traffic in the five groups of states and territories in the years 1883-84:—

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The total capital invested in railways in 1884 was 1,499,094,2621., the gross yearly earnings 164,754,5847.; working expenses, 97,372,2087.; net earnings, 67,382,3767.

The telegraphs of the United States are almost entirely in the hands of the Western Union Telegraph Company, which had in 1883 144,294 miles of line, 432,726 miles of wire, and 12,917 offices; the number of messages sent in 1883 was 40,581,177, the receipts 3,890,9801., expenses 2,358,9107., and profits 1,532,0701. Including minor companies, there were altogether 160,000 miles of telegraph line open for public use in 1883. In 1881 there were 28,336 miles of telephone wire belonging to one company, and 69,000 in 1882; 138,500 telephones in 1881, and 245,000 in 1882; 393 telephone exchanges in 1881, and 700 in 1882. Including this company it is estimated that in the beginning of 1883 there were 100,000 miles of wire for telephone use, and that the annual number of telephone messages averaged 120,000,000.

The postal business of the United States for the fiscal year 1881-2 was as follows:-Letters carried, 1,089,739,895; postcards, 276,446,716; newspapers, 695,175,624; magazines, 53,472,276; books, circulars, and miscellaneous printed matter, 300,854,480; and articles of merchandise, 22,644,456. There are (1883) 47,863 offices. These figures do not include international business, but only packages or letters posted and delivered in the United States.

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Envoy and Minister.-James Russell Lowell; formerly Envoy and Minister of the United States in Spain; nominated January 19, 1880; accredited March 11, 1880.

Secretaries.-William J. Hoppin; Henry White.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN TO THE UNITED STATES.

Envoy and Minister.-Hon. Lionel Sackville S. West, K.C.B., born in 1827; Chargé d'Affaires in Sardinia, 1858-63; Envoy to the Argentine Confederation, 1872-78, and to Spain, 1878-81; appointed Envoy and Minister to the United States, December 1881.

Secretaries.-D. E. Saurin; H. Howard, C.B.; W. O. Charlton; H. A. Helyar.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of the United States are:

MONEY.

The Dollar, of 100 cents. Approximate value, 4s. Par value, 49.32d. or £14.866 dollars.

There were for fifteen years, from 1863 to 1878, two denominations of value employed in the United States, the first the gold dollar, of the average value of 4s, British money, and the second the paper dollar, principal currency since the civil war, the value of which was fluctuating, according to the rates of exchange. By the provisions of the 'Resumption Act' passed by Congress, coming into operation on January 1, 1879, the complete resumption of specie payments was established, but it took place several months before this date, by the action of commercial causes. Thus there exists no longer any difference in value between coined money and paper currency.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

British weights and measures are usually employed, but the old Winchester gallon and bushel are used instead of the new or imperial standards. They

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0:9692 imperial bushel.

Instead of the British cwt. a Cental, of 100 pounds, is used.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning the
United States.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Acts of Congress relating to Loans and the Currency from 1846 to 1883 inclusive. 8. New York, 1884.

Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, made to the President of the United States. 8. Washington, 1884.

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education. 8. Washington,

Agriculture: Special Reports of the Department for 1884. Washington, 1884. Annual Report of the Foreign Commerce of the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884. Washington, 1884.

Annual Statements by countries and by Customs districts of the imports and exports of the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884. Washington, 1884.

Annual Report and Statements of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics on the Commerce and Navigation of the United States for the year ended June 30, 1883. Washington, 1884.

Annual Reports of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey. 8. Washington, 1869-83.

Census of the United States. Tenth Census. Vols. I. to III. Manufactures, Agriculture. 4.

Washington, 1884.

Population Commercial Relations of the United States with Foreign Countries. 8. Washington, 1884.

Compendium of the Tenth Census of the United States, 1881. Two vols. Washington, 1883.

Congressional Directory. 8. Washington, 1884.

Education Bureau: Circulars of Information during 1884. Washington, 1884. Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury transmitting estimates of appropriation required for the year ending June 30, 1886. Washington, 1884. Mineral Resources of the United States. By Albert Williams, Jun., chief of Bureau of Mining Statistics and Technology in United States Geological Survey. Washington, 1884.

Navy Register of the United States to July 20, 1884. Printed by order of the Secretary of the Navy. Washington, 1884.

Official Register of the United States. 8. Washington, 1884.

Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, transmitted to Congress. 8. Washington, 1881.

Quarterly Reports of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics (Joseph Nimmo, Esq.), relative to the imports, exports, immigration, and navigation of the United States, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1884. Washington, 1884.

Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 1882-83. 8. Washington, 1883.

Report of the Commissioners of Education for 1882. Washington, 1884. Report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue of the United States, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884. 8. Washington, 1884.

Report of the Director of the Mint on the production of the precious metals in the United States during the calendar year, 1883. Washington, 1884. Report of the Secretary of the Interior upon the operations of the Department of the Interior, 1883-84. 8. Washington, 1884.

Report of the Secretary of the Navy. 8. Washington, 1884.

Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the Finances for the year ended June 30, 1884. Washington, 1884.

Report of the Secretary of War upon the operation of the War Department for the year 1884. 8. Washington, 1884.

Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the Secretary of the Interior for the year 1884. 8. Washington, 1884.

Statement of the Public Debt of the United States, July 1, 1884. Fol. Washington, 1884.

Statistical Abstract of the United States. Prepared by the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. No. V. 8. Washington, 1884. Statistics of the Wealth and Industry of the United States. 4. Washington,

1882.

The Statutes at large, and Treaties of the United States of America. Collated with the originals at Washington. Published annually. 8. Boston, 1884.

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Report by Mr. Saurin on the finances of the United States in 1882; in Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy.' Part IV. 1882. London, 1883. Report by Mr. Drummond on the finances of the United States for 1881, in Part III.; and on trade, shipping, commerce, industries, railways, immigration, &c., in Part IV. of Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' 1882.

Report by Mr. West on the production of precious metals in the United States; on the annual product of the United States in relation to capital, labour, and_the_railroad system; on population and education; and on the land laws; in Reports from H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Officers abroad.' Fol. London, 1882.

Report on the trade and commerce of Baltimore by Consul Donohoe; on Charleston by Consul Walker; on Galveston by Consul Budgett; on New Orleans by Consul de Fonblanque, in Part II.; on Boston by Consul Henderson, in Part III.; on Savannah by Consul Joel, in Part IV.; on Mobile by Consul Cridland; on Pensacola by Vice-Consul Herne; on San Francisco by Consul Booker, in Part V.; on San Francisco by Consul Booker, in Part VI.; on Portland by Consul Bird, in Part VIII. of Reports of H.M.'s Consuls,' 1883. London, 1883.

Reports on the trade and commerce of Baltimore in Part II.; of Boston, Charleston, Galveston, New Orleans, in Part III.; of Mobile and Pensacola, in Part IV.; of New York in Part VII.; of Astoria, Los Angelos, Portland (Maine), Portland (Oregon), San Diego and San Francisco, in Part VIII.; of Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Paul, in Part X. of 'Reports of H.M.'s Consuls,' 1884.

Hertslet (Sir E.), Foreign Office List. Published annually. London, 1884. Trade of the United States with Great Britain and Ireland; in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries in the year 1883.' Imp. 4. London, 1884.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Bancroft (George), History of the United States. New ed. 6 vols. 8. London, 1882.

Bancroft (George), History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States of America. Two vols. London, 1882.

Brockett (L. R.), Our Western Empire. Philadelphia, 1882.
Dall (W. H.), Alaska and its Resources. 8. Boston, 1870.

Dilke (Sir Charles Wentworth, Bart., M.P.), Greater Britain: a record of travel in English-speaking countries in 1866 and 1867. 3rd ed. 8. London, 1869. Fontpertuis (Adalbert Frout de), Les États-Unis de l'Amérique Septentrionale; leurs origines, leurs émancipation et leurs progrès. 8. Paris. 1875.

Gillet (Ransom H.), Federal Government; its officers and their duties. 8. New York, 1871.

Homans (B.), The Banker's Almanac and Register for 1884. 8. New York, 1884.

Homans (J. Smith), The Banker's Magazine and Statistical Register. Published monthly. 8. New York, 1884.

Jannet (Claudio) Les États-Unis contemporains. 2 vols. 18. Paris, 1878. King (Edward), The Southern States of America. 8. London, 1875. Lanman (Charles), Biographical Annals of the Civil Government of the United States during its First Century. 8. London, 1876.

McMaster (J. B.), History of the People of the United States. New York, 1883.

Vol. I. Macpherson (E.), The Political History of the United States of America during the Great Rebellion from 1860 to 1864. 8. Washington, 1864.

Molinari (G. de), Lettres sur les Etats-Unis et le Canada. 12. Paris, 1877. Norman (George Warde), The Future of the United States; in Journal of the Statistical Society.' Vol. 38. Part I. 8. London, 1875.

Paschal (George W.), The Constitution of the United States. 8. Washington, 1868. Poor (Henry V.), Manual of the Railroads of the United States. 8. New York, 1884.

Poor (R. P.), Gannett (H.), and Jones (W. P.), The West, from the Census of 1880. A history of the industrial, commercial, social, and political development of the States and Territories of the West, from 1800 to 1880. Chicago, 1882.

Seaman (Ezra C.), The American System of Government, its Character and Workings. 12. New York, 1871.

Spofford (Ainsworth R.), American Almanac. 8. New York and Washington, 1884.

Vernon (Edward), American Railroad Manual for the United States and the Dominion. Imp. 8. New York and Philadelphia, 1884.

Von Holst (Dr. H.), The Constitutional and Political History of the United States of America. 2 vols. 8. New York, 1879.

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