Railroad Commissions.

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION.
WASHINGTON, D. C.

Martin A. Knapp, of New York, Chairman, | Franklin K. Lane, of California.
Judson C. Clements, of Georgia.
Charles A. Prouty, of Vermont.
Francis M. Cockrell, of Missouri.

North Dakota Commissioners of Railroads-Bismarck, C. S. Deisem, Chairman, La Moure; E. A. Stafne, Galchu t; J. ChristianIdaho State Board of Equalization-sen, Towner; C. C. Hammond, Secretary, Ashley, Robert S. Bragaw, State Auditor and Secretary, Boisé City.

12,500
37,500 1,500,000,000

760,000,000

15,000

760,000,000

175,000 $20,100,000,000 2,700,000,000 1,145,000,000 $1,800,000,000 $1,040,000,000 250,000 15,800,000,000 700,000,000 1,250,000,000 1,800,000,000 1,300,000,000

36,000,000 11,000,000

65,000,000 34,000,000 120,000,000 60,500,000 55,000,000 83,000,000

Total........ 490,000 $38,920,000,000 3,746, 000, 000 2,461, 500,000 $3,840,000,000 $2,427,500,000 These estimates are for 1900. Cost of roads and equipments in 1905 was estimated at $42,000,000,000, or an average of $76,000 per mile.

RAILROAD MILEAGE OF THE WORLD.

Following statistics are of date Jan. 1, 1905: Total mileage, 550,735, made up as follows: 279,975 miles in America, 189,774 miles in Europe, 47,974 miles in Asia, 16,202 miles in Africa, and 16,810 miles in Australasia. Of the mileage of European railroads Germany stands first (34,016), followed in their order by Russia (33,286), France (28,266), Austria-Hungary (24,261), the United Kingdom (22,592), Italy (10,025), Spain (8,656), Sweden and Norway (7,730).

Railway Mileage in the United States.

(From Statistical Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission.)

NUMBER OF STOCKHOLDERS IN PRINCIPAL RAILWAY COMPANIES. The Interstate Commerce Commission, in response to an order by the Senate, compiled in 1905, the first official statement showing the number of stockholders in each railway company reporting to the Commission. The number of companies was 1,220 and the aggregate of their stockholders on record was 27,851. Among the companies showing more than 1,000 stockholders were these:

Among important companies reporting less than 1,000 holders are the Atlantic Coast Line, 883; Mobile and Ohio, 798; Maine Central, 779; Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, 603; Central Vermont, 531; Michigan Central, 508.

The Enter-Continental Railway.

THE project of a railway connecting New York and Buenos Ayres was the subject of reports made by special committees to the Pan-American Conferences at the City of Mexico in 1902, and Rio de Janeiro in 1906. The scheme embraces an iron road connecting with the existing United States systems through Mexico into Central America, and down the side of the Andes into the Argentine Republic. It will thus traverse Mexico, and the Central American States, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina, with numerous radiations running to the sea coasts and connecting with Venezuela, Guiana, Brazil, and Uruguay.

The committee which prepared the report submitted at the Rio de Janeiro Conference in 1906, was authorized by the Conference in the City of Mexico, and was composed in 1906 of Heury G. Davis, of West Virginia, Chairman; Andrew Carnegie, J. D. Cassasus, Ambassador of Mexico to the United States: Charles M. Pepper, and A. Lazo-Arriaga. Most of the report of the committee was based on the investigations of Mr. Pepper, who, as special commissioner, spent a year going over the surveys in South America. While much has already been done, that which remains presents difficulties, involving principally the ability of some of the countries to construct railways at this time. LENGTH OF THE LINE.

The distance from New York to Buenos Ayres along the line of the proposed Pan-American Railway is 10, 400 miles. According to the report there are not more than 3,700 miles of inter-continental railway not specifically provided for. On the point of cost the report said:

The committee under whose direction the inter-continental surveys were made, and of which A. J. Cassatt was chairman, approximated the cost at about $32,000 a mile; but, allowing the largest estimate for railway coustruction, which is $50,000 per mile. this would mean that the expenditure of $185,000,000 would insure the completion of all these sections. This certainly is not beyond the resources of the twelve or fifteen republics which are interested, and which could give substantial aid by large concessions of land and the granting of credit."

In the course of the report, it is said: "It is noteworthy that the feasibility of a through intercontinental railway line has received the endorsement of leading capitalists representing many forms of investment, such as Andrew Carnegie; President Cassatt of the Pennsylvania system, and Thomas F. Ryan." Mr. Carnegie, the report stated, had suggested that the United States Government give $100,000. 000 to the project if the other countries interested pledge themselves to an equal sum. The investigations of cost indicate that all remaining gaps could be closed by the sum which would be obtained in this manner. THE MEXICAN SECTION.

After leaving the borders of the United States, probably at El Paso, the first section of the Interout the railroad building

Continental Railway would cross Mexico, from north to south. Following existing road runs south

policy of President Diaz, much of this section is already completed.

through the City of Mexico to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and thence on to a point only about 12 miles from the Guatemalan border. The Mexican Government has had before it for years this project of building a line of railway connecting its northern and southern borders. The final steps m this policy were the construction of the Vera Cruz and Pacific, the Tehuantepec National, and the road known as the Pan-American. The line across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, from the Gulf to the With the Pacific, has been nearly completed and will be opened early in 1907 for actual traffic. completion of certain lines in Mexico within a year the committee thought that there will be through railway communication between Guatemala and New York City, a distance of 3,770 miles.

Guatemala is the next country through which the Inter-Continental will pass. For some years the Guatemala system of railways reached to a point within twenty-eight or thirty miles of the Mexican border. It has not been deemed advisable nor necessary to finish the small gap until the Mexican lines are ready to meet it. Now that Mexico pushed its railroad down so far, the work in Guatemala will soon be taken up, the connection made in accordance with some one of the various Guatemala railway projects, and then there will be a through line from New York City to Guatemala City. Guatemala is completing an important interoceanic line which will connect Guatemala City, the capital of the country, with Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic and with San Jose on the Pacific.

Salvador and Honduras come next, but neither of these countries has progressed far in railway construction. Nearly all of the other governments furnished the committee with detailed reports. but with regard to Salvador and Honduras it is known only that the further construction of railways in those countries, which would fill in an important gap, is delayed until the extension of the Guatemalan system on the north and that of Nicaragua on the south. When this has been done Salvador and Honduras will do their share.

NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA.

In Nicaragua the government has given concessions for the construction of a line between Managua and Matagalp, and work on the surveys had already begun. This is an important link in the long chain as the line goes to Honduras, where it will meet that coming down from Mexico through Guatemala.

Since the Pan-American Conference in 1902 Costa Rica, the next country through which the InterContinental will travel, has constructed 142 miles of railroad, making a total in the entire country of 364 miles. There are now under contemplation plans for the further construction of railways, which will be of immense importance to the Inter-Continental project.

In Panama, plans of railroad construction are under consideration. There is a possibility that a road will be projected from Bocas del Toro, where the Costa Rican line will find its end. There is no project whatever for a line southeast from Panama, but the report expressed the opinion that, because of the big hardwood forests and the mineral resources of the country, it will not be many years before there will be a line leading from the canal zone to the southeast.

IN SOUTH AMERICA.

Passing from Central America, the Inter-Colonial continues on its way into the Continent to the south. Following a line traversing regions of unknown wealth, it will pass through Colombia. The project does not confine itself Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and then into the Argentine Republic.

to the construction of this main trunk line, but takes into consideration the development of the rail way interests in countries not in the line of the road. The possibilities in Chile. Uruguay, Brazi!, Paraguay, and Venezuela, were discussed in the report, together with what has been done and what the various countries expect to do. Every mile of road that is built in South America affects the valne of the project.

It is understood that the Central and South American republics which will be traversed by the railway will each own the lines within its territory, but the actual running of the road will be directed by a central body.

Legacy or Enheritance Tax Laws.

A law taxing the right to inherit personal property by will or intestate law was passed by Congress July 6, 1797. The rate was 25 cents on amounts from $50 to $100, 50 cents on amounts from $100 to $500, and for every further sum of $500, the additional sum of one dollar.' This act continued in force until June 30, 1802, when it was repealed. national legacy tax law was again enacted July 1, 1862, amended in 1864, and again in 1866, and repealed in 1870, five years after the close of the Civil War.

A

Again, June 13, 1898, Congress enacted a legacy tax law which was amended in 1901 and continued in force until repealed July 1, 1902. Under the acts of 1898 and 1901, the sum of $21,603,699.02 was collected and paid into the national treasury up to June 30, 1904. Pennsylvania enacted a legacy tax law April 6, 1826, which law, as amended from time to time, is still in force. Legacy tax laws were enacted in Maryland in 1844, and Delaware in 1869. They were enacted in North Carolina in 1846, and repealed in 1883. They were enacted in Virginia in 1844, repealed in 1855, re-enacted in 1863, and again repealed in 1874. Since 1885 legacy tax laws have been enacted in twenty-nine different States, namely, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Kentucky (1906), Maiae, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire (1905), New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio (repealed 1906). Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The following table shows the amount of legacy tax collected from the estates of some of the more prominent and wealthy decedents, some of whom were of national reputation:

*George Smith, resident of Eng-
land (paid in New York)
Cellis F. Huntington, New York.
Jay Gould, New York.

Cornelius Vanderbilt, New York.
Cornelia M. Stewart, New York..
Winfield S. Stratton, Denver,
Col.

Wilson G. Hunt, New York..
Joshua Jones, New York..
Emma A. Schley, New York.
Henrietta A. Lenox, New York..
William Whitewright, New York.
Robert G. Dun, New York....
Catherine L. Wolfe, New York..
Daniel B. Fayerweather, New
York

George M. Pullman, Illinois.
John Knower, New York..
Daniel Edgar Crouse, Syracuse,
N. Y.

Timothy B. Blackstone,

York and Illinois

New

Henry B. Plant, New York.
Ezra G. Benedict, Albany, N. Y.
Mary J. Walker, New York...

Joseph C. Hoagland, New York.. $1,934,753.07 Gustav W. Swift, Illinois... 665,000.00 Johnathan Scoville. New York... 600,000.00 Mary J. Winthrop, New York. 450.052.90 Leonard Lewisohn, New York.. 300,410.32 William Astor, New York.. William H. Vanderbilt.

New

300,000.00 York

103,612.59

285,000.00 Mary Eichler, New York.
284,937.56 W. W. Kimball, Illinois..

The transfer of all property, real, personal or mixed, within the jurisdiction of the State at date of death is subject to the tax, whether the decedent was a resident or non-resident. The tax is not a tax on property, but the right which the State grants to the legatee to inherit property.

The Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University.

CECIL RHODES, statesman, who died at Cape Town, South Africa, March 26, 1902, directed in his will dated July 1, 1899, that a part of his fortune, estimated at $10,000.000, should be applied to the creation of a fund for the support of a certain number of scholarships covering a three-years course at the University of Oxford. He directed that the selection of the recipients of this gift should be made two from each State and Territory of the United States, or one hundred in all, fifteen from Germany and from one to nine from each of the British Colonies. The scholarships are awarded on marks only, three-tenths whereof shall be given to a candidate for his "Literary and Scholastic' attainments, the remainder being for his love of outdoor athletics and sports, for strong, manly qualities such as courage, generosity and kindness, and for high moral character, and especially for ambition to serve and lead in large public affairs.

The conditions regulating the award of scholarships in the American States provide that the candidates shall have satisfactorily completed the work of at least two years in some college of liberal arts and sciences. Except under extraordinary circumstances the upper age limit must betwenty-four years at the time of entering upon the scholarship at Oxford. To be eligible the candidate must be a citizen of the United States, or the son of a citizen, and must be unmarried. Each student receives an allowance of £300 a year, which is equivalent to $1,500, payable in quarterly instalments, which is just enough to enable him to pay his college fees and necessary expenses. As the first instalment is not available until sometime after the arrival of the student he should go abroad with one or two hundred dollars in his possession.

In most of the States the selection is made by a committee appointed by representatives of the colleges; in some the appointments are made in rotation by the leading colleges.

At the beginning of Michaelmas term, October, 1904, there entered Oxford seventy-two Rhodes scholars; forty-three were Americans, twenty-four colonials and five Germans. In 1906, the full number, 190 in all, were in residence, and thereafter this number will be maintained, the vacancies being filled as men complete their three-years' course. The next examination in the United States will take place in January, 1907. There will be examinations also in 1908, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, and so on, omitting every third year. The examinations are not competitive, but qualifying. Inquiries as to particulars by intending candidates may be addressed to any college. Information about Oxford, its colleges and course of studies, should be addressed to F. J. Wylie, the Oxford agent of the Rhodes trustees, Oxford, England.

Benefactions of 1906.

There were many notable public benefactions during the year 1906. It is, of course, impossible to estimate closely the aggregate of the multitude of benevolences emanating from the rich, who have the welfare of humanity at heart. A tremendous sum, however, probably exceeding $100,000,000, has been flowing into these worthy channels during the twelve months which closed with the last year.

No authentic list of the public contributions of John D. Rockefeller or of Andrew Carnegie were given out, but it is understood that they equalled their gifts of 1905, which amounted to $20,000,000 from the great iron founder and $12,000,000 on the part of the head of the Standard Oil interests. Each of these men averages a yearly dispensation of $15,000,000 to religious and educational institutions. Inasmuch as nearly all of their gifits are contingent upon equivalent donations by others, the sum total of the RockefellerCarnegie benefactions is now not far from $60,000,000 a year. This is almost as much as though every man, woman and child in the United States put aside one dollar each year for charity.

Stephen Salisbury, of Worcester, Mass., was a foremost giver of the year 1906. His fortune of $20,000,000 was almost entirely disposed of by will for the benefit of Harvard University and other great American centres of instruction.

Mrs. Julia E. Hackley, of Muskegon, Mich., the widow of the lumber king of the Northwest, notably furthered the cause of public education and municipal improvement by leaving $2,000,000 to schools, of which $1,000,000 was to be dispensed by the Muskegon officials.

Addison J. Nowlen, of Chicago, on the eve of his death, distributed $250,000 among a number of Protestant charities.

John D. Rockefeller aided the Baptist cause in New York City by giving $40,000 to the Memorial Baptist Church of Christ, on Washington Square South. This church, formerly known as the Judson Memorial, is a large and successful type of what has come to be called the "Working Church," equipped with library, gymnasium, dormitories, lecture curriculum, and other attributes attractive to young men and women.

Albert Crane, of Stamford, Ct., gave $100,000 to Tuft's Theological Seminary.

It was announced from Nice, France, that Gov. Gurowsky von Wezell had set aside $800,000 of his fortune for the foundation of a Peace Museum in that celebrated summer capital of continental Europe.

Mrs. Thomas F. Ryan, of New York City, the devout wife of the insurance king, contributed $300,000 to the Roman Catholic Convent of the Perpetual Adoration at Washington. She also gave $150,000 to the Church of the Sacred Heart, which she established on her splendid estate on the hills overlooking Suffern, Rockland County, New York State.

An unknown philanthropist gave $325,000 toward the better equipment of the Union Theological Seminary, in New York City.

John D. Rockefeller emulated the example of Helen Miller Gould in Brooklyn by dona. ting $250,000 for a naval branch of the Young Men's Christian Association at Norfolk, Va. The gift was anonymous, so far as the oil king was concerned, but his identity was subsequently disclosed by an official of the institution.

Albert Willcox, of New York City, an ardent naturalist and friend of the cause of the preservation of the birds, left $100,000 to the National Association of Audubon Societies. Henry C. Frick, of Pittsburg, who controls the coke ovens of the country, gave $200,000 toward the Young Men's Christian Association building fund in Pittsburgh.

Levi W. Eaton, of Bridgeport, bequeathed $75,000 to a number of religious and charitable institutions throughout New England.

Yale University received over $2,000,000 during 1906 in bequests toward the extension of her buildings, apparatus, and faculty.

Bloodgood H. Cutler the "farmer poet,' " of Long Island, and long time friend of Mark Twain, left nearly all of his fortune of $750,000 to the spread of the Bible.

Peter Wyckoff, the "farmer," of the Eastern District of Brooklyn, whose fortune was gathered from the enhancement of his ancestral farms in the outlying sections of the city, gave $75,000 to various charities.

Dr. H. W. Hamma, of Baltimore, donated $125,000 to Wittenberg College, at Springfield, Ohio.

John D. Rockefeller added $1,450,000 to his endowment of the University of Chicago. Charles Steele, a partner of J. Pierpont Morgan, gave $50,000 to the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, of which he is a graduate.

Joseph E. Gillingham, of Philadelphia, contributed $800,000 to the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions of learning in the Middle States.

George A. Hearn, of New York City, gave $100,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of which he had long been a director and patron,

An unknown benefactor added $125,000 to the endowment fund of Bowdoin College, Me. A conditional gift of $5,000,000 on the part of John D. Rockefeller was announced by officials of the National Juvenile Improvement Association.

David Rankin, Jr., of St. Louis, gave $2,000,000 toward an industrial school in that city. Alfred Beit, the South African diamond billionaire, left $6,000,000 to the Cape to Cairo Railway and $1,000,000 to educational and charitable institutions in London.

Pedro Alvarado, the enormously rich Mexican mine-owner, announced a gift of $10.000.000 to the poor of his native province.

John D. Rockefeller gave $250,000 toward a Young Men's Christian Association building in San Francisco.

Mary L. Cassilly, of New York, widow of a Cincinnati banker, left $1,000,000 to educa tional and charitable institutions.

The record of known benefactions in the fourteen years 1893-1906 foots up the enormous approximate total of $900.000.000.