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NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED ON RAILROADS IN ENGLAND.

Few are perhaps aware, says a Liverpool paper, of the immense number of people to whom the railway system of this country has given employment during the last few years. According to a British Parliamentary return, the number of persons employed on the railways of the United Kingdom, in the capacities mentioned, was as follows:

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Thus there were 52,688 persons employed on 4,252 miles of railway open for traffic, and having 1,321 stations; and 188,177 persons employed on 2,956 miles of railway, in the course of construction, making together the total number of persons employed about railways

Open for traffic..
In construction...

Total persons..

52,688 188,177

240,865

RAILROAD ACCIDENTS IN EUROPE.

The North British Review, for August, contains an elaborate and very interesting article on the railway system of England, and in the course of it gives the following comparative table of casualties which occurred on the railways in England, France, Belgium, and Germany, between the 1st of August, 1840, and July, 1845. It is the result of calculations made by Baron Von Reden:

1 passenger out of 869,000 killed by own neglect.

1 official out of

2,157,000
670,000

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300,000 killed and wounded from misconduct.

England..

France..

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25,000,000

England.

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It will be observed that, as regards safety, the difference is strikingly in favor of Germany; and it is accounted for by the fact, that while the officials stationed along the road are greater in number than in any other country, the police regulations are of such a nature that passengers cannot, by heedlessness or rashness, incur the chance of danger to life and limb.

In England, in 1847, 211 persons were killed, and 174 injured, out of 54,854,019 passengers; and in 1848, 202 were killed, and 219 injured, out of 57,855,133.

We should like to see a careful estimate of the casualties on roads in the United States. They are not, we believe, any greater than those of England; while in that country the guards set up against danger are much more complete than in our own.

VASTNESS OF RAILWAY WORKS.

The great Pyramid of Egypt, was, according to Diodorns Siculus, constructed by three hundred thousand-according to Herodotus, by one hundred thousand men. It required for its execution twenty years, and the labor expended on it has been estimated as equivalent to lifting 15,733,000,000 (fifteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-three millions) of cubic feet of stone one foot high. Now, in the same measure, if the labor expended in constructing the southern division only of the present London and North-western Railway be reduced to one common denomination, the result is 25,000,000,000 (twenty-five thousand millions) of cubic feet of similar material lifted to the same height, being 9,267,000,000 (nine thousand two hundred and sixty-seven millions) of cubic feet more than was lifted for the pyramid, and yet the English work was performed by about 20,000 men only, in less than five years. Again it has been calculated by Mr. Lecount, that the quantity of earth moved in the single division (112 miles in length) of the railway in question, would be sufficient to make a footpath, a foot high and a yard broad, round the whole circumference of the earth; the cost of this division of the railway, in penny pieces, being sufficient to form a copper kerb or edge to it. Suppose, therefore, the same proportionate quantity of earth to be moved in the 7,150 miles of railway sanctioned by Parliament at the commencement of 1848, our engineers, within about fifteen years, would, in the construction of our railways alone, have removed earth sufficient to girdle the globe with a rod one foot high and one hundred and ninety-one broad.-Sir Francis Head's Stokers and Pokers.

HAMBURG TUNNEL ON THE HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD.

The great tunnel at New Hamburgh, says the Evening Post, connected with the Hudson River Railroad, is nearly completed. It is a gigantic work, measuring 830 feet in length; at the south end is a cut 500 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 50 feet deep, all through the solid rock before reaching the tunnel, which is 19 feet high and 24 feet wide. Through the tunnel the passage is gloomy enough to represent the most dangerous regions, darkness being relieved only by the light of candles, and through two shafts sunk to it, one 70 feet in depth, the other 56, through which a glimpse of daylight may be obtained, but on emerging at the north end, one other deep cut is found, nearly as formidable as that at the south, being 200 feet long, and 70 feet deep, making the entire deep cutting through the rock, all inclusive, no less than 1,530 feet. One who has not seen the work, can form no conception of its magnitude, and it may be put down as one of the greatest curiosities in this part of the country. There are 400 men employed on this great work, under the supervision of Messrs. Ward, Wells & Co., the contractors. Six thousand kegs of powder, of 25 lbs. each, have been used for blasting, in fourteen months, and nine blacksmith's shops are constantly occupied with repairing the tools, &c. The work goes on night and day, with great expedition.

REDUCTION OF RAILROAD CAPITAL IN ENGLAND..

It is thought by some that this is a favorable time for railway companies to purchase up their shares in the market, with the view of reducing the number of their shares, and the amount on which they would have to pay dividend. It is proposed to use the surplus receipts or profits for this purpose. Thus a company, whose shares are at a fearful discount, could advantageously employ their receipts in buying up the shares in the market. Many of them could buy a million of capital for £500,000, and so for half a million reduce the capital receiving dividend by a million, in other words save half a million for the benefit of the legitimate holders.-Herapath's Journal.

PATHFINDER RAILWAY GUIDE FOR NEW ENGLAND.

We have received the sixth monthly issue of this valuable manual. It gives, in a compact form, official tables, corrected monthly, of the hours of departure from each station, and the distances and fares, on all the railway lines in New England; and each number is illustrated with a complete map of the several railroads included in the tables. We have found it exceedingly useful, as a book of reference, and the traveler will find it indispensable.

JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE.

DEBT AND FINANCES OF ALABAMA.

We give below a statement of the debt and finances of Alabama, derived from the last annual message of the Governor of that State :

For the two years since the meeting of the last Legislature the receipts into the Treasury and disbursements have been as follows:

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Paid out during the same time, including the sum of $485,965 35, interest on State debt.....

Balance in Treasury, November 1, 1848.

Receipts during the year ending November 1, 1849.....

Total means for 1849......

Paid out during the same period, excluding Treasury drafts...

Balance in Treasury, November 1, 1849....

Estimated receipts of funds in the hands of tax collectors, not paid into the Treasury..

$528,251 86

288,640 92

$816,892 78

644,628 03

$172,264 75

487,987 58

$660,252 33

122,235 75

$538,016 58

415,000 00

$953,016 58

Making the total means of the State up to the present time... Mostly in notes of the late State Bank and branches, of which the State is the only stockholder.

The bank has been represented to be in liquidation for five years past, but the circulation is still used by the Controller to pay off demands against the Treasury, and these notes are in turn receivable for all dues to the State, including taxes.

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To this must be added the loss to the State in winding up the State Bank and branches.

It will be seen that

$100,000, bearing 6 per cent interest, falls due, and is payable at the Phoenix Bank on the 1st April, 1850.

824,000, bearing 5 per cent inrerest, falls due on the 1st June, 1850, payable to Reid, Irving and Company, London.

$924,000, total State debt falling due in 1850.

The governor thinks it would be burdensome on the people of the State to liquidate the whole debt within the period suggested, (in ten years,) and recommends to the General Assembly, a renewal of the bonds falling due in 1850, for 20 years.

On the subject of legislating for the ultimate liquidation of the public debt, the governor continues:

The great question appears to be, whether we should raise an amount of revenue that would enable us to pay not only the interest, but such a portion of the principal as would lead to a speedy liquidation of the entire debt; or, postponing for the present the payment of the principal, raise only so much as would be necessary to pay the regular interest on that debt, in addition to the expenses of the State Government, leaving its final liquidation for a period more propitious, when the energy of our young State will be more matured and better directed-when her vast agricultural and mineral resources, and her manufacturing capacities will be more fully developed, and her population more numerous and better able to share the burden of taxation among them. Which course of policy should be adopted by the State, as might be expected, gives rise to much difference of opinion. It must be remembered that the question of postponement can, in nowise, affect the honor or financial credit of the State, for, by the terms of the contract which created our foreign debt, the right was reserved to the State to continue her indebtedness for an indefinite period, provided the interest on that debt continued to be regularly paid. The payment of the principal is, therefore, with us a question of expedience, and, in determining upon the time, we should be led to adopt that course of policy which, after due consideration, we should feel satisfied would best serve the interests of the State.

"CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE.”*

As we were closing the present number of the Merchants' Magazine, we received from England a copy of a new work, with the above title, just published in London. JOHN FRANCIS, Esq., the author, is a clerk in the Bank of England. His history of that Bank, in two large octavo volumes, published some two years since, has already reached a third edition, and is the only book, so far as our knowledge extends, about banking, that can be considered entertaining. In that work the author has exhibited great industry and taste in the selection of striking anecdotes, touching upon all the prominent financial movements of the past and present century, and at the same time elucidating, with clearness, those epochs in the history of the bank, "by which fundamental principles were first suggested, and antiquated errors are corrected." To use the language of the London Bankers' Magazine, the history of the Bank of England "is as interesting as a fairy tale." He has adopted the same popular plan in the present work, the object of which is, as modestly set forth in his preface to the volume, "to gather the many remarkable incidents connected with the national debt, to present an anecdotical sketch of the causes which necessitated its principal charactersto detail the many evils of lotteries-to relate the difficulties in the early history of railways-to popularize the loans, of which the Poyais, with its melancholy tragedy, and the Greek, with its whimsical transactions, were such striking examples, and finally to group these objects around the Stock Exchange.

We consider it a most interesting as well as valuable contribution to the financial literature of the commercial world, and shall take occasion, in a future number of our journal, to review it more at length, and, at the same time, transcribe, for our pages, some of its attractive reading. We have space, at present, for only two random extracts, touching the constitution of the Stock Exchange, and an explanation of its terms.

CONSTITUTION OF THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE,

The constitution of the Stock Exchange is simple. Governed by a committee of twenty-eight, with a chairman and deputy-chairman, annually elected by the members, their power to expel, suspend, or reprimand, is absolute; their decision final; and that decision, adds one of the rules, "must be carried out forthwith." In cases of expulsion, the committee should not consist of less than twelve; and of these, at least two-thirds

* Chronicles and Characters of the Stock Exchange. By John Francis, author of the History of the Bank of England, its Times and Traditions. London: Willoughby & Co.

must concur in the sentence. No bill or discount broker, no clerk in any public or private establishment-excepting those to the members of the Stock Exchange-no one in business, either in his own name or in that of his wife, can be received as member. Every applicant must be recommended by three members of two years' standing, who must each give security for £300 for two years. The committee meets every alternate Monday, at one o'clock; but a special meeting may at any time be called by the chairman and deputy chairman, or by any five members. Brokers and jobbers, or dealers, as they are politely termed, are not allowed to enter into partnership; and, when a defaulter is excluded, his clerk is excluded with him.

Directly the books are closed at the Bank of England, the price of stocks, excepting only Bank stock, is quoted without the dividend.

When a defaulter, or one who cannot or will not pay the just claims on him, is posted, a libel is avoided by the following words: "Any person transacting business with A. B., is requested to communicate with C. D."

EXPLANATION OF THE TERMS USED ON THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE.

The terms used on the Stock Exchange have been in vogue for more than a century; and the origin of many may be traced to the early transactions in the stock of the East India Company. Buying for the account has been described; but "bull," and "bear," "backardation," and "continuation," are understood only by the initiated.

"Bull" is a term applied to those who contract to buy any quantity of government securities, without the intention or ability to pay for it; and who are obliged, therefore, to sell it again, either at a profit or loss, before the time at which they have contracted to take it.

"Bear" is a term applied to a person who has agreed to sell any quantity of the public funds, of which he is not possessed, being, however, obliged to deliver it against a certain time.

"Lame Duck" is applied to those who refuse, or are unable to fulfil the contracts into which they have entered.

"Backardation" is a consideration given to keep back the delivery of stock, when the price is lower for time than for money.

"Continuation" is a premium given when the price of funds in which a person has a jobbing account open is higher for time than for money, and the settling day is arrived, so that the stock must be taken at a disadvantage. In this case a per centage is paid, to put off the settlement, and continue the account open.

"Jobber" is applied to those who accommodate buyers and sellers of stock with any quantity they require. The dealer or jobber's profit is generally one-eighth per cent. The "Broker" is the person employed by the public to sell or purchase stock, at a certain per centage.

"Omnium" is a term used to express the aggregate value of the different stocks in which a loan is usually funded.

"Scrip" is embryo stock, before the whole of the instalments are paid.

FINANCES OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY.

The official returns just published and presented to the British Parliament, show that the gross total receipts of the home treasury of the East India Company from the 1st of May, 1848, to the 30th of April, 1849, amounted to £5,618,927, and the total disbursements to £4,274,495, leaving a balance in favor of the treasury, on the 30th of April, of £1,344,431. The receipts of the home treasury for the year ending 30th of April, 1850, are estimated at £5,201,931, and the disbursements at £4,239,885, leaving an estimated balance, on the 30th of April, 1850, of £962,046. The debts of the Government of India, in England, on the 1st of May last, amounted to £5,054,283, and the credits to £2,897,708, leaving an excess of debt of £2,156,575. The total number of employes of the Company, in England, on the 1st of May, amounted to 514, whose salaries amounted to £126,121. The gross total amount of the revenues of the several Presidencies and Governments of India for the year 1847-48 was estimated at 17,619,391 rupees, and the gross total charges at 15,619,257 rupees; which latter, added to 3,016,012 rupees, (the charges disbursed in England,) made the grand total charges of India, for the year 1847-48, amount to 18,635,309 rupees, leaving a deficiency on the general account of 1,015,968 rupees.

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