ation of a company five and
even ten years would often pass away before a charter could be secured
and the work of construction commenced. It is true, there were some
laudable exceptions to this rule. Thus the governments of France and
Belgium led the people in railroad construction; but upon the whole it
can be said that the railroad forced itself by its intrinsic merit upon
monarchical governments. It soon became evident even to the most stupid
of autocratic ministries that it was a choice between the new mode of
transportation and national atrophy.

The first German line was built between the cities of Nuremberg and
Furth in 1835. It was only about four miles long, but the success of the
experiment gave an impetus to railroad building in other parts of
Germany. The Leipzig and Dresden line followed in 1837, and the
Berlin-Potsdam and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel lines in 1838. At the end of
1840 Germany had 360 miles of railroad. In that year Frederick William
IV. succeeded to the throne of Prussia and inaugurated a new and
exceedingly liberal railroad policy in his realm. In 1843 the Prussian
government concluded to guarantee certain railroad companies a dividend
of 3-1/2 per cent. on the capital actually invested. The state also
secured considerable influence in the administration of the roads as
well as in the right to assume the management of the various lines under
certain conditions. The governments of the states of Southern Germany
now commenced to build state roads, and their example was, chiefly for
strategic reasons, soon imitated by Prussia. The system has since grown
to over 26,000 miles, and no less than eighty-seven per cent. of the
mileage is under state control. In all the states and provinces of the
empire, except Bavaria, the rates for transportation of passengers and
freight on all lines are controlled absolutely by the government.

In Austria, as has already been indicated, the building of railways was
greatly discouraged by the government until 1836. In that year the
Emperor rather reluctantly granted Baron Rothschild a charter for a
railway from Vienna into the province of Galicia. Another charter was
granted to a Baron Sina for a line from Vienna to Raab and Gloggnitz.
The policy then adopted in Austria guaranteed to each railroad company a
monopoly in its own district during the period for which the charter was
granted. Soon after the state also commenced building lines, but the
growth of the Austr