lems that have greatly interfered with the
organization of European railways, the roads of the United States have
developed "trunk-system" features to a higher degree than is found
elsewhere.

In the United States and Canada the farms of the great central plain,
together with the coal-mines, are the great centres of production, while
the seaports of the two coasts form great centres of distribution. Most
of the trunk lines, therefore, extend east and west; of the north and
south lines only two are important. The reason for the east-west
direction of the great trunk lines is obvious; the great markets of
North America, Europe, and Asia lie respectively to the east and the
west.

[Illustration: THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE RAILWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES
THEIR POSITION DEPENDS ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE LAND]

=Railway Ownership.=--The ownership of railways is vested either in
national governments or else in corporate companies; in only a few
instances are roads held individually by private owners, and these are
mainly lumber or plantation roads. Thus, the railways of Prussia are
owned by the state; most of those of the smaller German states are owned
either by the state or by the empire; still others are owned by
corporate companies and managed by the imperial government. In their
management military use is considered as first in importance.

In France governmental ownership and management have been less
successful. Plans for an elaborate system of state railways failed, and
the state now owns and operates only 1,700 miles, mainly, in the
southwest. Belgium controls and operates all her lines, but as the
latter are short and the area of the state small, there are no
difficulties in the way of excellent management. In Great Britain all
the railways are owned and controlled by corporate companies. The great
transcontinental line of the Russian Empire was built by the government,
but the latter does not own it.

In the United States the railways are now owned by corporate companies.
Some of the western roads were built by Government subsidies;[21] other
roads were built by the aid of States, counties, or cities, which
afterward sold them to corporate companies. The first transcontinental
railways required Government assistance, and could not have been built
without it; nowadays, however, corporate companies find no difficulty in
providing the capital for any railway that is needed.

Inasmuch as the railway is a positive neces