stry
of the country. The value of the products of manufactures in 1899
reached a total of $13,000,000,000.

Simultaneously with the expansion of agriculture, the exploitation of
natural resources and the rise of manufacturing, partly as an effect of
them but almost equally as a cause, came the development of the great
transportation system. This was the era of the railroad. Immediately
after the war there began a period of extensive construction, over
35,000 miles of line being laid between 1865 and 1874. The first
transcontinental line was completed in 1869. Unfortunately the enormous
increase of mileage during these years was considerably in excess of
the needs of the country, and the speculative fever which attended the
expansion resulted in the panic of 1873. After a period of depression
of five years there was a second and much greater revival of
construction. Between 1878 and 1890 over 85,000 miles of new track were
laid, including four transcontinental tracks completed and others
partially finished. By 1900 there were 199,000 miles of railroad
spreading a vast net over the entire country.

The important result of the growth and improvement of railways was the
great reduction in the cost of transportation. At the close of the
period before the war it had been demonstrated that railroads could
economically carry high grade freight such as flour, live stock,
lighter manufactured goods and general merchandise, but as yet they had
been unable to compete successfully with waterways for the
transportation of grain, and the carriage for long distances of such
low-grade freight as coal and ore had not been attempted. As the
railway developed, however, its use was extended, and it was soon found
that there was no commodity so cheap that it could not be profitably
handled. Accompanying the extension of the service to include all kinds
of bulky freight there was an uninterrupted decline in the general
level of rates on all classes of goods, resulting from the increased
efficiency of roads, the stress of competition, and above all from the
tremendous increase of traffic. The rate per ton per mile decreased
from 1.92 cents in 1867 to 0.73 of a cent in 1900. This reduction of
transportation charges was one of the most potent factors determining
the course of economic progress. Field, mine, forest and store were
linked together into a unified whole; raw materials could be
concentrated at any point and there was practically no