Statistical data concerning railways is not usually of especial appeal to the rank and file worker. A few enthusiastic statisticians there are on every line who know no greater joy than to spend long hours playfully juggling with average train and wagon loads, ton-miles, and all the other ingenious tools of their craft, but most railwaymen are wisely content to leave the close study of statistics to the expert. In such hands statistics can be of the utmost value in furthering railway progress: in the hands of the inexperienced, conjuring with elaborate statistical data is frequently productive of distorted views, quite foreign to the true state of affairs. Simple figures relating to railway operation, however, are worthy of the attention of one and all engaged in the transportation industry, and in this connection there have recently been put out interesting statistics on general lines concerning the four big railway systems that serve the Homeland.