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Tlie prevailing fault of all writers on rail road policy is that ofyielding up their judgment to the dictation of their wishes, and ex-hibiting the facts as all desire them to be, and not as we find them.Hence the proverbial errors of companies and their agents, in under-valueing the first cost of their work ; in over estimating its business,and underrating the cost of its maintenance. Their opinions are butthe picture of their hopes, and rarely deductions from an extensiveand systematic investigation, and a wide experience.

Hut we are now in pursuit of truth and shall endeavor to avoidthis error.

The rail road system is new. It is not yet twenty-five years sincethe locomotive engine has been used with any decided success, andit is not fifteen years since its first employment on lines of general andextensive intercourse.

We have, nevertheless, much experience of the wear of iron rails;for a heavy trade—a trade vastly inferior to that of some of the ca-nals of this country—is sufficient to produce great and obvious effectsin a very brief space of time.

We cannot seek this experience, however, on the great rail waysrecently finished in England. These carry but little freight. Theirbusiness is nearly confined to the conveyance of passengers; andthough they really transport many tons of parcels and costly mer-chandize, and make a considerable show of business, the actual ton-nage, compared with that of some of our important canals, is insig-nificant. Indeed, the public have not yet become accustomed tocompare the actual weight of the trade which is transmitted alongexisting lines of rail roads, and that which passes noiselessly throughthe old canals, and there are consequently few who have yet formeda just conception of their relative magnitudes.

The London and Birmingham rail way has already cost aboutjS30,000,000 ; and was graded with a view to the heaviest traffic; butthe speed and accommodation which it offers are but slight compen-sation for the price of carriage at which they must be purchased. Withall the labor bestowed upon this work; with all the outlay encounter-ed to reduce the cost of transportation—the annual net tonnage uponit is not greater than five or six weeks trade of the Schuylkill Navi-gation.

The Great Western road has cost some g32,000,000. The nettonnage upon this line is still less than that upon the London andBirmingham . It does not reach 120,000 through tons per annum.

But the traffic upon these works, light as the tonnage is, has beensufficient, at the high velocity permitted, to produce great destruc-tion.

The former commenced with two tracks of edge rail of 50 lbs. peryard, and wore much of it out before the line was finished.

The latter commenced with a 44 lb. bar between London andMaidenhead, and had rendered it unfit for safe service nearly a yearago. The still heavier iron which they are now using is not, of course,yet entirely destroyed. But before this time next year—if my calcu-lations do not fail—I shall produce evidence in this Journal, that a