Editing Rail transport (section)

=====Financial system=====
Financing of railroads provided the basis for a dramatic expansion of the private (non-governmental) [[financial system]]. Construction of railroads was far more expensive than factories: in 1860, the combined total of railroad stocks and bonds was $1.8&nbsp;billion; in 1897, it reached $10.6&nbsp;billion (compared to a total national debt of $1.2&nbsp;billion).<ref>Edward C. Kirkland, ''Industry comes of age: Business, labor, and public policy, 1860–1897'' (1961) pp. 52, 68–74.</ref>

Funding came from financiers in the [[Northeastern United States]] and from Europe, especially Britain.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3111573|title = Patterns of American Railroad Finance, 1830–50|journal = The Business History Review|volume = 28|issue = 3|pages = 248–263|last1 = Chandler|first1 = Alfred D.|year = 1954|doi = 10.2307/3111573| s2cid=154702721 }}</ref> About 10 percent of the funding came from the government, particularly in the form of land grants that were realized upon completion of a certain amount of trackage.<ref>Kirkland, ''Industry comes of age'' (1961) pp. 57–68.</ref> The emerging American financial system was based on railroad bonds, and by 1860, New York was the dominant financial market. The British invested heavily in railroads around the world, but nowhere more than in the United States; the total bond value reached about $3&nbsp;billion by 1914. However, in 1914–1917, the British liquidated their American assets to pay for war supplies.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2113694|title = Capital Movement and Transportation: Britain and American Railway Development|journal = The Journal of Economic History|volume = 11|issue = 4|pages = 375–388|last1 = Jenks|first1 = Leland H.|year = 1951|doi = 10.1017/S0022050700085119| s2cid=153714837 }}</ref><ref>Saul Engelbourg, ''The man who found the money: John Stewart Kennedy and the financing of the western railroads'' (1996).</ref>