American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-09-22

employ q capital Of fty- leo millions Of dollars,
and earn yearly revenue Of above ak and a
half millions; and thus il is not too much to
estimate that one hundred nsiliions Of Massachu-
sets capital have within these brief twenty
years been invested in railroads which have
their focus in Boston, and well invested too
and this is, fair calculation, but one halt Of
the capital invested in railways in New England.
This is why they hold jubilee there. They
are right in doing 80. They are right in re-
joicing at the completion of . system of public
works absolutely unparalleled. We rejoice with
them, and feel our Yankee blood tingling in
sympathy for whatever benefits one pat Of
this republic benefits all others. But let us
look into the occasion of the jubilee little
more in detail.
g Massachusetts has a small territory; its
area is but 5000, 600 acres, and its population
not one million. A rocky and barren soil, an
unfriendly climate, and no navigable rivers
opening channels to the interior, are the en-
dowments with which old Massachusetts entered
on her career They are not all, however; she
had people unequalled in energy, concentra-
ton OF purpose, and personal integrity; she
had good schools, good laws, o glorious history,
and the go-ahead spirit; she had also abundant
water-power, the enterprise to use it, and for a
time the national policy has favored her. She
has built up manufactures, and on that basis
stands the admirable example of State that
she now presents and finally she has erected
this great network of railways extending in all
directions and bearing from every quarter q
willing tribute Of prosperity and the means of
greatness still more complete and enduring.
Il -
"The foreign traffic brought into the State
by these channels is by no means the chief
benefit they confer on the people. No COM
monwealth in the world, except it be England,
is so covered with lines Of railroad, and in none
are they so universally and constantly used by
all classes There is not town in the State
with as many as five thousand inhabitants which
has not railroad communication with the me-
tropolis; of those with from 1000 to 5000 in
habitants there are scarce half dozen which
are not upon, or in the near vicinity of, some
railroad; indeed, it is only necessary to take
up recent map of the State and observe how
complete is the network, to perceive that there
is hardly a neighborhood in its territory which
does not hear the shrill whistle OF the locomo-
tive nor q farmer so secluded as not to have
the advantage of being able to travel to the
metropolis at the rate of twenty or thirty miles
an hour. Over every line there are at least two
daily trains to and from Boston, except on
Sunday, when, with the exception of perhaps
an early morning train, all business is stopped;
even steam is made to respect the time-honored
habit of the puritans.
:" Such is the system of public works whose
completion-almost entirely through private
enterprise and capital, and without govern
mental aid-has occasioned this jubilee, and
whose operation will aggrandize the Bay State,
and not fail to benefit her neighbors and fellows
in the Republic. No community of ancient or
modern times has ever erected for itself a mon
ument of greater utility, or exhibiting more
magnifcently the power of human genius and
industry.