The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-09-07
DANGER AHEAD.

DANGER AHEAD
| The Introduction and multiplication of rail-
roads IN cur country has been already, and
will be t. much greater extent berraft.r r, p?o
| ductive OF many important commercial sJcial
and political changes. OF these, i, is strictly
true TO say, large majority will conduce to ,h
Vel"pmchl and advancement of the adjuncts
OF hIgher clvilIziiion-to O social and political
condition far in advance o: tha. which al prcsen
obtains But, like all other great bltssin -,
this important agency is not unmxrd with great
evils and It becomes us, while we rejoice over
the former not To be So dazzled by them as {,
forget or SO far overlook the latter as to neglect
to provide against them in due season
One Of the most obviou tendencies of an ex-
tensve railroad saystem, in wrong direction,
Is to the building up Of vast noned aris' ocracy
IN the country--an aristocracy to he dreaded all
the more from the fact that il will be an associ
ated one and extending ultimately from the
primal seat of its power--New York and Bas-
tonic every State in the Union, not only in
susing is virus into the social life of the whole
country but extending its influence and power
into the Legislative Halls and to the judiciary
of the various States. Let us explain.
Certain men of large capital, in " Y. and
B's'on, build road from one or both of these
/
Other capitalists would like to share in its prof.
It's, but the projectors and builders are unwill-
ing TO make further division of income The
next idea is to build rival road connec ing the
same cities with the same lakes. Here CON-
mences war of competition. The first line
ceases to be profitable, and latter does but little
more than pay expenses Of operating. Each
company begins to look out for lateral connec-
tons to feed into the trunk road They also
extend their vision westward towards the valley
of the Mississippi. Companies are organized
IN the intermediate territory, who, aided BY the
New York and Boston companies, carry for
ward the prolonga'ion Of these rival lines As
the interior is penetrated the field enarges, and
each interest throws out IFS lateral arms to all
/ important commercial centres Starting from a
point on the sea board, the system gradually
spreads out as it progresses westward until by
the time it strikes the valley of the Mississippi
1t extends over numerous degrees of latitude-
the last link being az intimately identified in
interest with the first it is 18th the one ne xt
in connection to it. Thus the two rival inter-
es,s, consisting originally of few cari,alists in
New York and BustoE, have gone out side by
side to the Mississippi, absorbing into one or
the other large portion of the money and the
enterprise OF the country traversed. Each or-
| glnal trunk road with its ramfcaton Of branches,
might be compared to the nervous system, each
part sympathizing with every other portion. In
fact, the identity of interest is complete from
n. Y to the Mississpp and it will be from
N Y. to San Francisco and Pugets Sound
| Now, what we have thus briefly detailed above,
exists, in fact, before our eyes The two rival
interests have reached Illinois Every road
building, or about to be built in the State, is
identified with one or the other Of them. The
history Of their movements is not yet written
hnf ,rhs sch q, At
which they comba' leach other, of the strenuous
efforts used to checkma,e each other, of the
means, resorted to by each to accomplish its re-
spective ends, to create the wish, on the part of
all the disin'erested lockers on, that the two
interests may always keep evenly balanced,
and especially, that they may never become con
soldated
| Consolidation is what we fear II may be far
in the future-probably will not be perfected
until many years after each interest shall have
extended its system of roads to the Pacific but
we regard an ultimate consolidation of the two
with almost as much certainty as we do an
already existing fact. When that event hap
pens, then will our free institutions be subjected
to more severe test than any through which
| they have yet passed See, how it will work
The consolidate d interests will want legislation
in every State, from N Y. to San Francisco
They will want legislation, perhaps, by Con-
gress. They will want favors from the lowest
State to the highest U. S. branch of our Judi
cary. They will want fayors from the Com
mon Councils of every city in which they have
depot How shall they secure IL The heart
OF the patriot sickens with apprehension as he
remembers what are the agencies usually relied
upon by corporations to obtain legislative and
other tavors. How many influences they can
bring to bear to secure the election of men in
hair init OF he r;o "A, 1or Iafi,,
and administrative, in our State and General
GoVernments-And when the United corpora
tions-sE Pluribus Unum shall extend through
every State, and into every county of each
State between the Atlantic and Pacifc-when
Stockholders, officers, employers and debtors
all voters-shall be numbered by hundreds of
thousands-when this wealth, both corporate
and individual shall be told by millions and
millions, then will it not require vast amount
of incorruptible virture, an intelligence as uni
versa as the people, and vigilance that never
sleeps, to preserve our liberties from the inroads
Of this great, overshadowing, ell powerful asso-
ciated arisoeracys
We may be laughed at by those who have not
duly considered this subject in all its bearings
Tor the picture here presented. But we know
that fears, similar 10 those herein expressed,
cannot but be already developed in the minds
of many earnest patriots whose love of country
and of those virtues which underlie all perma-
nent freedom, is too strong to be overcome by
even prospective advantages which we all anti
cipate from the vast system of railroads with
which our country is being chequered. Such
will thank us for uttering the thoughts where
with they have been oppressed, and will labor so
to direct public sentiment, to form public virtue
and to promote public intelligence, as to guard
against the evils of system whose existence is
a matter of absolute necessity, and which, in
other respects will bring inuumerable blessings |
in its trail Chicago Press.