Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-05-21
From the New York Tribune.
THE FUTURE OF RAIL ROADS

What is to be the future of Railroads. We ask a
broad question but one Of which the asWer deter
mines not merely the good or i'll fortunate Of the
large class directly interested in Railroads as pro-
perry, but the rate Of prospective progress
nation.
In our judgment, our existing Railway enterprises
have seen and are seeing their worst days. Com.
panies may fail that have hitherto maintained a
seeming solFeu0y but we do not believe the receipts
of American railroads fer any future year will be so
low ia the aggregate or per mile as we're and are
those Of the year beginning with the lst Of July
last. Our reasons for this faith are briefly as
follows:
L A decided check has been given to the business
of Railroad making. There will of course be many
miles of railways constructed annually for the next
century; but the spirit which gridirOned MassachU-
sets with perfect network ofrailways and opened
three nearly full routes between this city and Al
banv, in competition with the steamboats, the
Hudson, can never be rekindled. The speculations
of the next age may be as rash those of the last
but precisely the same folies viii not be reenaoed
We may fairly presume, therefore, that our present
Railroads. in the main, are not to be subjected to
any composition more ruinous than that they have
already encountered.
IL. Our Population steadily increases, even in the
Oldest States, while that Of the newer gains five to
twenty per cent annually. Now an increase of pop
uation in the Far West Is not quite beneficial to
Eastern Railroads as though it we're located along
their several tracks, yet it helps Iowa and MINES
ota to-day furnish both freight and passengers to the
railroads of New York and New England, and will
furnish more and more as they increase in pOpula-
ton and wealth Ten years hence, they will pa
ronze those roads to at least double the extent they
now do.
III. The extension Of the railway system toward
Mexico the Pacific aud the North, eEerts like good
effect. If we build hencefOrth thousand miles of
new railroad per annum, mainly in the West, we
shall thereby increase the number who, because Of
these novel facilities are melted to revisit the East
impeled by affection curiosity or the hope Of gain.
Whenever the Pacific Railroad shall have been built
it will pour fresh tide of trade and travel over
Eastern and Mississippi Valley Reads.
", The days of reckless fnanciering-Of promis
ing to pay such interest bonus to the suppers of
the latter half of the capital required to build road
that those who supplied the former half can have
nothng-must be very nearly at an end. Hence
forth. if means cannot be found whereWith to open
new line of railroad at q tOerable rate ofinterest
the work must wait. This stops one Of the worst
gaps in the railway fnanciering of the last ten
years.
On the whole, we have q strong confidence that
railway fortunes generally have touched bottom
that there must heneeforth be a gradual improve
ment, which will be sgnally accelerated from the
hour that good Tariff is enacted. Railway stocks
may rise er fall as hithero-sometimes with reason,
sometimes WithOUt-but we trust that railway hnan-
ces are destined to experience a gradual but sure
and steadily increasing Improvement. And Of tbs
there is ample need