Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-10-18
TENNESSEE CEsTRAL hAELRoAD.
General 1nnuenee Of Railroads.


for communicating and transport. Even
inferior lands viii be cultivated, If within
reach Of the market, whilst the most pro-
ductive will remain in \ state Of nature, or
with limited population. The arguments
which apply to common roads are strength
ened in the case Of turnpikes; still more on
plsnkroads aud canals, and in the highest
degree on railroads, which introduce the
potent element OF steam. It Is common ex-
perience that settlements and large towns
spring up on the route Of railroad, where
hitherto nOthing.but faTm-houses were 10 be
seen. except at its feTainL The traveller at
the North is struck with this every hour
The villages and towns become themselves
the eentresof back population, and this popu-
lation gives rise to the opening Of new
lands, and thus the area continually
widens. The history Of the West is
strongly in point. When shut off
from the Atlantic by a road Of sixty days, or
a fat-boat navigation quite as long, the pro-
gress of population and products was slow,
revolutions were openly discussed, aud
separate government adequate to her neces-
sites was proposed. The power Of railroads
and steam changed the whole aspect Of
things, and the West, which had but 100000
at the clCSe Of the last century, contained in
1920, 2,207 ,463; in 1880, 3,672,56 in 1910,
1902, 9l8, and reaches nearly 100000 at
the present time. How much larger had
been the population, had facilities like those
Of New York and Massachusetts, been en-
joyed, may be readily imagined. 1t will
not do to argue that population must come
before railroads II is possible to stimu-
late and excite it, If the natural facilities
Of rivers and navigable streams exercise
great influence on the growth Of population,
as in the history Of settlement, none can
deny, viii not other facilities Of like or
even different character have the same effect?
Population follows the rivers, and not rivers
the population, and so il is of railroads.
2. Upon IndHstry.-A people dependent
upon mere production, and incapable Of ex-
changing, can only remain in savage bar
barism. The first step in PROCESS is barter;
for without it, production will be confined to
the mere abioct necessities Of life. Trade
stimulates new energies and life, and ulti-
mately civilization. Industry is its hand
maiden. Manufactures go hand in hand
with it; for every article of manufacture,
except the very rudest, presuppOses ex-
change, since the skill of the field laborer
must be supplied by that of the artisan.
Frequency Of exchanges, and capacities
for them, thus operate upon production
and fabrication. The Indian hunter will
transport on his back, or in canoes, his
peltry, hundreds of miles, to the trader.
This is exchange under the greatest con-
ceivable disadvantage. The Mexican trader
win supply the interior commerce upon
pack-horses over great deserts, This is
commerce at one remove; but still, under
such discouragements, it cannot thrive, and
thus Mexico remains, from age to age, with
out improvement or progress. The wagon,
the fat-boat, the ship, the steamer, and the
railroad, are successive steps in advance
ment. New wants spring up with the facili-
ties for their Enjoyment, and new energies
are difused. The poorer classes become
consumers of 'shat formerly was confined to
the wealthy. The wealthy look around for
new marks to distinguish them from the
commonality thus industry is everywhere
taxed and encouraged, manufacturing towns
spring up, and villages grow into immense
cities. The forests give way to the axe, and
the highest civilization is ushered in.
8. Upon Weaih.-I shall cOn6ne myself
here to few facts, which go to show the inn
mense results which have grown out of the
construction of railroads. They are the Gre
ators of wealth in more than one way. As
a source of profitable investment, railroads
have not been surpassed, all things consid-
cred, by any other. The actual earnings on
the roads Of England were over four per
cent. on the value of shares, when the inter-
est on money was much less. If there has
been depreciation in the stocks Of roads, il
is easily accounted for by the mOnomania
which induced the construction Of roads that
were unnecessary, by heavy Parliamentary
expenses and by the reckless and extrava-
CANT system Of construction, incident to the
infancy of all novel enterprises. The same
remark appliest to the United States, where the
dividends of roads have averaged over five
percent, thoughin Massachusetts, thisaverage
reaches eight per cent, whilst upon many
roads in the country, ten, and even a much
greater per cent. has been realized by eco
nomical management. No other investments
of capital have paid more; and if we take
long series Of years, no others have paid so
much. Losses, to be sure, have been incur
red but in what department of business has
experience been otherwise? Certainly not
in commerce; certainly not in banking; nor
even in agriculture and manufactures. Wis
ionary and impractieable schemes, and ruin
GUS extravaganza, will find their place in
every branch of human affairs. Nor is it in
sctual dividends alone that railroad profits
are achieved. Far from it. These are
among their least advantages. Proprietors
urban and rural, feel their effects as
we have seen primarily and to the
largest extent Throughout the Union
property has received an actual tangible
benefit 10 a much greater amount than the
cosf oF fl,o rnods -, 80 No,-
which l have referred before is
strong illustration. In the fifteen years
which Immediately succeeded the construc-
ton of the Erie Canal, the value of the
property in the city advanced 149 per cent,
though in the preceding ten years Il had not
Gdgdaced one dollar /; the per cent. increase Of
population being not much greater imme-
diately after than before the construction of
the. canal. "Wherever railroads have been
constructed" says COL GADsDEN, of South
Carolina, property has risen in value, and
new stimulus given to trade and intercourse.
These are not speculative views, but reali-
ties"
He says again: az shall show that trade
has expanded, and the value of REAL estate
increased, since the establishment of the
railroad. Any one who will make the in
Will uut AiiC lduu All dloiE TIE IOdu
to Hamburg and Columbia, for FIVE miles on
each side of it, has appreciated in value
so, 500 and in some cases 5000 per cent,
and where before its construction there were
not $4,000 worth of trade, there is now
(1S4S) upwards Of S550,O00. The valuation
Of property on the South Carolina railroad,
compared before and since its construction,
shows-lS30, Sll ,337, 0l3; 1850, Sl9, 075, 157;
gain, 81 ,63s, l45
The next illustration is Virginia; and
here | quote from message of Gov. FLOYD,
in 1850: ''The wisdom of the policy stands
fully vindieated by the recent assessment Of
lands in the commonwealth, which shows
an increase Of 29@ per cent. upon our entire
landed property during the last twelve years,
or an aggregate increase in the value of real
estate alone since 1888, of $62,749,7I8,
while the increase between the assessments
of 1919 and 1888 was only $5,036 $50 or
two and a half per cent The total value Of
lands in the State, in 1919, was
S2o6 S93,97S; in 1888, it was S21l,-
930, sos, and in 1850 it was S274, ESQ, 226
which shows an average increase each
year. since 1888, while the system Of inter
nal improvement has been in operation,
equal to the whole increase during the nine
teen years prior to that time. This result has
been owing chiefly % he impulse impaired 10
he industry Of nc State 6y he facilities ,chich
her public sOrks hare afforded to oar citizens for
Transporting their prOdUce 70 marked. Portions |
oF ostr cnupfr- which fxrantx- uaars 400