The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-03-18
seeing the imnortance of Stenhenson's in

seeing the importance of Stephenson's in
vention. The Edinburgh Scotsman, QUO
ted in the Troy Sentinel, thus compares
the importance of the political events of
the time, with this discovery in locomo-
ton.
1t is melancholy to observe how rare
ly objects, events, or individuals, are es-
teemed according to their Importance.
All the periodical pens in London are at
this moment at work upon the Turkish
Treaty, the New Police, Cobbett's Corn,
Mr.. Listers Tragedy-and, perhaps, one
or two most 'bloody and bsrbarous' MUIR
ders. We have columns and pages filled
day after day with comments on these
matters, which, two months hence, will be
completely superseded by something
equally ephemeral while we have not
seen in one of the metropolis prints
single remark on the experiments at Liv-
erpool, which unveil mechanical truths of
such stupendous importance, that, if OBJ
jects are to be judged by their influence
on the condition OF man, the Russian Cam
paigns, the Catholic Question-nay,
though some may stare, we will add-the
French Revolution. sink into nothing in
the comparison. How trifling was the ef-
feet produced by all the wars of the fif-
teenth century on the state of the world,
compared with the discovery of Printing
And how little were the consequences of
that discovery understood by the contem-
poraries of Faust and Gutenberg The
experiments at Liverpool have established
principles which will give a greater i'm
pulse to civilization than it has ever re
ceiVed from any single cause since the
Press first opened the gates of knowledge
to the human species at large. They may
be said 70 have furnished man with wings,
to have supplied him faculties of locomo-
tion, of which the most sanguine could
not have dreamed q few years ago.
Even steam navigation gives but slight
idea of the wondrous power which this
new agent has put into our hands. 1t is
not exaggeration 10 say, that the introduc
ton of steam carriages on railways places
us on the verge of new era-Of social
revolution Of which the imagination cam
not picture the ultimate effects"
In the Troy Sentind of Jan. 19, 1880, is
the following extract from an English let
ter of two months earlier date
"You will be rather surprised when l
communicate to you that the stockholders
in the Sankey canal, the most profitable
canal in this kingdom, rising from e100 to
81 800 per share, have had meeting this
week, as is most confidently believed, 10
take into consideration tie erpediencV Of
letting IL dry and laying a railroad on 1t,
and they are about applying to Parlia-
ment for this liberty"
So it seems that too much was expected
from railroads by some who witnessed
their early successes.
Another article in the Edinburgh Scots
nan comments upon the probable reduc-
ton of the cost of transporting freight
and passengers, occasioned by the intro
duction of railroads and locomotives. 1t
concludes that two shillings will be pay
ing rate of fare between Liverpool and
Manchester, and five shillings per ton will
be remunerating freight charge for the
same distance. It adds:
"When the carriage of goods, which
is now about Sd or 10d a ton per mile by
land, is reduced to Cd, and when, in point
of speed, one day does the work of four,
the heaviest commodities such as corn,
potatoes, Goals, will bear the expense of
carriage for a hundred miles. The result
will be that living in great towns will be
reduced, and the price of raw produce
will rise in remote parts of the country.
The facility, celebrity and cheapness of in
ternal intercourse, contribute more, prob
ably, to the advancement of civilization,
than all other circumstances put together"
The Scotsman also estimated that travel
would be prodigiously increased by the
improvements rendering it cheaper and
more rapid, and in this, as well as in its
estimates concerning freight transporta-
ton, its good judgment has been proved
by the result.