The Montana post., 1869-04-09

have not lessened the business OF the
Erie canal. That has grown, while the
traffic of the two roads has been created
/ by them, did not exist before them, and
was impossi BILE without them.
Parliamentary returns OF the RAILWAY
traffic of England from 1884 To 1865 fur
nish evidence that the transportation of
passengers and goods by rail has been
six times greater shan it was before the
| introduction of railways, and that the
saving effected by the railways in cheap
ening fares and treights in n single year
| 1865, WAS $500, 600 900 "a sane larger
than the entire tdIdti0n IF the United
hiEgdom. This result. very imperfect
because il does not include the value of
time saved to 252 100000 OF passengers
who travelled by rail that year, is anna
zing. Accepted and applied as a meas
ure of the worth of system OF steam
highways that shall cover the United
States, il must be seen at flash that
within the scope of federal action there
is no use of the public money or prop
erty so profitable and SO economical
and so benificent as that which aids the
construction OF railroads- national by
their length and cost: national by their
passage through the public domain;
national as avenues TO distant States
and Territories; national i'm their bene-
fits; national as n part of the military
defence of the United States; and more
than national in their relation t. the
commerce of a third of the world.
The value of wagon load of wheat
is consumed by the cost of hauling il
on common earth roads 800 miles.
Indian corn will bear profitable trans>
Portation on the ground only 100 miles.
opened, and the restrictions in favor of
the Erie canal on the carriage of freight
by the New York Central railroad were
removed, the tonnage of western pros
ducts on the canal rose TO g6j, 1893 tons.
In 1867 the united through" tonnage
of the five great highways between the
east and the west, the Erie canal, the
New York Central, the Erie, the Penn
sylvania, and the Baltimore and Ohio
railroads, amounted TO 100000 tons,
I whose value was 81 ,200,000,000. The
Pennsylvania railroad, built upon the
line over which fifty years ago the COM
merce of the State crawled in wagons,
moved in the year 1857, of local freight
alone. 901 ,22G tons, and / 1,412.214 tons
in 1861, and 2,906,205 tons in 1866.
| When the Erie road was opened, and
the New York Central was authorized
to- carry canal freight, there were 10,-
600 miles of railway in operation in the
! United States. The total of merchan-
disc moved over them could not have
exceeded 100000 tons, of the value of
$50 the ton, and of the aggregate
value of S750,000,000 la January,
1868, the mileage of American railroads
had increased to $4,000 miles. The
weight of the merchandise transported
over them was 100000 900 tons, of the
estimated value otiS7 800 ,000, 900. In the
short span of seventeen years the mile
age of American railroads grew nearly
400 per cent, and their tonnage 1000
per cent, with a corresponding increase
in the value of the property carried.
The population of the country, in the
meantime, grew from 24,000,000 TO &c.
600, 900, or at the rate of so per cent.
| So that tie astounding fact as eU0tced that
railroads hdUe increased the commerce
Of tie country 1000 JOld more than tie
increase Of its population! In 1851 the
| freight moved upon all of our railroads
equalled All pounds per head OF popu-
lation, and was worth $31 per head.
In 1868 the tonnage equalled 2.777
pounds per head, and had a value of
$210 per head. In 1851 the cost of the
| 10000 miles of railway in operation in
the United States was $200,0 900. In
| 1868 the cost of the $4,000 miles in
operstion was equal 10 81 1,600,00 ,000
consequently the investment since 1851,
of 81 ,400, ,000,0 900, has been the means of
annually creating commerce five times
greater, amounting TO $6,750,0 900, 900.
| Ecery dollar INFESTED an american rail-
roads creates fire dollars yearly.
Can there be doubt about the policy
| of aiding with loan of the Govern
ments credit and grants of the public
land, the construction OF these wealth.
creating highways through regions rich
in soil and richer IN minerals, though
poor in the absence of a population able
in numbers and accumulated means to
provide itself with the machinery of
transportation and development? TO
legislators who approach this subject
free from the prejudices of traditional
system or habits of thought, certainly
IL will appear to be the highest duty of
| government TO construct such works at
it's own cost; and it will appear equal
| ly manifest that the claim of such en-
terprises, as being of the highest i'm.
porJance and most beneficent character
| should take precedence over any and
all other objects of legislative endow-
ment. But in the cases of the rail-
roads seeking extension to the Pacific,
endowment in money ia not asked OF
the government. What is asked is
simply loan of the public credit for a
limited period, with sure and unques-
tionable guarantees that the interest
and principal of the loans will be paid
by the borrowers.
Many members of this Congress saw
the infancy OF the grain trade of Chi
cago when there was not a railroad in
! Illinois, and when the wheat sold in
her lake port was hauled in wagons by
ox-teams over the prairies which were
travelled by comuasses, and on which
the teamsters caLIped with their cattle
at night-a wasteful transportation
which consumed from one to two weeks
of time to get TO market, and in which