The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-07-20
For the anderson MteUigencer.
The Importance and Utility Of Railroads


MIR. EDITOR: One would very naturally
suppose that the man who would, at this stage
of progressive improvement, fise up and deny
4 the importance and public utility OF railroads,
would, in effect, deny his own senses; yet, ab-
surd as it may appear, we have some OLD fosies
in Anderson County who argue that railroads
have been public curse, rather than public
blessing ,,
These men are always to be found little
in advance of the vanguard of civilization
They are continually, when speaking of rail-
road enterprises, harping upon the good and
sadly lamented days of yore, when the grass IN
"the range" the "raccoon in the hollow" the e
turkey on the hill" and "the deer in the plaln,"
constituted the sum total of mans stock in
trade! These rare specimens of old .Jogy'sn'
are always uneasy, ever upon the alert and
every move made pointing in the direction OF
higher type of civilization, intelligence ana
refinement, throws them completely into the
dumps occasions violent attack of the 0fues.
They, like the red man Of the forest, look with
an underlined, indescribable dread upon the
approach of the great, celebrated car OF Pro-
gression and Improvement; and the engine
propelling the great triumphal train of utilita-
rianism,, upon its first entrance into the coun-
try. does not have to give but one shrlll whis-
tle to cause ehese men to view it as "the hand
writing upon the wall''-to regard it as the
solemn death-knel to "'possum" and turkey
to accept it as the van-courier, warning them
to pack up their duds and away!
Hence, these men do not estimate the wealth
and importance of country from its devel-
oped agricultural, mineral and commercial re-
sources nor from the area of its grounds under
q high, improved state of cultivation, nor yet
from its improved and multiplied facilities OF
e easy, rapid and cheap transportation, transmit
ting It's exports over land and sea, tapping the
great commercial entrepots throughout the
length and breadth of the civilized world, in
fusing new life and vigor into every ramihca-
ton of agricultural, commercial and meehani-
cal enterprise. Oh, no! these men say this
has ruined the country! They, therefore, estl-
mate the wealth and importance of country
from the area of its wild and uncultivated
iands-from the amount of grass In the
range"-from the number of "raccoons" and
ss,,possuns" owned by them in the woods
from its having no manufactures, mills, schools
churches or markets They fear the renova-
ting hand of utilitarianism, which, If not ar
rested in its onward march, will ere long super
cede the slowly-trudging truck-wagon, drawn
by the OK, with the awift-hying railway car,
propelled by "the snorting, fiery steed, whose
iron sinews never tire"
Hence, we perceive that this stamp OF men
Is opposed to ali physical, moral and intellec-
tual Improvement. Their motto is, CAS- Daddy
carried pompions, so will p Such men are
GENERALLY opposed to what they are pleased to
call an unnecessary amount of education. Io
know how to read and write, and enough OF
arithmetic as they tenn it, to prevent others
from cheating you, they contend, is enough
education for any farmer. More than this,
they say, will make man rascal !
AS has already been intimated, they are
whole-soul opponents of all agricultural i'm
provements, whether in the shape of CONNER
cial fertilizers or improved implements. And
we have actually heard of some who oppose
commercial fertilizers upon the ground OF re-
hgious, conscientious scruples; that it is reli'
giously wrong, from the fact that the Creator
made the ground right at first, and therefore it
is impioas, if not sacrilegious in man to at
tempt giving ii a finishing touch with his phos-
pilates and guanos!
But aye, my friend, who do you suppose
made the phosphates and guanos? The AL
mighty Maker, who spoke this mundane sphere
into existence, is as much the creator OF phos-
phate and guano as he is of the soil and clay
of our primeval forests. The constituent ele-
nents forming the component parts of guano
are as much primeyal elements belonging to
the original products of nature, and of natures
God, as is the clay upon the mountains or the
sand upon the seashore.
But to return directly to the Importance and
utility of railroads.
Tear up all the railroads in the United
States to-day, and what, we ask, would be the
condition of thousands before the end of one
month? Wretchedness, want, destitution OF
Che necessaries of life, and even starvation, in
many instances, would doubtless be the inevi-
table result. Had there been no railroads in
South Carolina during the years intervening
since the close of the war, and hundreds, yea
thousands Of families would have starved from
the want of the staff Of life. What would
have been the price of corn in our County du-
Ting the first half of last year, had not the
merchants of Anderson, Pendleton, Belton, etc,
imported such vast amounts of flour?. Echo
answers what? Before the first day of June,
1870. if corn could have been had at all, it
would have commanded such price as to have
been entirely out of the reach OF the poor !!
Hence, starvation and death would have been
the inevitable result
Some men oppose railroads because they are
- l. Il. -oa;,,inntc of the nrentnr norton