New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-21
RAILROADS as PROMOTERS OF PRODUC-
TIVE INDUSTRY,


On the 1st day of January next, the United
States will have not less than Fifty Thousand
miles of Railroads in operation, and will be
| extending them at the rate of over Five
Thousand miles per annum We judge that
this exceeds the annual construction of Rail
roads IN all the rest of the world so that, If
we have not now half the number OF miles OF
railway on the planet, we soon shall have. Exact
computations are not essential to cur present
purpose, which is to indicate the influence OF
Railroads upon the development and expansion
Of our National Industry. Let Texas serve as
our first illustration.
Five years ago, Texas may have had two
hundred miles of railway in all-pOssibly more
but all she had was not equal in value to
a single line of two hundred miles connecting
her principal seaport with her capital. Her
wagon-roads were few and wretched-litie
more than tracks, which crossed her numerous
| water-cOurses by fords which served in
seasons, when the streams were dry or incOn-
siderable but were raging torrents after a
heavy rain-sOmetimes impossible for weeks
The resulting difficulty and cost of tranSporta-
ton discouraged production and paralyzed in
dustry. Though Timber is abundant in
Texas, the best of it grows well inland,
and her early settled and more pOpulOus sea-
board counties could more cheaply satisfy their
needs 10y importation. Their Flour and Hams
were, for a like reason, mainly drawn from
the Ohio and upper Mississippi. Her Fabrics
and Wares were of course brought from abroad,
since her isolated planters afforded no markets
sufficiently capacious to justify the establish
ment on her soil of those large manufactures
| l. H. 10 a1x too
Cotton and Cattle were her only considerable
exports, and these could only be delivered
at their markets of consumption at a cost for
transportation which left but meager recon-
pense to the producers. Hence, thousands
were sunk in Incidence, dissuaded from
systematic, persistent industry by their inabil
ity to dispose of its products at what they
deemed fair prices. They could exist, after a
coarse, rude fashion, on the product of two
days labor each per week; they could hardly
more than subsist if they labOred necessarily.
Hence, general slOth.
To-day Texas has more than Five Hundred
miles of Railroads in operation; before the
close of 1872, this extent will have been
doubled; within 1876, she will have extended
these to Two Thousand, and probably to
Twenty five Hundred. Two years hence, the
interior of Texas will be practically nearer
the seabOard cities of the Atlantic coast than
Ohio was fifty years ago.
The consequent increase of production is and
must be amazing to those ignorant or needless
of its main impulse. The next Federal Census
will return from Texas considerably more than
Two Millions of People, but the growth of her
industry will have far Outstripped that of her
Ill 10 IN
than she did in 1870, but they will net thrice
as much per head to the breeders; her export of
Cotton may or may not be larger than it now is,
but the return to the growers will at any rate
be larger; she is quite as likely then to be
exporting as importing Timber, Corn, Wheat,
Pork. Lard, &C., which she now largely i'm
ports her thousands of square miles of Coal
and Iron Ore will have begun before 1880 to
add largely to her annual product; while
nearly every variety of Manufacture now ex
cluded from her soil by the difficulty and ex-
pense of reaching adequate markets, will be
employing her labor and increasing her wealth
in season to affect materially the complexion
of our next Census.
SO with Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, and
all our Territories. Railroads will soon rem
der habitable and productive vast regions
which have till recently been doomed to eter-
nal sterlity and solitude. We confidently ex-
pect to see our country's annual production of
Gold and Silver carried above One Hundred
Millions of Dollars within the present decade,
while Iron, Copper, Tin, Lead, Zinc, and other
useful Metals, will be largely obtained from
regions whence civilized man has hitherto OBJ
tanned nothing and expected very little.
Our Agriculture and Manufactures must
largely profit by the prosperous activity of our
Mining. The ever-increasing demand for
Food, Shelter, Machinery, Implements, &C.,
throughout our Territories, will incite efforts
to enhance the local supply by Irrigation,
Steam Flowing, and other mechanical devices.
Though vast quantities will be introduced by
Railroads from the valleys of the Columbia,
Sacramento and San Joaquin, as well as from
those of the Ohio and Mississippi, the prices of
Grain and Meat will be considerably, those OF
Vegetables and Fruits largely, higher in and
about the Rocky Mountains, Colorado valley,
and the Great Basin, than in tho fer.
tile valleys on either side. We shall
soon export TO Europe proportionately less
Food than now, because we shall do better
by converting that Food into Metals around
our own mines. The opening up Of such ca