Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-08-23
Popular Discomfort with the
Railroad.

| In their relation to the people as
common carriers we have evidence in
the testOmoDy given in 1873 before the
| Congressional select committee on
transportation routes to the sea board,
by Edwin Z. Worchester, 1.-THE Secre-
tary of the New York and Hudson
River Railroad Company, and acting
treasurer of the Lake Shore and Michi-
gan Southern Railway Company" rs
to what affect the roads in their charge
for freight. This gentleman testified !:
"Rafes never have the slightest refer
ence to what the capital Of the company
Is, or how large an investnat they may
desire to pay on. The only question
Is what the property will bear, keeping
always in view the future development
of business, and the elements nf public
prosperity involved in such develop
ment." 1t is questionable whether
any feudal baron ever made terser or
more exact statement in justification
of the taxes he levied upon his serfs.
He would not exterminate them with
exactions. for this would stop his own
revenue; the happy point he sought to
reach WAS just what they could pay.
and live. ..i.-.-....
The remedy with the railroad, as
with the feudal baron. lies in the cul-
tnre OF the people, in their practical
comprehension of their position, and
their organization for attaining bet
ter, because juster, system. In edu-
eating the people to this conception the
railroad itself has been the most potent
factor. 1t has been the agent teaching
order, punctuality, and business
prOmptness to the whole country. The
old farm methods have all been super
ssded. The slow and leisurely way Of
putting off until Tomorrow which
formerly prevailed no longer will suf-
flee, or is still found only on tie out
skirts, where the whistle OF the engine
l. not heard, or the regular arrival of
the train does not compel the shipper
of his produce to be ready at a specifi-
ed hour. Local prices no longer exist,
but are all regulated by reference to
those of the cities, quoted in the daily
papers. Agriculture has been Infused
With business, and the farmer, in-
stead of looking to his farm to furnish
its own supply of fertilizers and for the
chief consumption of his crop, now
looks to the distant market for both
purposes. 1t is the same with the small
lutoElOE toWuos 1B0 TciSus VI tuo
railroad enters as a factor in every ex-'
change performed all over the country,
and its rise or decrease is a subject of
importance to every one. The rail-
road, therefore, should not'complain il
the people, having been educated to
the conception of the absolute import
ance of accuracy and method in their
business relations with the railroad,
should demand of the railroad the ex-
ercise of the same qualities in its rela-
tiOns with them. The underlined im-
preston 80 general among the people
that they have not been fairly treated
by the railroad in this respect is the
reason of their discomfort; and this disl
content has taken the very methOdica.
business method OF using the means at
its command to find out whether its
impression is correct or not. The dis
cussion of the subject has led to the in
stitution of boards of railway commits
sioners. The first OF these was estab-
lished in Massachusetts in 1869, and
since then most OF the Now England
States and some of the Western ones
have followed this example.-[E Edward
HOwland, in Hsrper's Magazine for
September. .,