The Osceola times., 1882-02-11

ration and increasing the capacities Of
life. The products OF the farm are now
worth as much at the farmers door as
they previously were after being hauled
a long distances by his teams. Land in
Dodge county is worth from $40 to S75 an
acre, which, without railroads, never
would have been worth TO exceed $40 an
acre. A thrifty farmer can become rich
in few years by the sale Of the surplus
OF his farm, which, hut for the railroads
he could not sell at all. The handsome
farms, the fine school-houses, the elabor-
ate churches, the comfortable dwellings,
the thickly planted villages Of Wiscon-
sin and Of the whole Northwest. are the
direct result o. the railroads, which have
made every county accessible and con
venient for settlement. There are - 0OO,-
GOO acres Of land in Wisconsin, which,
taken as a whole. without railroads would
be scarcely worth more than the gov
ernment price per acre, or, say SIOOuO,.
600. This land is assessed for taxation
at S500,O00,O00, which is less than half
its actual value, and il might almost be
said that every dollar of additional value
above the government price has been
placed upon ii by the railroads which
carry its products of grain, stock, lumber
aud manufacturers to distant markets
which they never would have reached
but for the iron highway.
This relates to Wisconsin alone When
the mind considers the vast territory
which lies TO othenorthwestward, between
the Mississippi river and the Rocky
mountains AID VIII n forms one vast
whcatheld, waving in the harvest time
with the yellow grain, which, but for
the railroads penetrating and crossing
all its diverse sections, would have re-
mained wild, barren aud worthless in all
the future as it had in the past, We can
have some idea Of tae vast individual
and national wealth which the railroads
created. They have increased many fold
the value Of every product in industry,
aud of every class Of property in the
Northwest ami throughout the country.
Individual capital, industry and en-
terprise would have been totally power
less 10 build the systems of railroad bv
which these splendid and benelicent re-
suits have been established. Vast aggre-
cations Of credit and capital. as they are
created by the great corporations, could
alone have built these roads. and estab-
llhhti titll IL connecting illt0 ltAllnE
to millions of homes--spreadiug out,
ian-shaped, from the great commercial
centers TO the immense radius Of wheat
fields pastures, forest and mines where
the property which they transport is pro-
duced, and forming unbroken channels
Of commerce between the most distant
points Of the country. These aggrega-
tions Of capital are formed under the
laws, and are fostered and regulated by
TIE contracts with the state under which
they are created. They should, ofcoursc,
be also restrained by law, and aggression
upon private rights, cxtortion and wrong
shonld be resisted But simply because
they are mouopolies, because they are
powerful in their resources and capahii-
ties, does not destroy the fact that they
have been of incalculable benefit to man
kind and to civilization, and that we can
hardly conceive OF an evil which they
might cause that We would not cheer
fully endure rather than TO have them
obltera.ed from existence.