The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-10-19

pathy expended on them Is wasted !;
while il by being losers instead of
gamers in their gambling experiments
they aie finally induced to turn their
thoughts and efforts to life of orderly,
useful industry, both they and the world
are finally the gamers.
In that view the case, though actu-
ated by selfish motives, the few "opera-
tors" who most completely and quickly
strip the majority of the means for
continuing their gambling life, may in
a negative sense be regarded as public
benefactors, especially when the sue
cessful ones, as they generally do, use
the money they get in building lines
of railway into rich but otherwise in
accessible regions.
An old adage teaches that we should
give even "the devil his DUE and in
order that the voters may Judge wisely
and act justly, the whole truth, both
for and against, must be told upon all
vitally important subjects But for
men like Vanderbilt, Gould, Willard
and others, whose fierce energy con-
templates success only, and regards all
practicable means for its attainment as
justifiable, comparatively few railroads
would now exist, not one-half of the pre-
sent food products of the United States
would bewithin reach of market that
would pay the bare cost of production
and transportation, and this country
would not, as now, be each year sending
millions oftons of food materials to feed
the masses of Europe, or the taxable
property of the country be worth
one-half its present value.
But for the hercuean work of such
men in gridironing our country with
railroads, vast proportion of it that
now enjoys every advantage of high
order of civilization would be in state
of nature, and hundreds of thousands
of churches and school ol-houses now dot
ting the land and ministering to the re-
ligious and intellectual welfare of many
millions of people, would not exist, nor
would one-quarter of our present pro-
duct of books and newspapers find
readers. Verify, our railroads are the
right hand of civilization, aud though
we may growl at the "monopolists'
whose money and enterprise have
spread them over the land, yet in view
Of the incalculable benefits conferred
upon humanity by their work, and re-
membering that Gods wise and loving
providence is always exercised for hu-
man good, we may well exclaim with
the Psalmist' "Surely the wrath of man
shall praise thee"
Much of the talk about lands donat-
ed to "railroad monopoies" is ill-con-
sidered, and fails to make useful i'm
preston upon the minds of close-think-
ing, honest men. We may well be
astounded when we think of the mon-
strous quantity of lands donated TO the
Northern Pacific Railroad, which at
their present market price are worth
more than the total cost of the road !;
but to be just, we must bear in mind
that if the road had not been built
those lands would not now be worth,
on an average, ten cents an acre iD
fact, most of them would be practi-
cally worthless to the present genera.
ton.
1t was the building of the road that
made them valuable and give value to
the alternate sections along the route
retained by government.
Perceiving the results that have &C
crued from the building of indignant
railroads through previously unsettled
portions of the country, we can now un-
derstaud that government could have
built the railroads and retained the
lands, for sale to settlers, with decided
profit to the nation, but it is in the
light of results flowing from the fore
sight, energy and work of the builders
of the roads that the facts have been
made plain.
The truth is that our "hindsight is
better than our foresight" Shall we
seek to stir up anger toward those
whose clearer judgment than our own
led them to do the things that we would
have eagerly done had we possessed the
foresight and the means, and will we
henceforth with our enlightened judg-
ment do that better thing for the count
ry?
The Sentry has no willingness to ex
cuse or in any way palliate the wicked
ness of the greed for unearned money
and undeseryed power, nor will it join
in the howl raised by demagogues tor
their personal benefit, with little or no
regard for the facts of the case The
whole railroad business is of recent
growth and is yet in its infancy and
they whose sounder judgment enabled
them to peer into the future and act
wisely for themselves are no
more deserving of condemnation than
the slower coaches who, seeing the re.
suit of the work done by others, rave
because those others saw and grasped
the prize they failed to see in time to be
the first to clutch it.
The greatest wrong done by railroad
managers is in the corrupting of will
ing voters, Legislators and judges, after
the manner of other men, but on lar
ger scale. Though many of them have
doubled their stocks by watering, and
in many cases charged unjustly for the
service rendered, they have also doub-
led the worth of the farmers land as
compared with what it was before the
grasping monopolists built the road,
and if the building of another would
double it again, would the property
owner object to its being done even by
"a greedy monopolist9" 7" There is rea-
son to fear that he would be eager to
have it done, though he might after,
ward condemn the doer.
When people generally cease to wish
and strive for money without earning