The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-03-09

communication of persons and Transports
tion of products. A road Is therefore sym
boil of civilization and lack OF one an evl,
dence Of barbaIism. In countries witnoul
facilities for travelling from place to place
be6ple are always poor and ignorant and the
government weak and unstable. The great
ness of Rome had no more characteristic
emblem than her extensive system OF ROADS,
leading always to the central city. And SO
the railroads which furnish the most rapid
and easy communication ever discovered as
yet, tend most quickly to the asslmulstion
and unihcation of the people. But 10 not
propose to discuss the advantages OF the
railroad system. They are apparent, and II
any proof were lacking the fact OF the mar
velous increase of railroad mileage in every
part of the globe would attest the opinion OF
the world as to the utility Of the system. :,
1t is probable that the construction OF rail-
ways never would have been entered upon
but for the aid Of the corporation, ana SO
whatever advantages the world secures from
plan as well as to the discoveries OF the pow
er of steam and its application TO machinery;
But people become accustomed to good
things, take them as matter Oh course ana
regard their usefulness with lndinerence.
Not only that, but they become unreasona-
BILE, impatient and exacting. The farmer on
the Western prairie who used his corn as
full for lack of facilities to transport 1t 10 a
market soon foIgets his experience and pc
gins to complain. The railroad which has
doubled the value Of his farm and us pro-
ducts and for the completion of which he
most ardently longed, In short time TO his
mind becomes grinding monopoly II IS
true that barrel of flour can be transported
from the mills of Minneapolis to the Atlan-
tic markets, fifteen hundred miles Tor seven,
ty-fve cents, while the poor man In Portland
pays a truckman Twenty-Five cents to haul
that same barrel half a mile from the depot
to his residence, but the complaint Is against
the railroad while none Is made against the
truckman. As has been stated, the adyan-
tages of the railway system are apparent,
but some disadvantages are equally apparent.
think the chief evil resulting from the
system is the drain upon the rural popula-
tiOn and the concentration OF the people
along railway lines in large clties.' At dis
tances somewhat uniform, where extensive
railroad systems converge, great commercial
centres spring up, each having its tributary
and rural territory, from which rural terrific
nv all the bright, smart young men and WOm-
en-, as soon as away from leading strings,
rush to the cities. Years ago the industries
of the country were more evenly distributed.
The spinning and weaving were done by the
mothers at home; the clothes were made by
the tailoress of the neighborhood, who went
from house to house and did her work as oc-
casion required. The shoemaker, with his
bench. awl and lap stone, went his rounds
as winter approached or did his work in the
try forty years ago. And so with nearly
every kind of mechanical pursuit. But
with the advent of the railroad and the in
yention OF labor-saving machinery, the
spinning-wheel was stored amidst the cob
webs of the attic, the tailoress and shoe
maker ceased to travel, and the doors Of the
little shops were closed. Instead of small
industries, diversified and scattered over the
country, great business enterprises and
enormous factories, managed by corporate
Of persons under the same roof, where the
work of the land is carried on, are located In
large centres along the railway lines. AS a
result, the laborers among whom the work
is so divided that all is drudgery, requiring
no skill, become uneasy and impatient, and
break out as capital becomes tyrannical, in
to open and dangerous revolt. There is
lacking that spirit of c0ntentment which ex-
listed when the industries of the country
were less concentrated. Fifty years
ago, before our cities attained their
present populations, tso ne s Ioseqae os
tain American cities, and especially upon
the nature of their population, as real dan
ger which threatens the security of the DEM
ocratic republics of the new world.
Many people contemplated with alarm the
remarkable movement toward the c0nsolida-
ing the past twenty-five years. Popular SEN
timent is diStrustful of such growing aggre-
cations OF capital and power, regarding them
as an evil and as menace to free lnStltu-
tions. 1 do not share in this alarm. If the
process of consolidation should go on until
there were only one gigantic system in the
whole country, the managers would still be
amenable to the mighty power of public
opinion, and the system itself would still be
subject to the imperial edict of supply and
demand, an edict which, In the long run. is
as certain regulator as the governor OF a
steam engine. The prevalent impression is
that because any one kind of business, tran
portation of passengers and freight for In
stance, is controlled by one great organiZa-
tion, it necessarily becomes dangerous
against which the public has no
protection. In most cases this impression
springs solely from an unfounded prejudice,
and there is greater danger, it seems to me,
from what may result from the prejudice
than from the organizations themselves.
The earliest charters granted in England
were for short, independent lines, which av-
eraged only about fifteen miles in length. In
1S47 five thousand miles of railroad were
owned and operated by several hundred diff
ferent companies, but in 1872, thirteen thou
sand miles were nearly all owned by twelve
The tendency to combine has
been equally marked in the United States,
and the combination has resulted not only
in longer lines but in great systems consist
ing of thousands of miles of track, forming
great arteries through which the vital cur
ttulo VI COulluCtCc uOWs plOulOtiHb dC-
tivties of great domains larger than some
entire kingdoms of the old world.
Nine separate and distinct corporations at
different times have owned and operated the
railroads which now constitute the Maine
Central system, and many here present can
the poor dying rate with which the
business of these several lines was conducted
Yet the prejudice against consolidation was
so strong that the Legislature for several
years refused to sanction terms of union and
probably never would have done so had not
the companies previously accomplished the
object by leases. and so demonstrated by
results the advantages of such a union. /
remember the special visit paid to
me at Augusta in the winter of 1870 by two
well meaning gentlemen from Portland who
warned me solemnly and wisely that politi-
cal death would speedily ensue the casting
of vote for consolidation as | then pro-
posed, and John A. Poor declared in the
famous meeting at Wateryille in 1870, that
''the bands of iron will be more brittle than
stubble against an outraged public sentiment
such as will be aroused throughout the State
should the schemes this day fsreshadowed
be attempted in practice" is there man
in Maine now who cannot see the beneficial
effects of the combination which finally re-
ceived legislative approval in 1878? Modern
comfort and luxury are the re-
suit of the principle of combination and
Under no other plan
could such degree of perfection in ap-
pliances and rapidity of service and such re-