St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-26
WHAT THE RAILROADS HAVE
nome


ment of the Northwest, the Importance
and the significance of which its people
are inclined to overlook. We have
founded here in a few years powerful
and thickly-pOpulated empire, rich IN
resources. and filled with prosperous
cities and happy homes. At an earlier
stage Of the worlds history such an
achievement would have been impossl-
bic. and could only have been APP
preached after centuries Of time and
painful toll In these days towns grow
in an hour, and the cOnVenienceS and
The comforts of civilization are the
property Of settlements remote from the
centers of commerce and the points Of
production.
The explanation Of this difference
will be found in the existence of the
modern railroads. Men forget what
these have done for them, and criticise
thermanagement and berate their serv-
Ice, ObliviOus OF the fact that, were they
destroyed, all the attractive and delight
ful features Of society as at present con-
stituted would perish with them. The
pioneers Of the past quarter of century
have not been adventurous men like
those who, fifty years ago, went out
into the forests and the unplOughed
fields to wrestle with nature and to sub
due it. In advance of men in this later
time have gone the steel rails and the
locomotives to spy out the land, and to
open it for the occupation and enjoy
ment of settlers. The capitalists who
have had the courage to risk their accu-
mutations in such unpromiSing enter
prises have been the creators of this
empire for whose prosperity we offer
thanks at this season.
The spirit which animates the con-
temporary protector Of great public
works like railways in new country is
the modern form of the pioneers type
of mind. Men who deserted the haunts
of their fellows with no other equipment
than the ak and the rifle could not have
hoped for biz rewards in the course of
their own lifetime. They soWed seed
the fruit OF which other generations
were to see. And in the same way rail
roads were pushed across uninhabited
plains and through trackleSs woods to
bring nothing but disaster to those who
built them. Large fortunes have been
made in such ways, but seldom by their
original promoters. When they have
been wrecked because there was not
patronage enough to support them,
starting anew from basis OF nothing,
they have, after reorganization, brought
return to their new owners out of the
civilization which they had called into
being.
There is nothing new about this idea,
- = l,o
cause there is no more substantial cause
for gratitude than the possession of
this important agent for development
and protection. The tendency of the
average mind is to take what of good it
sees as a matter of course, and to insist
on more as a matter Of right. There
are towns in Minnesota which enjoy
the great boon of good water given them
by the construction of public water
works. Without these they would have
to depend on wells, with their attendant
risks of i'll health, scant supply anC
physical discomfort. And yet theil
people never stop to think of the bene
fits they have received from the com
panies which have supplied them will
these advantages, but pay their rental:
grudgingly, complain savagely wheT
there are paltry failures in the service,
and scrutinize the dividends earned as
though they were blood money tori
from them by force of arms.
In like manner the community is in
clned to treat its still greater benefact
Ors, the railway companies. 1t is com
to depend on them so completely that i
does not conceive of them as anythin.
different from the air which it breathe
or the food which it eats. The goo
they have accomplished is lost sight OF
and their slightest deficiencies are mad
the subject of hot denuncation and til
apology for threats of destruction. On
would be as much justified in curSin
his father and mother who gave hi
birth for their faults Of character as an
settlement in the Northwest is in dream
ing of schemes for the ruin of the raj
roads which enter it. In the East ther
are cities which grow to great size Will
out the help of the steam engine, bl
there is no place liz this region which
not the offspring of railroad building an
which would not fade away in a mont
were it deprived Of this support al
vitality.
While the earth is bountiful to Il
farmer. it will pay him to contrast Il
now that is with the then that wa
Let him think of his father, who ca
ried his wheat 200 miles and sold it f
thirty-fYe cents a bushel, because h
market was limited by the distance b
horses could travel. Then let him I
fleet Oh his own condition, with Il
markets of the world at bis comman
because he is united closely with
by ribs Of lrOG and steel. Were it II
for the railroads, the prairies won
know no other harvest than the wi
grass, ard DO other population TIL
buffalo herds and gophers. Witho
railroads, 100000 bushels of whe
would have grown in these three sta;
this year only 10 rot in the fields viii
yielded them. AS it is. the famine
Europe is cur opportunity. The sta1
ing peasants abroad get the food viii
they need, and our abundance is plac
at their door in exchange for their
cumulations and products. The q
wheels Of commerce turn happily for
all, and the motive power is the pist
rod and the cylinder which STEVENS
invented, and which the great railrC
monarchs of our day have brought
perfection.
Z VARIETY OF RESOURCES.
Minnesota has few. if any 'one-hOs
f,,. ono iIao ,,ao,, opd fba #.