St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-06-04

water was very low and none but the
smallest boats could navigate the river.
1t was several days before l saw the
''ine passenger packet Mayflower" adj
vertlSed to depart for PittSburg and all
intermediate points on certain day.
On the day designated [ boarded this
craft, paid my fare to Wheeling. Every
day we were on the sand bars and the
voyage was so delayed that it took two
weeks to reach that city. The table fare
was good and so was my appetite. l
have often wondered what profit they
made on me, as | had two weeks board
and lodging and the transportation all
for s.. At Wheeling l went by stage
over the mountains to Cumberland, Nd,
then the western terminus OF the Balti-
more Il Ohio railway.
Here 1 saw for the first time loco
motive and train of cars. The seats
in the passenger coaches were not up
holstered, and L remember how uncom-
Portable they were. Occasionally the
train would stop and the passengers
would change to ferry boat across a
stream, and then seek seats in another
train. Very few of the water courses
were bridged. and these changes were
uncomfortably numerous, particularly
during the night. At last L reached
New York and boarded a Hudson river
boat bound for West Point, where | ar
rived June 10. 1t will thus be seen that
was fifteen days in making trip, with
all the inconvenience of these prim-
Tive days, which can now be made in
two days with all of the comforts and
cOnveniences of home. If the rapid
ity of travel is increased in the same
ratio in the next fifty years, this same
journey will be made in about seven
hours.
Just how this is to be accomplished |
do not know, but those who live to see
1t Will see no greater progress than has
taken place in the last fifty years. The
applications of electricity are yet in
their infancy, and the wonderful prog
ress of the future will undoubtedly be
through It's fundamentally,
The postal facilities of this city from
1o4S to 1891 Illustrate the progress made
III that department, and the same
progress has been made in every branch
of trade, commerce, travel and popula-
ton. In the historical society can be
seen the letter-box of 1S48. through
which all the mail matter of the North
west passed previous to that date. This
ancient piece of furniture, about two
feet high and as many broad, furnished
the government with a revenue of S. 81
for the year 1913, while the present post
Office, with its free delivery and in
Vulnerable private boxes, paid the gov
eminent for the year 1890 the magnifi-
cent sum of S315,902 SO.
Then there were few daily papers;
now every city has one or more, and we
awake in the morning to find at our
doors a paper yet damp from the press,
containing not only the news of our
own country but that of every civilized
nation of the globe, and when we read
the general news and the accounts of
all the murders, poisonings, hangings
and the usual batch of "nastIness"
gathered and then scattered broadcast
by the Associated Press, we sit down to
breakfast about convinced that the
world has gone to the dogs. Such, how
ever, is not the case. There is more
good in the world to-day than ever be-
fore. There is more money expended
to alleviate the sufferings of the poor,
to erect asylums, charitable institutions,
churches, public libraries and to send
the Gospel to the heather world than at
any period of the worlds history.
X. W. JOHNSON.