The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-06-06
Mr.. billions Mistakes.

VIC -. I . NJ H., u00 1aEOIS0 u5 " ia
a copy of q pamphlet by himself,
entitled 1.-THE West and the Rail-
roads," AS q purely literary pro-
duction, the pamphlet is one Of rare
excellence. So far as we are able
to Judge it's syntax, diction, rheto-
rio, rythm, etc., are superb, while
some of it's descriptive passages
would not be discreditable to Wash
ington Irving. But having devoted
forty years to explorations in the
great West, we are disposed to cavil
at certain historic features of the
work.
In our comments we shall avoid
Mr.. Dillon's bad example, and try
to initiate the good features of his
pamphlet, only. We shall not call
him demagogue, but admit that
he is an honest, well-meaning gen.
tleman, albeit warped in his judy
ment and circumscribed in his
vision by false conditions of which
he is as much the victim as the rest
of us; and by that most dehuman-
izing scramble after wealth which
these false conditions make neces-
sary. Were society based upon a
principle of justice by all to all, We
see no reason to doubt that Mr..
Dillon would labor quite as eff
GENTLY for the accomplishment of
the universal good as he now does
to effect the universal ruin; for he
is man Of energy, and in social
state wherein, by an enlightened
justice, the greatest good to all was
the object sought, his energies would
be guided and directed by benevo-
lence instead of selGshness, and
would produce good rather than
evil results. It is not because the
man or his methods are bad, but
because we are living under false
and debasing system, that rail-
road magnate is scourge to man.
kind. Right the system and it will
not be necessary to destroy the man.
He will then be a useful member of
society, more so even than many
who, confounding cause and effect,
are his enemies.
Mr.. Dillon sets up the claim, so
often made before, that the railroads
opened up the whole trans Missis-
sippi region, and made it inhabita-
BILE, and it is in this and similar
claims that We think his history is
defective. We admit that it is quite
possible as Mr.. Dillon suggests, that
the truth may be so we'll known that
we have forgotten it. Such is the
constitution of the human memory
that things seen every day cease to
impress the mind-are for practical
purposes. unremembereds 1t is
possible that if the railway had
not been invented, the freedom and
natural advantages of our Western
States would have beckoned to i'm
migration and industry in vain. F"
1t is possible, also, that the "rail-
roads opened the immense solitudes
Of the West to settlement and civil
ization," and that sit could not have
happened without the railroads. -
1t is further possible that the "rail-
roads have virtually changed the
character of the soil, by encourag-
ing legitimate methods of civiliza-
ton and irrigation" and that "since
the railroads opened the great CEN
trail and Western plateaus to cult
walton, the climate has become
milder, the cold less destructive and
the rainfall greater" All of these
things are possible, because stated
as facts by Mr.. Dillon, but neither
our observation nor our reading OF
history corroborates this view of the
subject. We ascribe the settlement
Of the trans Missouri country en-
tirely to the discovery of gold and
silver on the Pacific coast. Prior
to that time immigration to this
continent had not been excessive.
There was abundant room for all
No incentive for westward move
ment existed outside of farming
and stock raising. Our people were
an agricultural people, uncrazed
by greed of gold, and were content
with their lot. California came
into our possession. Gold was dis.
covered. The news spread to all
parts of the world, and then began
in every corner Of the earth such
an hegira as is not paralleled in
modern times, if in any time, mill
ions of young men came, the flower
of all lands and races. New dis.
coveries were made. Great and
greatly productive communities
sprung up in California, Oregon
Idaho, Washington, Nevada, Utah
and British Columbia. These COM
munities being prosperous beyond
any others on the continent offered
| to railroads such lucrative bust.
ness as was an absolute guarantee
of fortune. And what did the
railroads-what did Dillon, ct al.
do then? Did they construct rail
roads to garner the harvest that
awaited their coming? No. They
had not the courage if they had the
means to do that. But they did in.
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