Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1899-11-30
AMERICAN RAILWAYS
AZ Related to Commercial, Indus
trial and Agricultural interests

~ IA O0O 1A$ AS0ASOIS4 4OISIS8S0b
R.ssent Period styled the Are o1
Transportation FoFelgA Coun.
tries Ruying Our Leeo1otiyes-
Development OF the West.
ssOne Of our great writer's has said Of
this closing period Of the nineteenth
century that it is an age of t7ansporta-
tion. Transportation underiies mate
rial prosperity in every department Of
commerce. Without transportation
commerce would be impossible. Those
Estates and nations are rich, powerful
and enlightened whose transportation
facilities are best and most extended.
The dying nations are those with little
,or no transportation facilities"
These were part of the opening
words Of an address delivered before
the International Commercial congress,
recently held in Philadelphia, by
George 81. Daniels, General Passenger
Agent Of the New York Central & Hud-
son River railroad, and president of the
American Association Of General Pas
senger Agents.
He then went on to quote Mr.. Mulhall,
the British statistician, who in his work
4 on The Wealth of Nations" said of the
United States in 1895: ''If we take
survey of mankind in ancient or mod
ern times, as regards the physical, me-
chanical and intellectual force of ma
tons, we find nothing to compare with
the United States.''
Mr.. Mulhall proved by his statistics
that the working power Of single per-
son in the United States was twice that
OF . German or Frenchman, more than
three times that of an Austrian and five
times that Of an Italian. He said the
Omitted States was then the richest
country in the world, its wealth exceed
ing that of Great Britain by IS per
cent, and added that in the history of
the human race no nation ever before
4 possessed 41,oo0,ooo of instructed citi-
gems. Should Mr.. Mulhall revise his fig.
ures to-day, the differences would all
be in favor of the United States, for in
the past is months we have demon.
strated the superiority Of our manufac.
lures in every direction, and our ability
to cope successfully with questions
which have heretofore been handled ex.
c!usively by the older nations is now
recognized by all the world.
Mr.. Daniels told Of = letter he had re-
ceived from a friond in Toxic, written
only q short time ago. in which was this
significant sentences: "You will be in
! terested in knowing that I have hang
lang on the wall of my Office a framed pic
y ture of your Empire State Express,
and we expect in the near future to be
hauling a Japanese Empire Express
with an American locomotive" They
& have now in Japan more than 100 To-
comotives that were built in the United
States. In Russia they have, nearly
1000 American locomotives, and prac-
tically every railway in Great Britain
has ordered locomotives from this coun-
4 try since the beginning of the war with
Spain.
But it is not alone our locomotives
that have attracted the attention of for
-eigners who have visited our shores;
our railway equipment generally has
commanded admiration and is now re-
{ -ceiving the highest compliment, name
~, imitation by many sister nations.
The demand for American locomo-
/ tives from all parts Of the world Mr..
Daniels attributed, in the first place,
to the superior quality of our ma
schinery, and, in the second, to the fact
that the general passenger agents of
the American railways have, through
their advertising, made the marvellous
results accomplished by our locomo-
tives household words in every country
on the globe.
The emperor of Germany in his
speech to the Prussian diet in January
last, said Mr.. Daniels, did not lay the
greatest stress upon the necessity for
4 increasing the army or for the con-
/ struction Of additional ships for the
navy, but he did impress upon his hear
.ers the great Importance of extending
the railroads and the navigable canals.
In order that the German nation might
have knowledge of the most advanced
theories and practice in the construc-
ton and operation of railways an inn
perial German commission was sent to
the United States short time ago for
ZIG kANt pO4 HO0O Va CA0AA4A1uk k1Mc1lCdH
railways and making such recommen-
dations as their investigation should
suggest. In the report of this commits
Il sion. which was recently published, one
of the first sentences is as follows:
Lack Of speed, lack Of comfort, lack
& Of cheap rates, are the charges brought
against the German empires railways,
as compared with those of the United
Estates" They recommended the adop-
ton Of many Of our methods, explain
ing n their report that they were far
superior, not only to those in vogue in
Germany, but also superior to those Of
any other country.
One Of the claims made by Mr.. Daniels
ID that railroads supersede the canals,
and he gives as one reason the general
demand of the American public for
quick time. A shipper having a hun
sdred thousand barrels Of flour or a mill
lion bushels OF grain for export must
move it from Buffalo to New York with