The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-31

D the present century has done in the
way of intercommunication. When
Jefferson and Adams died. at the Same
hour, they were five days apart: that IL,
the news Of the death Of Adams did not
reach Monticello. and could not have
reached 1t, until the lapse Of nearly a
week. Nor did the news reach the son of
John Adams. John Quincy Adams, until
the passing Of three days. Meanwhile he
held public levee at Washington. Now,
such an occurrence would pass from Bos-
ton to Virginia In less than i've minutes.
Indeed. the whole country would be in
formed Of the death Of an ex-president
before sunset.
We close the century with transportation
at the rate Of sixty miles an hour, across
territory that JEFFERSON said he conceived
It would take 1000 years to reduce to civ.
ilization.
when we record In our histories that the
early races OF men found 1t impossible to
make their habitations far away from
watercourses, we forget that this diff
Guilty was not entirely overcome till the
present century. The early colonisy in
Massachusetts and Virginia invariably
built their homes on the banks of the riv-
ers and bays. because most OF their travel
Ing necessarily was done by boats. All
the large settlements Of Massachusetts,
such az Boston. Plymouth and Salem, had
no OtucT IuctHOu OI communication. Ing
birch-bark canoe and the Indian dugout
were used by the white people as the most
convenient carriage. Through the woods
there were only narrow footpaths, for the
must part, until quite late in the eight
zenith century This explains why our
forefathers formed the habit Of so ruth
lessly destroying the forests.
In the ola stage Coach Days.
The first Improvement in the way of
navigation was by canals and canal boats.
The last century, till near its close, had
only about a dozen mails in the year from
Boston to Virginia. To Benjamin Frank
lin we owe the beginning of regular and
trustworthy NAH carriage About the mid
die Of the last century the only mail up
the Hudson river was carried by q foot
man, who, in winter, made his passage on
skates The first regular mail from New
York to Boston was in 1873; but 100 years
later very little Improvement had been
made. An English traveller in 1895 De-
scribed ride in the stage coaches which
were even then few enough: THE driver
frequently had to call the passengers to
lean out. first on one side, then on the
to }he right he cred UPON sWhieh
the passengers all stretch their bodies
half way out to balance on that side.
wy soon al MoT lem s to the Left
turnpike was built between Philadelphia
and Lancaster and was already in opera
tion in 1900 BY 1927 there were 800 stage
coaches arriving in Boston each week, and
as many leaving.
Changes Wrought by steam.
But already the first experiment with
steam had been made. and in 1928 we had
our first railroad. This was two years
Now the he total length Of the railway ya sys
tenn Of the world Is very little short of
900 miles. -, IL this country alone, we
speed attained on the early roads was
twenty miles an hour, while now we are
three times as fast, with a pos
locomotives at work. with over 5000 pas pas.
senger cars. The number of tons Of
freight carried per annum is about $780,
ried not far from COO, ooo, 900.
We cannot confine our observations to
our own country, however, for while the
United States has outTripped all other
in this line OF progress, 1t does
not seem improbable that Asia and Africa
will outstrip us before the end OF another
century. We already have communication
shall probably soon have continuous lines
from the Mediterranean to the Cape of
Good Hope; Asia y already crossed by
lines. sure Of construction within the next
quarter of century, will open up every
part of that continent.
Social Progress and Development.
An analysis Of the social progress of
the century would classify It after this
At the beginning Of the century
we broke the power of ecclesiasticism in
In the middle the power of schol-
asticism in education, and at the close we
struction of the state. More carefully
stated. the present issue Is one that per-
neates state. church. and school, BY the
first movement ecclesiasticism lost it's
control over education and politics. BY
the second reform, beginning with the
work of Horace Mann, our educational
system shook off the old mediaevalism
children after the manner of the ancients,
and not in accordance with the demands
If modern life. The drift Of the present
contest is to establish a larger measure of
cooperative sympathy between remote
and sections
The social characteristic of our colonial
life was isolation. Each community con-
stituted q neighborhood by itself more
Jealous of'any other neighborhood than at
present one state is of another, or even
,ne continent is Of another. All strangers
detes ,.l This was as in part an in
England a community meant a group Of
hose who specially sympathized in relg-
Gus affairs. An outsider was suspected,
,ther town was never harhored, but sent
home again. In 1886 the Simple Cobbler Of
Agawam wrote that ''one of the great evils
n 7. America ca was the csrowsding Of the ma
'igners" This was only sixteen years after
he first native had been born on the Amer
can soil. Boston, as late as 100. required
he registering Of foreigners. lest they be-
,ome chargeable. In TIA citizens were pro-
libited by law from entertaining strangers,
without giving description Of the per-
,on and his circumstances to the town au-
horities.
This popularity of social life was char
lcteristlc of New England down into the
present century, Steam power and rapid
Accommodation soon began to break
n upon specialized community life, and
create broader state spirit. Sectional
SIN did not pass away until after tho
,ivil war.
We close the century with an easy abil-
ty to feel the brotherhood that covers the
continent. 1t Is natural consequence of
his that we are now reaching beyond con-
mental lines, and entering an era of great
n expansion. There remain traces, how
,ver, of New Englandism and other local
leredities all over the country. That So
,ialism should develop in subordinate re-
orms is not unnatural. At the beginning
# the century there were few hospitals
Ind no insane asylums, while the blind,
he deaf the depraved and the crazed were