The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-12-15
THE ERA OF BIG THINGS.

Factor in Achieving Success.
The multtudinous changes of far
reaching Importance which are now oc-
curing in the industrial and commercial
worlds demonstrate that we are entering
on an era of "big things" Whether we
look at the merchant, the manufacturer.
or the dlscoverer Of new processes and
new inventions, we perceive that success
comes to the man of large ideas. Indeed,
some OF the most remarkable achieve
ments of recent times have been due en-
tirely to enlarged methods of transact
ing business.
In the last week of October, for exam
pie. there were recorded the largest Or
ders for steel rails, locomotives and cars
ever known in similar period. One mil
hon and half tons of steel rails: 10000
cars and 500 locomotives were actually
ordered within six days. In the same
week there was published a description
of the most powerful locomotive ever con-
structed, built by the Brooks Locomotive
works for the Illinois Central Railroad
company. The total weight of this en-
CINE, without the. tender, is 232, 200
tender, loaded, is 364,OOO pounds. The
locomotive is designed to haul trains car
rying 1000 tons.
A few weeks ago the largest steamship
i'll the world arrived in New York after
a successful maiden voyage, and it is now
stated that the Great Northern railway
has already contracted in England for
two steel steamships which will be IL
feet longer than the new Oceanic of the
White Star line. It is furthermore re-
ported that these two are but the fore
runners of large feet of equally gigan-
tic steel steamships for the transit Pacific
trade between Seattle and Japan.
When the Baldwin Locomotive works
installed two giant electric travelling
cranes having a hitting capacity Of 100
tons each, in their erecting shops a few
years ago these labor-saving appliances
were the cause of much wondering COM
ment among engineers and others; but
more recently the Carnegie Steel company
caused to be built flor its Homestead
plant an electric travelling crane having
lifting capacity of $50 tons, and it is
said that no more difficulty is experienced
i'll the operation of this monstrous me-
cranes. The Railway World (Nov. ~
mentions causually III it's notes of the
week following:
That was a remarkable demonstration
of what mogul can do, which occurred
on the New York Central the other day,
when, engine No. 94S, one of the new
mos4ls, hauled out train No: II, the
otlA" A|iAILCu, hP VI 1" "
mail cars, five passenger coaches and
nine Wagner cars, sixteen in all. The
total weight of the train was 1872 900
pounds, or 016 tons, and the length of
the train, including the engine, was 1912
feet. or nearly a quarter of mile. This
engine, it is said, made the running time
Of the train between New York and
Albany, .143 miles, in 3 hours and 10
minutes"
Whether we consider the, actual ac-
complishments of the present day Or
those under contemplation for the near
future, we cannot fail to be impressed
by the fact that 'bigness'' is the key
note of every important undertaking. In
deed, many of the great trade combina-
lions which have been formed within the
past year or so are merely necessary pre-
liminaries toward the reorganization of
manufacturing industries in accordance
with the enlarged methods of conducting
business which are demanded in these
times of industrial expansion. There is
a wide difference between the utiliza-
ton Of modern methods for economizing
the mighty forces brought into play,
whether Of nature or of human effort
for the purpose Of enlarging production
and the formation of illegal combinations
Of powerful interests for the purpose of
enhancing prices. The one is the nat
ural evolution of the science of industrial
economies; the other is simply species
Of wholesale robbery, for the punish
ment of which both federal and state
laws have been enacted
The special genius for organization is
coming to be regarded as an American
trait, to. which much of the success of
modern industry is indebted. Instances
could be named where the simple touch
of this genius of organization has con-
verified Improbable, because disjointed
Or disunited, efforts into highly-success-
ful achievements, without resort to the
nefarious methods of the promoters of
so-called trusts. Large ideals may not
always be capable of full and complete
realization, but the practical man soon
learns to segregate or separate the at
tainable from the unattainable, and it
is this power to seize that which is
valuable and appropriate it to his needs
which distinguishes the man of affairs
from the dreamer or the dilettante.--Phil-
elphia Record.