The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-11-02
THE AMERICAN
RAILWAY SYSTEM
The Remarkable Achievements With
In the Last Half Century,
PRESIDENT DANIELS ADDRESS
The Change In Public Sentiment To-
ward Railroads OS Indicated by the
Election Of Chauucey Depe@
to United l'tates Senate.

to United Utates senate.
President George II. Daniels, Of th
American Association Of General Pas
scnser Agents. and general paAsengc
I agent OF the Now York Central an
Hudson River railroad. rcnd on Tex
panslon Day" before the Intornaiiona
Commercial Congress az Philadelphia
paper on American Railroads
Their relation 20 commercial. industria
and agricultural interests" Reviewing
briefly the history Of the lasl two oi
three years affecting thu commercial
relations of the nations. particularly
those OF tho United States with the
Orient. noting tho changes IN public
sentiment In this country toward rail-
roads, as indicated by the recent cleo
tion Of Chauncey NJ. Dcpow 10 tho
United States senate. and IN Germany
and Russia and thn far East. by the
rapid increase IN railroad lines, and
point out the grN,at decline In canal
traiilc, due TO railroad competition. Mr.
Daniels continued in the latter por-
tions of his able and interesting paper
az follows:
we are approaching the end Of the
nlntecn,h century. century which
Henry Drumm1nd said. has added
more 10 the sum OF human learning
than an the centuries THAI have
passed"
A few examples OF the achievements
of American railroads In little more
than half a century, and many OF them
within the last twenty-five years, can
not be Inappropriate,
Before the railroads Were built It took
week to 20 from New York to Buffalo.
nearly thrc weeks from New York toI
Chicago. and lt that tlmo no man
would have thought Of making a trip.
from New York 90 the Pacific coast,
except a few OF the hardest pioneers,
and when on such occasions the good
bycs were said. It was expected on both
sides that It would bc forever II to-
morrow night you would place a letter
on the Pacific and Oriental mail train,
which leaves New York at 9l5, you may
b. SuV that your correspondent In san
Francisco viii b. reading II next Mon
day night-four days from New York
The trainers Of our constitution would |
have considered man entirely beside
himself who would have suggested such
A possibility,
IN 1875 the states east OF the Missouri
river were sending food and clothlng TO
the starving people Of Kansas.
Thanks to the facilities afforded by
The railroads the corn crop Of Kansas
this year ls thre hundred and forty
million bushels.
II seems but very few years since
made my first trip to Colorado. and
stopped on my way at the home cf
Buffalo Bill at North Platte, Neb.. ON
he Union Pacific. At ogalalla, fltty-
me miles west OF North Platte. the
Sioux Indians were roaming over the
prairIcs and making more or less trou-
Die for the white settlers who ven
urcd 80 far out OF the paths OF clvill-
.atlon. The NebrlsSan corn crop this
Sear covers eight million acres, and the
Yield ls two hundred and ninety million
bushels.
Previous to the construction OF the
Northern Pacific, the Great Northern,
Northwestern, st, Paul, Burlington and
,ther railroads that traverse that Won
ierful region known as the wheat
,elt." there was nothing 10 be seen but
prairie grass and occasionally band
4 untamed savlges,
Minnesota this year will ship ninety
million bushels OF wheat, South Dakota
orty-nve million bushels North Dakota
ixty-flve million bushels. and Montana
our million bushels
In 1Si9 there came across the conu-
lent reports Of the discovery Of gold In
'alifornla, but the only means OF
eaohinG the Golden Gate was by sea {
round Cape Horn, or the long and per
ous Journey with OK team. across the .
lnlns INCLUDING what was then STYLED
n our Biographies the American desert c
nd through the hazardous mountain Z
asses of the western part of the con- c
nent.
The completion of the Pacific rail- I
oads changed all this, and opened new G
elds for all kinds Of enterprises, in l
n unexplored territory stretching over
iore than two thousand miles to the :
rest, northwest and southwest of the '
IlsslssIppe river, the products of which =
eglon were practically valueless until
he menna of transDOftinp them wereI