The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24

vi all the HldHy ldCl0FS Oh our ClNlIl-
cation and material development and
commercial growth, none can equal in
Importance the institution of the rail
road. When we consider the varied and
numerous classes of men and indeed
women, to whom it gives employment,
we have ample cause to look upon the
discovery of steam locomotion as truly
a boon to mankind in general There
are first of all the land owners who get
good prices for what is generally the
poorest portion of their property Then
surveyors must be employed. as well
as civil engineers, to lay out the course
of the road bed in the most scientific
and approved manner. Next the vast
numbers OF laborers for the work of
grading, tunneling, bridging and track
laying must be paid daily wages The
building of terminals, offices and sta
tions along the road uses the labor of
hundreds more, not to mention the pro-
fessional skill of architects. The office
work requires the services of book
keepers, clerks, stenographers, ticket
sellers and numerous others. Station
masters and telegraph operators find OPP
portunity for the expenditure Of their
energies and skill Locomotive engi-
neers, fremen, conductors, brakemen,
porters. track supervisors, switchmen,
are all paid we'll and promptly. Attor-
neys must be employed to defend the
road in the suits brought against it.
Surgeons, too, are called upon in time
of accidents to passengers or employees,
and also to take charge of railroad hos
pitfalls. Thus professional men as well
as skilled laborers receive employment
from railroads.
This is only one phase of the vast ben
eft conferred by the railroad. We must
consider also the many and vastly diff
ferent industries to which it gives inn
petus or creates, as the case may be,
In all this it, of course, indirectly gives
employment to an immeasureably greater
number and variety of people than
those enumerated above. 1t creates the
immense industries of car and car-wheel
manufacturing, locomotive construction,
palace-car building, car-seat making, tie
and track manufacturing and many
others too numerous to mention. 1t
gives vast impetus to coal and iron min
ing and transportation, on account of the
immense demand it creates for both
these products. When pay day comes
around the distributing cars are sent
along the line, leaving cash in their
wake. This, of course, throws business
into the hands of the store-keepers and
dealers in all kinds of merchandise and
provisions throughout the section of
country traversed by the road. In
fact the Importance of a railroad as a
distributing agency cannot be
over-eStimated.
What would be the thoughts of our
ancestors of a few generations back
could they revisit this earth now? Not
only would they stand agape at the to
them miraculous speed with which pas
sengers are whirled over the earth's
surface, but they would also view with
amaZement the incomprehensible ma
chine shops and all the other industries
so necessary to the operation of rail-
roads. But what would startle them
more forcibly than anything else would
be to see the magical development and
advancement of some certain section of
country which they had left in a virgin
state. They would in all likelihood see
it now all cleared of timber, which had
been put to profitable uses by means of
easy transportation, and cultivated for
the production of various necessities of
life by immigrants that the cheap price
of travel had brought in to try their
fortunes on new soil and under new
conditions. All this can railroad ac-
complish, and that in the space of a
very few years.
There is probably no State in the
Union that has been more developed by
railroads in recent years than North
Carolina, and no State that is more
capable of further advancement from