The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-10-12
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.,
TRAVEL AND
TRANSPORTATION

Paper Read Before Monday Club, of
Minneapolis, by Frank H. Carle-
ton, ON March 13, 1899.
The biggngess of this subject fairly
staggers me. The topic "Intercom-
munication," would readily furnish
thought for course of lectures.
'Travel" is an equally large subject;
while Transportation" sets in opera
ton trains of thought which seem with
out end. Each one of these might well
be the subject of many volumes. His
torically, each is interesting and shows
the wonderful development of this CEN
fury Of American ideas under the stimu-
lus of our American institutions. 1t
would be interesting, did time permit,
to compare the speedy methods Of in
accommodation today with it's mail
service, it's telegraphs and it's tele-
phones with the limited means of COM
munication in those days when General
Jackson fought the battle of New
Orleans a considerable time after the
treaty Of peace had been signed at
Client between the American and Brit
ish commissioners. Equally interesting
would it be to compare the methods of
travel today with our steam and cleo
trio propellers, our modern cars and
vestibule trains, and our floating pal
aces, and even our bicycles, with the
long and perilous journeys by which
joan Adams and other patriots, by
stages and relays of horses, made the
tedious trip from New England to the
Colonial congress in Philadelphia
When there appeared few years ago
Jules Verne's vivid story of the tour Of
Phileas Fogg around in the world in 80
days, it seemed purely imaginary-yet
such marvels have been wrought by
steam and electricity in the last few
years as to turn the sprightly magma
ton of the versatile French novelist
into almost scientific facts.
And what instruction could we gather
by tracing the methods of transporta-
ton from the days Of the stage coach
and "teamster" and prairie schooner"
to the vast systems of today by which
the extreme parts not only of our coun-
try, but of the world, are brought to-
gether and the products Of remotest
sections easily and speedily interchang-
Cd ;oto & !,
to contrast all of these systems of to-
day with Macaulay's wonderful third
chapter, in which he so graphically
pictures and contracts the condition Of
England at the time when the crown
passed from Charles the Second to his
brother, James the Second, along the
very lines suggested by our topic, with
the Victorian age. But we have not
time, and a new world has been created
since then.
The history of roads i'll the United
States from the days when turnpikes
were esteemed a wonderful improve
ment over the primitive roads of the
country, when the Cumberland road
commonly called the National Pike"
from Washington to the Mississippi
river, was projected; and of canals, up
to the times within the memory Of some
present tonight, when the railroad be-
came q recognized factor in business
some Of the most interesting chapters
in the history OF American development.
AS we sit here tonight and recall the
past, pictures Of the canal driver and
the heroic figure Of the oia-fashioned
stage driver Of byscae days come be-
fore us-the stage driver, the king Of
the highway, with lis proud bearing
and naughty manner, as he started Or
ended his journey, and with the pride OF
a monarch refined up his two or three
pairs Of horses in front Ut the village
tavern. How keen was the snap Of
his whip in our youthful ears rs lie
deftly touched up one OF his laggard
leaders, and what confidence we had IN
his powers as he applied the brake on
the steep down grade of the Eastern
hillsides. What stories he told and
what an important and we'll known
character he was. We have all seen
"The old stage coach at the door
With horses harnessed, long before
The sunshine reached the withered
sward
Beneath the oaks"
And it is easy for us to recall the old
stage coach as is stops at the Wayside
inn, as Longfellow has so graphically
described it:
"A splash Of hoofs and rush of wheels
Through sand and mire like stranding
keels,
AS from the road with sudden sweep