The evening times., 1899-02-01
THE RAILROAD A
GREAT CIVILIZER
Address of John K. Cowen at a
Philadelphia Banquet.
Steel Rails and Iron Locomotives
Solving Miracles.
Next 10 The Alphabet and Printing
Press. the Greatest Boon
10 Mankind.

Philadelphia, Feb. There was dis
tinguished array of guests at the annual
dinner of the Commercial Exchange yes
terday evening in Horticultural Hall,
which was handsomely decorated for the
occasion.
Among the speakers was Mr. John X.
Cowen, of Baltimore, one of the receivers
OF the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. who
responded 10 the toast, The Railroads.
Among other things he said:
"of all inventions, the alphabet and the
printing press alone excepted, these in
ventions which bridge distance have done
most for the civilization OF man. Every
means of locomotiOn benefits morally and
intellectually as well as materially, and
not only facilitates the exchange Of pro-
ductions of nature and of art, but tends
10 remove national and provincial antip-
athieS and TO bind together the branches
OF the great human family.
The world of today differs more from
the world OF Washington than the world of
Washington differed from the world of Ju-
illus Caesar. and the reason is that George
Stephenson gave you the locomotive and
Morse gave you the telegraph.
= Ideas OF men change with changing
years Mr.. Greeley said, when railroads
were first broached. The railroad, when
il brings artisans 10 the door of the farm
er, is blessing; when il takes the corn,
the flesh. and the cotton 10 the distant
manufacturing centre. the locomotive is
an exhauster. Its smoking is the black
flag; its whistle is the screech Of an evil
genius.
You see in these words the general
thought of the day The huge locomotive
4 ha ha of
cheap transportation as il could not lie
solved by the wisdom of all the Legislators
and all the congresses OF the land. The
savant who produced the milling machine
combined with the inventor who produl ed
the great steel rail and the big locomotive G.
and the organizers of the railroads the
Nanderbilts. SCOTS, ThomsCnS. and Pack
ers. OF their day bring from the West its
products, and even send them across the
Atlantic. The new miracle of the loayes
has been solved.
When the Pennsylvania Railroad be-
gan 10 consolidate various interests into
one great and grand central system there
were men everywhere who were crying
HYDRA headed monster and anaconda
and making speeches On the grasping ma
ture of souliess corporations Yet see
what il is today, when many community
in every part of the State owes its very
existence 70 the presence of the railroad
Mr.. Thomson pFesides over corpora
tion that has fifty times as large a capital
and many times as many men in its sery-
ice as had the East India Company when
under Give ii drove Dutch traders from
the Orient and annihilated the French at
the Ganges. causing the Union Jack of
Great Britain to float over 2j0, 000 600 OF
people. As a result Of these splendid la
bor conditions we have q happy, peaceful
condition Of workingmen. Staid old Phil
adelphIa, QGaler-like rich. respectable.
and comfortable is largely the product of
her railroads
The alphabet and the printing press de-
erve all recognition as forces in a forward
movement, but the railroad is The great
ciNiliZer neNf 10 these -