The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-07-12
Magnificent System En-
braCing More Than
5000 Miles.

Then there are the Political South, tn,
Agricultural South. the Manufacturing
Bouth. the Railroad South. Each soutf
ID AZ interesting as II Is unique. among
the different sections of this country
Each is full Of changing suggestion
What Is more interesting-one canno,
change In any OF It's conditions withou,
affecting each OF the others--each Of the
sthers singly and all the Others as q
general whole
These reflections were tho result of
the progress OF the New England News-
paper, League in a recent tour through
the South, during which special study
was made OF the Seaboard Air Line
property. Moreover. one cannot resist
the logical conclusion from these refec-
tions that the Railroad South OF today
may not be antelligently considered ex-
cept In relation to tho Political South.
the Agricultural South and the Man
ufacturins South AS the railroad cor
poration adjusts itself to these three
other active principles. SO may II look
forward to greater good or greater evil.
Having acquainted myself somewhat with
the various policies at work in the Sea-
board Air Line management, / have dis
covered that this management has con-
spicuously kept aloof from the political
eoncern OF tho states through which the
system operates. II has kept not only
On speaking terms. but cordially in touch
To, sta M
Of the surest ways to receive considera-
zion from It's management Is to como
Bringing a proposition TO build up some-
thing, put something together. Its pcli-
ey- In above AL communication big 10
little things be II a town building pro-
feet. a factory, a health resort or
mountain inn.
In other words, the folks OF Virginia
North Carolina, South Carolina and
Georgia woke up one morning and were
startled by the discovery that there was
n corporation among them with a soul.
These people had become embittered by
what they claimed to be the prac-
ice of "absenteeism" IN railroad pol
kcies. There were those who felt,
lccording 10 their further contention,
that they were paying money to corpora
hons, the bulk of which thereafter was
withheld from return TO the legitimate
channels OF trade among them. j have
heard II said much in the South that II
was to a large degree from this misun-
at least. between the rail-
roads and the people that hostile feelings
were so crystallized as to give impetus
n not formation TO what has been known
rs the third party" IN the South. But
when the people murmured and then
came together into such an organized
party. a railroad political department
was at once cunningly created and put TO
work in some quarters, and Legislatures
were handled by means OF bribes or paid |
attorneys to the further vexation OF the |
people.
AS the result OF my observations, be- |
neve that the fact that the problem OF |
the proper relation OF the railroads TO |
the politics. to the agricultural and man
interests OF the people was at |
the outset vigorously and sagaciously and |
humanely grasped, had much TO do with |
the Independent existence today OF the
Beaboard Air Line. 1t may not be too
much TO say that had not the Seaboard
Air Line inaugurated in the South the
novel policy OF sharing interests with the
people. II probably would not have with
stood the turbulence and disaster Of the
ast four years. There were, forsooth,
Dnly 900 miles Of Il: but this 900 miles
vas the long red heart Of the watermelon
With the Piedmont slope OF the Blue
Ridge Mountains on one side and the
Atlantic Ocean on the other In between,
we're unlimited water power from the
'ivers OF the mountains. from Lynchburg
% Chattanooga. Midway between Nor
'olk and Portsmouth and Atlanta these
are connected with the deep
Iea terminals by the road crossing the
main line from Rutherfordton to WILL
nington, and Savannah was among the
hear possibilities.
Heart of the Cotton BELT.
The president Of the Scaboard AIR Line,
dr. John Skelton Williams OF Richmond,
Ia, speaking Of this feature said:
Drawing a line from Lynchburg, Va,
along the foOt-hills OF
ne Blue Ridge mountains, stretching
'ast Rutherfordton. Charlotte and Rome.
la. 10 Gadsden. thence southwestwardly
through Eufaula. Ala. 10 Albany Ga,
hence northward on a straight line from
Ilbany 10 Norfolk. and back % the start
az point at Lynchburg. we have marked
Mt tho future sites Of tho cotton manu-
aoturers IN ths South. and that means.
o far az human foresight can predict,
he future sites of cotton manufacturing
The vor4A This TERRITORY n. roughly