The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-10-12
INTER COMMUNICATION
TRAVEL AND II
TRANSPORTATION
Continued From P.r. !,

|
Continued From Page IL
omit. for it would take an evening in it
self.
But before considering railroads.
must pause for moment and raise m,
hat to the bicycle, and the members O
the Monday club who patronize tn,
wheel.
AS regards means of lomocotion 70,
human beings as a civilizing agency
1t is impossible to close our ewes to tn,
TACT that the introduction OF the bicycle
is playing most important part in the
progress of civilization. 1t would sur.
prise most of us to know the amount OF
money annually spent for wheels and to
know how large and growing a per cent
OF people use them. When these We
nlcles first came into use it was only
the more venturesome who used them
and for time their general use was
confined to the youthful and less dig
nified portions of the community the
clerks and artizans. 1t was considered
quite below dignity for a professional
man or merchant to ride a wheel. It
was even discussed as a moral question.
whether it was right to ride a wheel on
sunday. Criticisms were freely made
| against certain church which went SO
| lar as to provide convenient places
| where wheels might be left during serv-
Ice, and, of course, everyone regarded II
as improper for ladies to use the wheel
But today, as far as classes and sexes
are concerned, there has been mary
eious expansion and leveling. Sen
ators and statesmen, professional men
and merchants, in fact. everybody now
uses tnem. And it is no uncommon
thing to see our most dignified men.
even presidents and ex-presidents of
the Monday club, grazing the wheel and
mlngling with the common herd of
~heelers. (And l might say with
Dated breath that it is rumored that
even some of the dignified ladies of the
MONDAY club, princesses of the royal |
blood, also condescend to the wheel.)
1t can be said with genuine serious.
ness that the bicycle is an important
FACTOR in travel, and in many ways is
producing beneficial results, somewhat
similar to those brought about by rail-
ways, in enabling men and women of all
classes and conditions, not only to mix
together under new and favorable con-
d1t1ons, but to get into new paths and
see and enjoy new scenes Aside from
promoting healthy exercise and taking
people from the humdrum of life If
opens the book of nature to all, takes
country people into the city, and city
people into the country and even into |
orelgn lands, through the highways
nd byways of all countries, and thus
ICES away with provincialism and iso-
alton by enabling humanity to see
1Ore of each other.
we are amazed when we recall that | :
billion dollars are today represented T
y the internal commerce of this great {
alton; one billion five hundred thous-
nd more are included in our trade with X
'relgn lands; merchant marine with
carrying capacity of over three and o
larter million tons flying our flag. and o
y vastly inferior to what it should -
10 might be as compared with for g
gn nations; railways with a mileage lie
nearly 10000 miles, or one half the u
tai mileage of the world, gridiron our ST
ntinent, and a population more nros- al
rous and more enterprising than that III
any other country of time is pushing
ead1ly onward. All these have come tn
fruition within the memory of manv tn
re present. pi
We have not time to dwell upon the Is
st American locomotive, whose in 81
ntor was no less distinguished a per- co
mage that the late Peter Cooper, much ro
IS nave we time to go back to 1890 tn
len George Stephenson, standing on TT!
footboard of the Northumbrian les
rted the first train, with the duke of tai
ellington on board, or four months DO
er when the stockholders of the Ce
lth Carolina railroad celebrated the sal
u anniversary of the opening of their lst
d by introducing steam motive un
Ver In 1880 there were but % miles VIII
railroad in the United Etates With gal
year this had been increased tn OK sor
year later to 229-a wonderful tr
ord' considering the undeveloped re- ou1
rces of the country at that time cep
'annot be claimed that our railroads roa
hat time would in any way compare the
n those in England at the same per- Der
Our railroads then were but primi- An
constructions at the best, cheaply goi
t. poorly equipped, faulty designed Y
, IN short, such as only young is
ntry commanding only the crudest the
appliances and COM mil
atlvely little capital could command. the
n, as in somewhat later years II lish
the practice of railroad managers to 100
'truct their lines of railroad az war
ky and cheaply as possible. leaving the
Improvement to the future, when spu
necessity should have been demon viii
TED and the expense could have been age
le by the earnings and surplus D
Is. This policy of avoiding enor- ing