The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-03
ARR RAILROADS PUBLIC BLESSINGS?

"A
In yesterdays paper we referred TO
some interesting figures winch seh.a-
Tor Depew recently gave IN d slD5seh
Mt the Buffalo Exposition, showing the
wonderful development of railroads III
the United States during the past sew
! cnty years. In part Senator i'ei'e"
said:
..Wiihout the railroad there would
save been no northwestern, no mountain,
and no Pacific States. The few people
in tlle vast territory between 1hlcaSo
and the Pacific Ocean Would nave t,eeu
engaged exclusively IN asilctii t.Ii.
Their harycstS, their tiockS ana lhclr
3 herds would have been useful only
b for tho food of themselves and their.
neichbors. The cost OF transportation
would have been plohibitive. Cheap
Transportation by the railway has en-
ial1ed the Dakota farmer to sell ms
! wheat to the miller ut Minneapolis or
lat Buffalo, and the miller 10 sell his
-four to New England and the Middle
States, Ii has permitted the NeSt ana
. Northwest to successfully compete III
the English markets with grain from
Russia Egypt. and India. It has made
the vast plains beyond the great lakes,
(which We're the feeding grounds OF the
sbuffalo fifty years ago, the EralafN OF
{ the world. 1t has enabled the artisan
ito live, the factory, the mills and the
furnaces to exist, the mines 10 be open
ed and comforts and Injuries to be en-
.joyed by all the people.
with modern system of Transport
cation wholly developed within the
tllree-;score years and ten allotted TO
che span Of life. every family. without
fegnrd to its position in life. enjoys
the comforts and luXurieS in the pro
ducts of other climes, other countries
and other continents. which even the
richest could not procure one hundred
years ago Upon the table of every
nworkingman is the food which has
come thousands Of miles across the
continent and the oceans. and in his
family are the clothing. the furniture.
i the tools of his trade. and the equip
ssment Of his home. which represent 4
lesson in geography Of varied indus
tries. of raw material and its place of
growth and place of conversion into
the manufactured products and of the
Lives end conditions of far-distant peo-
piles which was hardly within the DOS
ssihle Information of n COLLEGE profess
sor in the time Of his granfather.''
The railroads Of the world have been
tthe most important factors in its ma
j terial development and have revolu-
.tioniZed industrial, and social condi-
ltions. They have done all that Senator
.Depew claims for them, and we of this
age wonder how the world ever got
along without them. But While the
/ railroads have done q great deaf of
good they have also done some harm.
and we have sometimes wondered if
/ they have really promoted the lanpi-
ness of mankind. The net result of
/ the railroads is summed up in one
word. and, that word is Capitalization.
They have had the effect TO mass the
people in the cities. to make giant cor
porations not only possible but neces-
sary. and have brought about n sharp
Ter competition between the various
sections of the country and between
individuals than would otherwise have
been the case, and have made it so
much the harder for some people to
earn q living. Senator Depew Mon
tions the fact that by reason of the
railroads the farmers of the west may
deliver their wheat and corn at .he
ports Of the east at very small cost.
and while this in no sense is n good
thing for the western planter it is
bad thing for the small farmer Of The
east. The smaller communities have
thus been brought into direct COMPETE
inion With the greater communities and
I the tendency is to increase the greater
.at the expense of the smaller. The eff
! feet Of tile railroads has been to build
up the cities, but this has been at The
seNpense largely of the rural districts
1t is one Of the glaring facts of the
age that the progress OF the rural dis
tricts has been nothing like so great
as that of the cities.
Thomas Jefferson, who was a great
philosopher rs we'll as a great Noiiti-
clan, was opposed 10 the upbuilding of
great cities, believing that the people
We're better and happie- when we'll dis
tributed throughout the rural districts.
He argued that city life tended toward
dissipation and Was not good for moral
, or mental or physical eyelopment.
81 If there had been no railroads the
people had turned their attention more
TO agricultural pursuits, there had been
better farms and better roads, with
flourishing Villages here and there, and
each community would have taken care
of its own affairs and largely have
supplied its own needs. We should not
have had the same material develop
ment, Of course, and one section would
snot have enjoyed the luNul.ies Of other
sections far away, as is the case now.
but would not the human family be
happier, and would not the struggle
for existence be less strenuous if The
population We're well distributed
Throughout the rural districts:
It may sound old-fogyish TO ask such
4 question. but there is food for re-
Election in ii.