The Tupelo journal., 1905-12-08
RAILWAY RATE LEGISLATION.
Mississippian on the Part Played by Railroads in the South,s
Wonderful Development.

advocates of railway rate legislation
seem to be based on the idea that the
American people can be made to believe
that railway managers devote their time
and energies t. devising new ways of OPP
pressing the communities dependent on
their lines for transportation, of strang-
ling existing industries, and OF prevent
ing the establishment of new ones. 1t
is difficult to understand how any Amer
lean can be misled by the line of argu-
ment adopted by these champions of
making the of the country the
football of partisan politics when, If he
will simply open his eyes, he will Sc its
REPUTATION on every hand. He will see
that exactly the opposite Is true, n
that the development of whole sections
of the United States has been brought
about by the realization on the part OF
the railway managers of the country
that their lines can prosper only as a
consequence of the prosperity OF the ter
ritory traversed by them.
d. In his recent book on Government
Regulation of Railway Rates" Prof.
Meyer, of the University of Chicago,
says:
"In continental Europe, the regulation
VI runway idecS ny Puoiie "ueL" "
reduced the railway manager largely to
n man who sits in his office and orders
his subordinates to run trains back and
forth. In America the absence OF re-
striction upon the railway manager-be-
yond that imposed by the common law
has allowed the American railway
manager to become the most powerful
single factor in our national life for the
discovery and the development of the
resources of our country and the pro-
motion of trade and industry. To pro
mote the settlement of vast stretches OF
unoccupied lands, and to find ever new
resources to develop within the territory
already occupied, has for half a century
Deen the main business of the American
railway manager"
One of the most striking illustrations
of the truth of this statement is con-
stantly before the eyes of the residents
of the Southern States. The student OF
the industrial and commercial develop
ment of the South cannot but be i'm
pressed by the important part that the
railways of that section have played and
are still playing in bringing it about.
The civil war left the railway lines OF
the South in a deplorable state, ard the
first task that confronted their owners
and managers was their restoration and
extension and the combination of many
small, disconnected lines into great sys-
TENS capable of moving large volumes OF
traffic over long distances economically
and expeditiously. How well they have
succeeded at this can be seen by a glance
at a railway map of the United States.
Coincident with this development and
extension of railway systems which is
still in progress, the managers of the
Southern lines were under the necessity
of developing a diversified traffic. Here
came into play what Prof. Meyer has
styled the imagination displayed by the
American railway manager i'll discover
ing potentialities of industry and trade
and in converting those potentiallties
into actualities." The South has been
devoted almost exclusively to agrlcul-
ture, and in many of the States the ener-
gies of the people were concentrated on
the cultivation of one crop, cotton. Not
the least of the important services rem
dered by the railways to that section OF
the country has been the encourage
ment that they have given to the devel-
opment of diversified farming which IS
making the South constantly more and
more independent of other sections OF
the country for agricultural products
and is enabling that section to increase
wear after year the value of its surplus
products of the soil aside from cotton.
In this line the development of the fruit
and vegetable industries of the South
ern States have been of special impor-
lance. The Northern States, and espe-
cially the large cities of the North, al
forded markets for enormous supplies OF
fruits and vegetables that would ma
ture in the South long before they could
be obtained from nearby sources OF sup
ply. To get the early Southern products
to market required a special service OF
refrigerator cars, run at express tram
speed. and with freight charges so low
as not to make the cost of the fruits
and vegetables to Northern consumers
excessive. This special service has been
put in for every locality in the South
from which shipments of this character
have been sufficiently developed to JUS
tifv If. and the result is that many thou
sands of fruit and vegetable growers
have been made prosperous, while per
sons of very moderate means all over the
United States have been able to nave on
their tables and have come to regard as
almost necessaries of life articles OF o
that but a few years ago were considered
Injuries beyond the reach of all but the
very wealthy.
Although the Southern States have
had almost an absolute monopoly IN the
production of the cotton supply OF the
world. the manufacturing of cotton IN
the South is a new industry, the rapid
DEVELOPMENT of which has been fostered
and made possible by the railways. AS
recently as 1870 there were in all the
South but ISL cotton mills-most OF
them small afairs-with an aggregate
of but 627,s71 spindles. They manu-
featured some of the coarser grades of
cotton fabric, chiefly for local consump-
ton. There are now 766 cotton mills In
the South, with a total of S,211 ,734 spin
dies. and the South is now manufactur-
ing not only the coarser grades, but
many of the finer grades of cotton goods
as well, and the products of Southern
cotton mills are today to be found in
the markets of the world and are being
sold in Boston and other New England
cities and towns right at the doors of
the New England cotton mills. In the
manufacturing year ending in 1881 the
Northern mills consumed 1,574, 900 bales
of cotton and the Southern mills only
221.OO0 bales. The consumption in both
localities has steadily increased, but
that in the South at a more rapid rate,
until in the twelve months ending Au-
gust 81 this year the consumption OF
the Southern mills actually exceeded
H. -~.~o