The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1905-06-21
Railroads and Progress.

oApoxS Ou IoAATOou mnud8omouG, WAO0
this statement:
'Let 10 look at what might have
happened II we had needed the protest
Of the farmers Of New York and Ohio
and Pennsylvania Tin the seventies
when grain from the West begen pour
ing into the Atlantic seaboard) and
acted upon the doctrine which the in
terstate commerce commission has
enunciated time and again, that no
man may be deprived of the advan-
tages accruing to him by virtue Of &C.
ographical position. We could not
have west Of the Mississippi q popula-
ton Of millions Of people who are
prosperous and are great consumers.
We never should have seen the years
when we built 10000 and 1000 miles
Of railway, for there would have been
no farmers west Of the Mississippi riv-
or who could have used the land that
would have been opened up by the
building Of these railways. And II
we had not seen the years when we
could build 10, 900 and 1000 miles Of
railway q year, we should not have to.
day east Of the Mississippi a steel and
iron producing center which 10 at once
tho marvel and despair Of Europe, be.
cause we could not have built up
steel and iron industry II there had
been no market for it, product.
"We could not have In New Englsnd
great boot and shoe industry; We
could not have In New England .
great milling industry; we could not
have spread throughout New York and
Pennsylvania and Ohio manufacturing
industries Of the most diversified
kinds, because these industries would
have no market among the farmers
west of the Mississippi river.
And while the progress Of this
country and the development Of the
agricultural West Of this country did
mean the impairment of the agricul-
tural value east Of the Mississippi riv-
or that ran up into the hundreds Of
millions Of dollars, it meant incident
ally the building DIP Of great manufac-
turing industries that added to the
value Of this land by thousan is Of mil
lions Of dollars. And, gentlemen, those
things were not foreseen in the seven.
ties. The statesmen and the public
men Of this country did not see what
part the agricultural developments of
the West was going to play in the in
dustrial development of the East. And
you may read the decisions Of the in
tesrtate commerce commission from
the first to the last, and what 10 one Of
the greatest characteristics of these
decisions? The continued inability to
see the question in this large way.
"The interstate commerce commits.
sion never can see anything more than
that the farm land of some farmer. ia
Decreasing in value, or that some man
who has -four mill with production
Of 80 barrels day II being crowded
ont. II never can see that the de-
struction or impairment of farm val.
ues In this place means the building
up Of farm values in that place, and
that shifting Of values Il Q necessary
incident 10 tho industrial and manu-
featuring development Of this country.
And II We shall give TO the intsrstate
commerce commission power 70 Yegu.
late rates, we shall no longer have our
rates regulated on the ststssmanliks
basis on which they have been Eegu.
lated In the past By railroad men, who
really have bean great statesmen, who
really have been great builders Of en-
pire, who have had an imaignation
that rivals the Imagination Of the
greatest post and Of the greatest In
ventor. and who have operated with
. courage and daring that rivals tho
courage and daring Of tho great mill
tary general. But We shall have our
rates regulated BY body Of civil serv-
ants, bureaucrats, whose besetting sin
the world over 10 that they never can
grasp situation in q large way and
with the grasp Of statesman; that
they never can see the fact that they
are confronted with small evil, OF.
cept by the creation Of evils and abuses
which are infinitely greater than the