The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1905-07-06
RAILROADS AND PROGRESS.

II his testimony before the senate
committee on interstate commerce at
Washington on May Z. Prof Hugo r.
Meyer OF the Chicago university, an
expert on railroad management, made
this statement.
let US look at what might have
happened II we had needed the pro
tests Of the farmers Of New York and
Ohio and Pennsylvania On the 70's,
when grain from the west began pour
ing TO the Atlantic seaboardi and
acted upon the doctrine which the in
terstate commerce commission has
euunciated time and again. that no
man may be deprived OF the Gd
vantages accruing TO him by virtue
Of his geographical position. We could
not have west OF the Mississippi a
population Of millions OF people who
are prosperous and are great con
sumers. We never should have seen
the years when we built 10000 and
1900 miles Of railway. for there
would have been no farmers west OF
the Mississippi river who could have
used the land that would have been
opened up by the building OF those
railways. And if We had not seen the
years when we could build 10 900 and
1900 miles OF railway a year. we
should not have today east Of the
Mississippi steel and iron produc-
ing center, which is at once the mar
vel and the despair Of Europe. because
we could not have built up a steel and
iron industry IL there had been nc
market for its product.
We could not have in New England
a great boot and shoe industry; We
could not have in New England q
great cotton milling industry; we
could not have spread throughout New
York and Pennsylvania and Ohio man,
ufacturing industries of the most d.
versified kinds. because those indus.
tries would have no market among
the farmers west Of the Mississippi
river
And while the progress OF this
country. while the development Of
the agricultural west Of this country.
did mean the impairment OF the az
ricultural value east OF the Mississippi
river. that ran up into hundreds OF
millions Of dollars, il meant incident
ally the building up OF great manu-
featuring industries that added 10 the
value OF this land by thousands Of
millions OF dollars And. gentlemen,
those things were not foreseen in the
'TO's. The statesmen and the public
men Of this country did not see what
part the agricultural development Of
the west was going 10 play in the in
dustrial development of the east. And
you may read the decisions of the
interstate commerce commission from
the hrst 20 the last. and what is one
Of the greatest characteristics OF those
decisi0ns2 The continued inability 10
see the question in this large way
The interstate commerce commits
sion neyet can see anything more
than that the farm land OF some farm
er is decreasing in value. or that some
man who has a -four mill with a pro
ductiCn Of fifty barrels a day is be
ing crowded out. II never can see
that the destruction or impairment Of
farm values in this place means the
NA4-LAA= W u AeA III faAAN1 ia AAa1-
place. and that that shifting Of values
Is a necessary incident TO the indus
rial and manufacturing development OF
this country. And if We shall give
10 the interstate commerce commis-
sion power 10 regulate rates, We shall
no longer have our rates regulated
on the gtatesmanlike basis on which
they have been regulated In the past
by the railway men, who really have
been great statesmen. WkO really have
been great builders Of empires. who
have had an Imagination that rivals
the Imagination Of the greatest poet
and Of the greatest inventor, and who
have operated with a courage and dar-
fng that rivals the courage and dar-
ing OF the greatest military general
But we shall have cur rates regulated
by a body of civil servants, bureau
Gratis, whose besetting sin the world
over IS that they never can grasp a
situation in a large way and with the
grasp Of the salesman that they
never can see the fact that they are
confronted with Z small evil; that
that evil Is relatively small, and that
IL cannot be corrected except by the
creation Of evils and abuses which
a,s infinitely greater than the one
inzt Is 10 be corrected