The Muskogee cimeter. [volume] (Muskogee, Indian Territory, Okla.) 1901-19??, 1905-05-25
RAILROADS AND PROGRESS.

In his Testimony before the senate
committee on Interstate commerce at
Washington on May 4, Prof. Hugo II.
Meyer of the Chicago university, an
expert on railroad management, made
this statement:
Let us look at what might have
happened IL we had needed the pro
tests Of the farmers Of New York and
Ohio and Pennsylvania Tin the 70's,
when grain from the west began pour
ing to 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 ad-
vantages accruing to him by virtue
of his geographical position. We could
not have west of the Mississippi q
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
10000 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 II we had not seen the
years when we could build 10000 and
10000 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 steel and
iron industry II there had been no
market for its product.
We could not have In New England
q 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.
versifled 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 ag-
ricultural value east of the Mississippi
river. that ran up into hundreds OF
millions Of dollars, II meant incident.
ally the building up Of great manu-.
featuring industries that added to the
value Of this land by thousands OF
millions OF dollars. And, gentlemen
those things were not foreseen in the
'7Os. The statesmen and the public
men Of this country did not see what
part the agricultural development OF
the west was going to play In the In
dustrial development Of the east. And
you may read the decisions OF the
Interstate commerce commission from
the first to the last, and what Is one
of the greatest characteristics OF those
decisions? Tho continued inability tC
see the question In this large way.
The interstate commerce commits
sion never can see anything more
than that the farm land Of some farm
er Is decreasing in value, or that some
man who has -four mill with pro
duction of fifty barrels a day Is be
ing crowded out. It never can SET
that the destruction or impairment o
farm values In this place means th'
building up of farm values in tina
place, and that that shifting Of values
Is necessary incident to the indus
trial and manufacturing development o
this country. And II we shall Civ
to the interstate commerce commits
sion power to regulate rates. we shal
no longer have our rates regulate'
on the statesmanlike basis on whicl
they have been regulated In the pas
by the railway men. who really hav
been great statesmen. who really hav
been great builders of empires. VIII
have had an imagination that rival
the Imagination OF the greatest poe