Idaho Springs siftings., 1905-05-27
RAILROADS AND PROGRESS.

rNlGFSHC1 SNO v rhoSnCo1s
In his testimony before the senate
committee on interstate commerce al
Washington on May 4. Prof Hugo r.
Meyer Of the Chicago university. an
expert on railroad management. made
this statement.
Let us look az what might have
happened II We had heeded the pro
tests OF the farmers OF New York aut
Ohio aud Pennsylvania (in the 3u's.
when grain from the west began pour
fHE 10 the Atlantic scaboardl and
acted upon the doctrine which the in
tersfafc commerce commission has
enuncinted time and again. that no
man may be deprived % the ai-
yantages accruIng 90 him By virtue
Of bis 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 II we had not seen the
years when We could build 10000 and
1900 miles 81 RAILWAY a year. we
should not have to-day east of the
Mississippi a steel and Iron produc-
ing center. which IS az once the mar
vel and the despair Of Europe. because
We c0ald not have built ap Il steel and
iron Industry II there had been no
market for It's product.
We could not have in New England
a great boot and shoe Industry. We
could not have tn New England
great cotton milling industry: we
could not have spread throughout New
York and Pennsylvania and Ohio nan
ufacturing industries of the most d.
xrrs.fcd kinds. because those indus
tries would have 10 market among
The farmers west OF the Mississippi
river
And vhile 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. Il 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 tn the
'70'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
dastrial development Of the east And
you may read the decisions Of the
Interstate commerce commission from
the FIRST 10 the last. and what Is one
ef the greatest characteristics Of those
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 farm.
CT T. decreasing in value or that some
man who has a -four mill with pro
duction Of fifty barrels day Is be
Ing crowded ont. II never can see
that the destruction or impairment OF
farm values In this place means the
building up Of farm values In that
place. and that that shifting of values
is a necessary incident to the indus
trial and manufacturing development Of
this country And II we shall give
to the interstate commerce eonmls-
sion power to regulate rates. we shall
no longer have our rates regulated
on the sfafesuanIike basis on which
they have been regulated In the past
by the railway men, who really have
been great statesmen, who 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-
ing that rivals the courage and dar-
ing of the greatest military general.
But we shall have our rates regulated
by body OF civil servants. bureau
Gratis, whose besetting sin the world
over is that they never can grasp u
situation In a large way and with the
grasp of the statesman: that they
never can see the fact that they are
confronted with a small evil: that
that evil is relatively small. and that
II cannot be corrected except by the
creation of evils and abuses which
are Infinitely greater than the one
that Is to be corrected"