East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-05-03
Good Roads Have Made
History

y
J. c. Monaghan writes the following
interesting article for the Catholic
Sentinel Of Portland, ON roads and
roadbuilding in history and on the
worlds carrying facilities:
In the game of empire roads have
always played most remarkable
part The historian and the student
of history will remember what they
meant or the absence of them meant
to Alexander. to the 10000 under
Nenophon and to the legions of Rome
Armies march on their bellies 1t is
true, but they are vitality affected by
good or bad roads. When Hannibal
was in the Alps, his success might
have been less permanent had he and
his men. who were lulled into luxury
in Capua. had to build their own
roads and Scipio would not have been
able to carry the war into Africa as
easily as he did but for Rome's Won
derfu roads, and the equally good
the descendants of Dido and the
Phoenicians.
Road building was given to the
world by the Romans. Like their
wonderful laws, they We're sui generis,
in a class by themselves, and like
these laws. they have outlasted
great many revolutions changes of
dynasties. or even changes of civili-
zations In modern times Napoleon,
the typical Roman of recent years,
found the bad roads of Europe so
much in his way that he went to work
to replace them by roads like those
of old Rome.
As you pass now in many parts of
Europe you will see the tall Lom-
| hardy poplars planted by his people.
They tell you, as they were intended
to tell him. where the road runs. In
places you will find a plate or stone
to tell you that here on such and such
day. i'm such and such a year, stood
Napoleon. ana directed the building
of the road.
But II is with no such far off times
! that | wish to deal. 1t IS with the
more recent methods of road building
and the creation of transportation IA
cilities.
1t is hardly 10 years since the world
began to build railroads. II is not
| 100 years since the first steamship
crossed the Atlantic. And when men
| talked of a steamship crossing, a
book was written in England to prove
the utter impossibility of a boat do
ing it, and in Boston a man wrote
another book to show that such snip
| could not carry coal enough to make
| sufficient steam. The steamship
from England carried an edition OF
the stupid book.
Today the world has $50, GOO miles
| of railways of which we have 23O.Ooo'
it has 10000 Of steamship ton
mage against 100000 sail tonnage,
whereas, in 1850 it had 11,OGO,OOO
sail tonnage to 4,0OO!1s0 in 1900 In
1850 the tonnage of steamships was
less than 1000. 900; in 1850 the sail
tonnage touched 14,5O0,000, steam s.
OO0. 900.
In the ship building line we were
once the most successful builders. We
gave the world the Boston and the
Baltimore clippers, we gave it the first
steamship. Fitch's or Fuiton's booh
deserve credit though poor Fitch was
driven to suicide. We gave the worlc
the first ironclad, wiping England'S
wooden walls off the worlds waters
We gave it the side-wheel propeller
then the sccrew propeller. Then VIZ
stopped giving it anything in the way
of ships or ship parts.
Railroads Building.
In railroad building we have beat
en- the world. The largest of TIN
worlds work is done on railroads To
day and we are doing a large part o
it. Put in the form of convenient fact
e we do a business inside our border
, of 22,OOO,OOO,O0 or as much as tf
$ worlds exports and imports put to
, gether. or double the worlds. antua
commercial exchange.
Next to us, of course, comes Eur
ope. It has wonderful roads. 'rh
$ Asiatic movement is now on and W
may look for an enormous mileage'i i
China. Russia built oOOO-mile roa
from Moscow to Vladivostok and POI
Arthur Canada has built a erea
MANY miles of trans-cOntnental, line
: and is planning more. 4 line has bee
= projected from the Cape of Good flop
8 to Cairo thus binding the north
the south of Africa.
Engineers who do not dream al
talking of a road from Alaska tn Pa
y agonia. Others talk of taking peop
e to the east and to Europe via lin
IS to a tunnel under Bearing strai
= Russia with 40, 100000 inhabitan
and a sixth of the inhabitabte eart
has LEGS than $4,000 miles; German
"a less than $4,000; France, 27,0a0; Indi
d with 300, 900, 900 people, 2a,f2O; Au
p tria- Hungary, 22;634. If war we
r to break out, the British empire
best prepared to transport her troo
by sea. for she has 1000 900 tons
~ the worlds 2i,5GO, ,000-1s,5O0,0 o.
in steam and 6;100i009 sail.
l. The United States has $3.50, 900 bo
,o sail and steam; little Norway, 1873;
900. It is the era of the enginet
"' Boys at school must make up the
ne minds to be road builders eth
ly builders or the roads that run aero
- A. aooona or evar y4,a continents