Arizona republican., 1908-11-11

tress of the Seas by the efficiency of her merchant marine; while I believe with Raleigh that he who controls the ships of the world com mands the trade of the world; while I think that a numerous fleet of do- nestle high class sea going mer- chantmen will furnish needed and tremendously effective auxiliary to our navy, I also hold the opinion that within United States territory lying west of the Mississippi river, in the forbidding soil of arid plains, in the bosom of the. roc-ribbed, hard faced mountains, and in the shade of forests of giant trees that no other country can rival, there lies an unde- veloped, untouched. practically un- known wealth, awaiting the open se- same which a just union of labor and capital will evoke. This opinion is not original with me. Far seeing statesmen gave it better expression in the organization of the highly commendable forest service of the general government and the organiZ- ation and prosecution of the United States reclamation service But after all has been or can be well done by the general public by legislation. there will remain the essential need for transportation, which, for by far the larger part of the country can be supplied by railroads
 Tt will not be denied that the work and enterprise of the farmer, the miner, the manufacturer and the
 
 if not impossible without the aid of artificial means of transportation. Their markets were east of the great river or across the seas, and dis tances was the least of the seemingly insurmOuntable obstacles to free ex- change between uroducer and con- sumer. Railroads entered the terri tory. Overcame these obstacles, and it may fairly be said were and will be the chief instrumentality in un- covering the wealth of this trans Mississippi country. By no other known means could it's prosperity have been builded: by no other known agency can it's possible growth be idealized. Great as has been the increase of wealth in the past, there lies in your minds and mine the hope, aye the promise of a greater future, and I think that all will agree that to fulfill that promise it will be necessary to inn prove. to enlarge and to multiply our railroads.
 Tn the year ended June 30. 1906, for every 100 square miles of it's area New Jersey had 31 miles of railroad. Massachusetts 26. Pennsylvania 25. Ohio 22. Illinois 21. New. York IS. square of it's area Missouri had F miles of railway. Kansas II, Minne- sota 10, Nebraska 2, Nevada 1. These figures show how much railroad de- velopment there must be west of the Mississippi before the states in this section will possess as ample trans portation facilities as those east of the river.
 Tt seems to me plain that the first step towards providing this growing demand for transportation is to improve the efficiency, to in crease the working capacity of the roads now in use. The reason is simple. What can be done in that way will be done with much less  money than to build wholly new lines. The building of double track; the reduction of curvatures; the les sening of grades: the tunneling of mountains; the enlargement of ter minals-many of the accomplished and to be accomplished at an all most appalling cost-are all under taken for the purpose of increasing the transportation facilities of the country and their public usefulness. It can be done in that way at less cost than by building new railroads, with the advantage that the greater number of those who use the rail roads will be benefited thereby.
 T know that there. is a somewhat popular idea that the new fId sepa- rately managed road will be of greater