The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1908-11-21

charged by the railroads. One speaker
said that it would be greater than the
influence many interstate commerce
commissions could ever hope to exer-
else Another declared that what .
needed is to furnish natural and lnev-
table competition with railroads. An
other speaker is quoted as saying:
1.-THE railroads will take care OF them
selves. hut the rivers, harbors and
waterways of the country need the pro-
lection of the government"
| welcome this opportunity to say
that nv people do not object to the
imnroyement of the rivers, the harbors
and the waterways of the country.
That work belongs to the general gov
ernment and should be done at what
ever cost. wherever there is a substan-
tial need. We think they will prove
to be valuable feeders to the railroads.
/ beg your further indulgence to
make this statement also, that, so far as
I know-and l ought to know-neither
Mr.. Hartman nor his associates have
a~ntagonized the building of the Pana
ma canal. Personally / wish 1T had
waited on the rehabilitation of our
moribund merchant marine, which 1
believe ought to be the next great en-
deavor of u people; but the Panama
canal was inevitable for many reasons.
The more pressing necessity for the
restoration of our merchant marine is
not a recent opinion Of mine; | urge'i
that view upon the Association of Mer-
chants and Travellers at Chicago IN
1900. 1t has become a national enter
prise and no one would regret more
than I and my associates would regret
the failure of that project.
While / share the desire of many far
seeing and public-spirited American
citizens to see Columbia mistress o.
the seas by the efficiency of her mer-
chant marine; while 1 believe with
Raleigh that che who controls the
ships of the world commands the trade
OF the world;n while l think that a
numerous feet of domestic high-elass
seagoing merchantmen will furnish a
needed and tremendously effective
auxiliary to our navy, / also hold the
opinion that within United States ter
ritory lying west of the Mississippi
river, in the forbidding soil of arid
plains. in the bosom of the rock
ribbed, hard-faced mountains, and in
the shade of forests of giant trees
that no other country can rival, there
lies an undeveloped, untouched, prac-
tieally unknown wealth, awaiting the
open sesame which a Just union of
labor and capital will evoke. This
opinion is not original with me. Far
seeing statesmen gave 1t better expires
sion in the organization of the highly
e~ommendable forest service of the
general government and the organiza-
ton 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
viii remain the essential need for
transportation, which, for by far the
larger part of the country, can be sup
piled only by raIiroads.
Ii will not be denied that the work
and enterprise of the farmer, the
miner. the manufacturer and the mer.
chant would nave been fruitless if not
impossible without the aid of arti
fetal means of transportation. Their
markets were east of the great river
or across the seas, and distance was the
least of the seemingly insurmountable
obstacles to free exchange between pro
Queer and consumer. Railroads entered
the territory. overeame these obstacles,
and il may fairly be said were and
viii be the chief insfrumentality in
~uneovering the wealth of this Trans
Mississippi country. BY no other
known means could its prosperity have
been builded; by no other known
agency can its possible growth be
realized. Great as has been the in
crease of wealth in the past, there
lies in your minds and mine the hope,
aye, the promise of a greater future,
and / think that all Will agree that
to fulfill that promise 1t viii be neees-
sary to improve, to enlarge and to mai
tiply our railroads.
In the year ended June 80, 1906, for
every 100 square miles of its area New
Jersey had 81 miles of railroad, Massa-
chusetts 20, Pennsylvania 25, Ohio %,
Illinois 81, New York Is. In the same
year for every 100 square miles of its
area Missouri had IL miles of railroad,
Kansas IL, Minnesota 10, Nebraska 5.
Washington and California 5, Oregon
2. Nevada l.. These figures show how
much railroad development there must
be west of the Mississippi before the
States In THIS section Will possess AS
ample transportation facilities as those
east of the river.
1t seems to me plain that the first
step towards providing this growing
demand for transportation is to inn
prove the efficiency. TO increase 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 braneh
lines and of double track; the reduc-
tion of eurvatures; the lessening Of
grades: the ~tunneling of mountains;
the enlargement of terminals-many of
them accomplished and to be accom-
plished at an almost appalling cost
are all undertaken Tor the purpose of
increasing the transportation facilities
of the country and their public useful
ness. 1t can be done in that way at
less cost than by building new rail
roads, with the advantage that the
greater number of those who use the
r1flrnaae will he hanarr9A thawabv