Bisbee daily review., 1909-02-14
STEEL RAILS
 FORERUNNER
 0F PROGRESS
Tucson Star Says Railroads Should Be Judged By Results -The Development of Re- sources Due to Them

The Tucson Star in discussing oneI of the bills introduced into the legis- lature providing fer railroad com mission concludes the article by point ing out the reasons why the people of Arizona should be just in their every treatment of the railroads of the ter ritory The following. as the conclud- ing remarks Of the Stars railroad article gtll prove of interest to the people of the territory:
 But be that as it may we must not forget to do justice to the railroads. What we are is due to them. True they did not come to Arizona with the hope and expectation of develop ing what has since proven to be among the richest mineral sections on the globe, but came and used it as a bridge by which the commerce of the lAtiantic states could be reached at all ! times and at all seasons of the year. i But we must not judge the Southern i Pacific by it's intentions but by re ] suits. Whatevcr the country is to- lday is due to them. Of this the pres ent generation can know but little, ' but the men and women who were ! here in ante railroad days know much. \ dollar day was the average wage | of common labor and the necessities of life were almost beyond the reach of belief. In the George O. Hand memoirs he charges the big merchants with trying to ruin the little ones and force them out of business by reduc- ling the price of a two by four bar of brown soap 10 ten cents.
 Within the knowledge of the writer three pounds of sugar were worth a ldollar and so were four yards or cheap calico. Even at those prices there was less profit in the business than Ithere is today with 70 pounds or 70 wards Of calico for the same price Some years ago the writer was shown Ia receipted bill for merchandise bought of CollingwoOd and company. .
 once big firm doing business in Flor ence, on which there was '.l alarming
 needle soc" Money was scarce anC
 hard to get Interest was exJoTtiou
 ately high. X note picked up on tho streets in Tucson, given to the latl
 Leopoldo CarTillo for S10O. drew in terest at the rate of "diez centavoi cada mes" or ir plain English, tel per cent per month. These may bt lconsidered as extreme cases but the.
 were not far from an average of tn , whole With the incoming of th Southern Pacific. beans, the then sta pie food of the poor, dropped from and IS cents per pound to five cents and everything else in proportion,
 , In the way of travel san Diego wa
 the nearest seaport town" and al travel from southern and central AT
 zona went to Gods country" as Sa fTA fsnf Aside from delays. d score Of whic ? were liable to occur. the trip from Tut q son often, in an open blackboard, too { five days and five nights. and the far cost 20 cents a mile. but just prior [
 the coming of the railroad. it was r'
 duced to 15 cents. And now We ar
 ciamor:ng GOT taree cents iD a paiac
 car. Shrine of the m1grty! Can r be2" Between yesterday and today [ hardly seems possible. When the raj .- road reached the Colorado and freigh Q ing to Tucson was done from ths 9 point, 10 cents pound for freigf - was added on Co everything sold.
 As an instance of the dangers ths ibeset the traveller in those dear dea
 days of old" it will not be amiss (
 stauc that a then well known citizeI
 now dead. when compelled to go {
 California. would bc put in the stag
 dead drunk wilb instructions to th
 driver 10 keep him SO III the dange
 zone vas passed so that in the even
 rf being taken and tortured by h
 dians he would be less susceptible {
 irain But that was in the good ol days NC read of. Fear flies befor
 daylcht and with the incoming of th
 Solihcrn Pacific with its palace car
 screened windows. cushioned seal
 snl eurtaiBed beds. where a child as safe as the Cid. we become bray
 and talk loud of oppressive freight
 snd fares. The days have gcBe b
 shat were here when within sight ( lTueson. poor Black. despite his lio Icourage. was taken prisoner and ha