The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-09

~ Oo9i hiohS states n representing
vastly accumulated and steadiIy eng
cumulating millions, althonph &C.
lleVe there will always be room, -
the State Commissions as We'll. ~
government Of the country has toLN
up the work the Grangers hegna
Uncle Sam, with his little bunch H.
Whlskers, at which the world Ia1rba
put which the world has learned to
respect very seriously, Represents 80 ~
will Of his farmer citizens. Wig
Whlskers are made topics of fun in 49,
cities, but whose votes make the citios
seem small and considors
ton.
so, now, here we are, m ana
railroad people, bound together by mn
tua1 interest and mutual dependence
on each other. What have We dona
for YOU? BY vast Expenditures of the
money OF our stockholders We have
farm life without a railroad some
where within easy access? Consider
the European peasant, in France for
instance, in the eighteenth century. He
lived in a rude and mud plastered
hut without light or ventilation. a
special tax being levied on each door
or window. He lived on black bread
and rarely tasted meat was likely tn
to be tainted before it reached his
teeth. Before the railroads, famines
were common incidents of human life
and history. In France in the 800
years before the last century at least
100 years were famine years, in one
section or another of the country.
when hundreds persisted of starvation
IN one district, while fairness and
made another glad. In
the great famine between 1850 and
1870, before the railroads spread out
through India it is estimated that .
500, 600 people died of starvation.
Since then the fear Of famine has lost
much Of it's terror. and in recent years.
after a more severe crop failure in
India than that which caused the
death from starvation Of the several
millions Of people, it has been esti-
mated that the deaths from starvation
amounted to not more than 20, 900
owing to the development of the In
railways, and the better means
of one
per cent of the deaths which occurred
in the previous famine.
In our W country a hundred years
ago the journey from Savannah to
New York was three weeks. Now it is
n day, or less. The charge for haul
ing a barrel of flour $50 miles was SIS.
Now we haul it nearly 1000 miles
from Chicago to Newport News for 80
per barrel. Salt was sold at a
cent a pound at the ports and the cost
OF transportation two or three hun
miles inland increased it's price
to six cents a pound. Recalling these
facts and remembering that corn was
fuel in Illinois and Kansas, and we can
understand how utterly wasted would
be the 100000 boxes of oranges
this year in Florida, or the
thousands of car loads of citrus fruits
produced in California, if they had to
depend on wagon roads or water.
Without the railroads the far spread
wheat fields and corn fields OF
the West would lie idle and barren and
population would be limited to
the few who could crowd close to the
banks of the rivers.
Here we are with one half the rail-
road mileage Of the world within our
country. We have from the $4,000
miles Of railroad in 1875, and the 23
miles in 1880, now $4,000 miles. They
are fed by country roads amounting to
2,151,0OO miles, Over which official es-
say that $50, 0OO,O 900 tons Of
are hauled each year to the
exclusive of the immense
tonnage hauled in them to docks and
Wharfs for shipment by water. The
cost OF hauling over country roads av-
orages % cents per ton per mile, taxi
lng the average haul at nine miles.
the railroad the cost of hauling is
about three quarters of a cent per ton
per miles, and we haul it an average
IF al miles. It costs $500, OO0, 900 a
to haul these 100000, 600 tons
average nine miles. The railroads
hen haul this same tonnage the aver
distance Of 141 miles for about
of What it costs to haul It
line miles on the country roads.
S American railway management, and
want you to hin of it. l want
armer to realize that while you
re making splendid aggregate results
n genius and the labor. the invest
nent and the careful thought of the
people are helping you every
minute of every day and making your
for you.