The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-04-24
RAILROADS. As MISSIONARIES.

cred from the effects of the panic
brought on by the Distinguished Visit
tor now airing himself abroad, they
are beginning to take up their work
where they left 1t off in the disastrous
days of October. 1907. Every issue of
practically every metropolitan news
paper contains some item of how the
great transportation companies are
bringing prosperity and making pro-
gress with every revolution of the
engines wheels one company is
teaching farmers how to grow two
blades OF grass where one grew be-
fore; another is beginning a town in
the wilderness; a third is re-establish-
Ing colony in a desert spot and is
backing the immigrants in their effort
to make the place blossom; fourth is
aiding in the making of good roads;
another is beautifying its right of
way; fifth is carrying on crop eX-
periments in an arid section Of the
country.
AS the railroads advance in this
work, and as they spread knowledge
wherever their whistles blow. they are
taking a new place in the Industrial
world. They are In business to make
money, and all that they do. in most
instances, they do to increase their di-
-vidends and enrich their Golfers in the
end; but in their justiflable selhshness
they are most unseltish, and in helping
themselves they are helping others. AS
the field OF their. usefulness is en-
larged, and as their real service to
the country is appreciated, they are
taking rank as the greatest mission
aries of the world. Their tracks blaze
the way to progress. and their wills
ties sound the note of a new era
wherever they go.
The enlightened railroads are mis-
sionaries of new regime, because
they break down provincialism and
make every man touch elbows with
his neighbors. They bring the village
in touch with the city, and they put
the farmer in hailing distance of the
manufacturer. One has only to con-
trast conditions in the back counties
of Virginia as they are to-day w.
what they We're twenty years ago to
see what the railroads have done. Then
the sun rose on one side of n village
and set on the other. The stage which
brought the mails once or twice a
week, and the few wagons which
hauled supplies to the crossroads
stores, were the only vein that bound
the country to the town. Now the VIII
lage is but part of the city, joined
throbbing with every pulse of the
city's life The. newspapers of the
morning are read in the village in the
afternoon: the happenings in the city
are discussed before night at every
store and around every supper-tabI
Every man who will take advantage
of his opportunities can be cosmopol-
itan.
The railroads have done more than
make jewellers in different sections
next door neighbors. They have
planted in practically every section OF
the country the seeds of progress In
the State of Virginia alone it is also
impossible to measure the full bene-
Mt Of what has already been done by
some railroads in bringing about tbe
present agricultural revolution. Thev
have preached new methods ana ,b5,
have planted out new crops. tho,
nave hauled guano at low rates anC
they have contributed to the roadmale X.
ing of the counties. Scarcely an en-.
terprise has been begun in any sector
of the State in the success of which
the railroads have not had part
They have preached a gospel Of better
farming and larger profits, of increas
ed population and of great manufac.
turing outputs.
The railroads are public service cor
porations, and as such they are sub
ject TO particular provisions of Law
Where they offend they should b,
punished. and where they make unjus
Determinations they should make jus
correctIonsi but whore they hay
worked for the upbulding of the stat
they should be given credit and wher
they have served to make Virginia an
the country more prosperous the
should be praised,
The widespread and. in tho main, TN
senseless agitation against the rail
roads which was begun under Rooss