The Washington herald., 1910-03-13

purely material. for the work Of the
railroad men of the United States"
No Opposition There.
Was public opinion hostile TO railroads
in your early days?' I inquired.
My memory goes back to the time
when every one was calling loudly for
railroads. and the sooner they we're built
the better. The advantages Of transport
alton were obvious. OF what value were
crops If they could not be hauled TO mar
ket? Riding past the abandoned farms
/ Of New England in my automobile. I
( have tried TO speculate about the changes
/ that would have occurred IN our history
as people had the Pilgrims landed at
the mouth Of the Potomac River instead
of on Plymouth Rock. I once asked a
/ fOrlOrn-looking farmer in New Hamp-
shire why he didn't experiment with
chickens in his dreary efforts to make a
living. Chickens, he said. In disgust.
How can I compete with Iowa. that
sends dressed poultry in refrigerator cars
TO all the hotels Of the White Noun
tains?'
AAE thtAAA INST l4liltliLallllGS OF trans
portation.' Mr.. Hughitt went on to say.
ARE almost magical in their operations.
Fruit from California Is eaten at the
fartherest point of our Eastern seacoast.
The miners of the Rocky Mountains are
wearing shoes made near Boston. When
was telegraph operator in Chicago
wagons and boats were still the freight
carriers of the nation. New York had
dug the Erie Canal TO make a slow and
primitive opening into the West. Freight
age at once fell from 500 a ton to 70
cents hundred. Five absurd little roads
were built along the canal and united
into single line, and the legislators at
Albany, fearing disastrous competition
with the waterway owned by the State,
attempted to increase the rates of rail-
transportation. At that time an empire,
locked away from the Atlantic Ocean
and the navigable rivers, awaited the
emigrant with his AK. pillow, and sickle.
People Were Liberal.
''Thus all men wanted railroads, and
in the universal need and desire the peo-
pie in many instances, in the light Of the
present, were overheard This State. for
example, gave an imperial domain-2,6 co.,
600 acres Of land. as rich as the Nile
Valley, in a sweep several miles wide on
either side of its right of way-to the
Illinois Central Railway Company Tn
doubtedly the public granted too much,
and undoubtedly the builders Of railways
demanded more than was reasonable or
just, bus the building of an empire had
begun, immigrants were coming across
the ocean In ships, and New England was
emptying It's best blood into the bound
less West. The country lost sight of
proportions. It became predigal with
cheap gifts that were soon to be of
princely value And yet, who have
profted the more, the people or the rail-
roads? Where there were swamps we
now have cities. The solitude OF mighty
wilderness booms to-day with happy in
dustry. / have lived to see forests turned
into farms and wolf-inhabited prairies
given over to profitable husbandry. Two
great national pictures are in my mind,
my eyes have looked on both-to-day and
yesterday"
How and when did opposition to ran
roads begin?" I asked
IT started, through various granger
movements, when the prices of farm
crops were rulnously low and produce
ton far exceeded demand. The discour-
aged agriculturist in a sod house, with
plenty to eat, 4 is true. but burning his
corn as fuel because there was no sale
for grain. looked about him for something
to hit. In his isolation. seeing the rail-