Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-05-11
{ Mrs. F. \. Pcck1


 Railroads had their practical origin in England as long ago as A. D. 1900, although at that time they were prac- tically birth Of an undevelopcd idea advanced by the early Romans. As strange as il may seem, our mod ern Stcel-WayS and luxurious meth m the industrial railways that were i first roughly constructed to simplify 1 the transit of coal from the mines in i england to various shipping points. l As an old English writer puts it, l blanks Of timber were laid from the colliery to the river, straight and par alCll and buggy carts were made with four rollers awhereby the carriage was so easy that one horse would These thoronFhfafeS were made across fields, the pruprietors of which received a certain rent for the right of way They underwent little or no improvement until about TOO. when the wooden beams were clothed with long strips of iron to prevent excessive wear. Railways, however did not attract attention as being suitable for general traffic, owing principally to the then general in- terests displayed in canals. The pioneer American railway construct ed for public use was the Baltimore and Ohio, chartered lin 1927, with thirteen miles opened for traffic in 1880. Railway transportation is con- cerned with the movement of persons and things So accomplishing this movement the railways have orSaniz- ed and developed their passenger, freight, mail and expense service in carrying passengers and freight by rail the railway corporation supply the entire agency, but in the mail and express they co-operated with the government and express comDanles fer whom the railway companies act as carriers.
 The transportation of freight IS the most important service perform ed by the railways. The dependence of society upon the cheap and unre- stricted movements of commodities is much greater than upon rapid and inexpensive travel.
 And to travel with comfort and speed it is highly convenient to ship freight long distances with economy and expedition is essential to modern business life contrary to ordinary belief the American people make comparatively small use of the passenger service ordered by the rail- ways. The people of the United Kingdom take nearly twice as many trips each year as the people of the United States.
 In order to increase the passenger transportation in a large way, Ii would be necessary for the railways of our country to make it possible for the masses of the people to travel economically, the demand of those who work for small wages is fol cheap service and not for luxury.
 TO some extent the demand for 3 cheaper passenger service is being met by the extension of interurbar electric trolley lines. In many places electric trolley lines have introduced service, slower, cheaper and less comfortable than that offered by the steam lines and the result has beel the development of an enormous val us of local traffic. This large amount of traffic by trolley has not lessened the travel by steam roads, but has developed traffic that did not ex- ist. In our state at present we have no interurban roads, although be tween our larger cities there is : call for the service. With our rivel spanned with good bridges and better roads we may surely hope for trolley