The Washington herald., 1914-05-22
HISTORY BUlDERS.
The Progress Which Brought Loss in
Its Train.
written expressly for The Herald
~ ~ DR. r. >. EDwAnDs.

y lD beMs ~
(written expressly, for The Heraid)
Dy DR. r. >. EDwAnDs.
On the occasion Of the eightieth birth
day Of Chauncey n. Depew. he became
the guest Of honor Of one OF the socia
organizations OF Brooklyn, ~, In TACT
he had been on like occasions for som'
twenty years.
In the course Of Senator Depew's ad
dress in response to the toast to him a
the guest of the evening. he mentioned
incidentally that when he was . lad o.
thirteen years Of age, In 1s4l, he tooi
part In open-mouthed wonder In the ceie
bration for which the village Of Peeks
kill, N. T.. had made elaborate prepara
tions In honor Of the completion OF IN.
City to that point.
Some wears ago / heard Senator Depev
speak reminiscentIy Of the early con
structive work upon what became after
ward the Hudson Riser Railroad, stretch
ing from New York to Albany. In this
earlier conversation. Senator Depew was
more graphic and detailed In his COM
ments than he was In his incidental al
lueions to the part he took In the cele-
bration in 1871 at Peekskill.
II suppose" said the Senator at that
time, "that there was no more interested
spectator of the celebration In honor OF
the completion of the Hudson River Rail-
road to Peekskill from New York City,
forty miles away, than my father was.
As look back upon the history OF rail-
road development and recall the stupen-
dous industrial and commercial changes
which were caused by our railroad con
struction I am reminded also of the
somewhat vague forecast which my faith
er at that time made.
For many years the village of Peeks-
kill had been the port whence the COM
modities raised In Ea- tern New York as
far away as the Connecticut boundary
line were transported by water to New
York City. Almost all of these commodi-
ties were agricultural A considerable
body of commission merchants was Gre
ated by this business. They secured
these commodities. brought them to
Peekskill for a commission. and made ar
rangements with the captains Of the
sloops to take these farming products to
New York and dispose Of them and then
to bring back from New York other COM
modities which were taken by great
teams from Peeieski,i to the interior.
Now, my father was the owner Of the
water transportation lines from New
York to Peekskill. He had a number Of
sloops. These made sailings twice a
week from Peekskili to New York. Ny
father took me to see the celebration
and to witness the arrival of the first
locomotive and train OF cars over the
Hudson River Railroad from New York
to Peekskill. When the celebration was
ended and the great throng which had
come from fifty miles around to see the
FIRST train come in from New York was
dispersed. my father said:
"T suppose the building Of this rail-
road was inevitable. I suppose It means
progress. But what is progress for 9TH
ers am afraid will be loss for me. Ny
sloops will speedily lose their business
The commission men will find their occu-
patton gone, and we shall see a new order
of things established
"All that my father predicted actually
happened in a little while. Transports-
ton by water of the commodities raised
by the farmers was practically ended.
The commission merchants were out of
business. and yet the construction Of big
railroads wonderfully increased the COM
merciai and agricultural activity. all
along the valley of the Hudson.
What happened there after railroad
in like manner happened
the United States and, as my
father said. the history Of progress Is
also the history of loss
'sli. by Y. J. Edwards. All rights re-
sered)
Tomorrow DIR. Edwards will tell of
THE Man Who Influenced Commodore