Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1916-03-06
RAILROADS THE clulnsRs.

has brought home TO US the comnrf-
clal. social. civilizing and military
value Of railways. There Is evidence
that the remote beginnings OF this
wal had to do with the building Of
the Bagdad railway toward the Per
sian gulf. Railways were an import
ant feature Of the wars strategy. We
are told that at the outbreak Of the
wal Germany expected to have France
whipped In a hurry and to hurl her
armies by rail into Russia before that
nation could mobilize because OF her
lack Of railways. Military s~trategists
tell us that much OF Germany's
strength results from her network Of
railways that enable her armies TO be
s~huttlecocked back and forth quickly
from one frontier to another. We
know that Turkey long ago would
have attacked Suez II a railway reach.
cd there. and report has Turkey build.
ing one across the desert to yet reach
II. We read Of Turkish armies fight
ing to retain control OF the Bagdad
railway and Of British and Russian OK.
peditionary armies headed toward that
railway to capture Il. The Russian
army is impcded In It's march west.
ward from Erzerum because no rail
way is there.
We look into the books for statistics
and find that in all OF Persia there are
only thirty.three miles Of railway.
Persia. with a population OF nine mil.
lions. Turkey In Asia has only three
thousand miles Of railway. and Its pop
ulation is nearly twenty millions.
II Is an amazing thing. when n
comes to think It over, that millions
and millions OF people In this world
never ever saw a railway. and that
there are other millions who live so
remote from a railway they seldom
see one. and get no benefit from one.
The country In Asia through which
the Russian and British are fighting
now is the oldest In the world. The
earliest traditions OF the race begin
there. Written history has its first
page there. and yet the millions who
live there are wholly without railways.
Their methods OF transportation have
been always the crudest-the camel
caravan. the creaking Ok cart Those
people never got beyond the primitive
state because. lacking transportation
facilities. they lacked intercourse with
the outside world. and II moved on
and forgot them.
China. with 400 million souls, and
only a little more than half as many
miles OF railway as are in the state
OF Kansas. In the United States 255,
900 miles OF railway and on the whole
continen: Of Asia only $1,000 miles
In the United States about one mile
OF railway for each four hundred per
sons. In China one mile for each rs,
600. In Persia n mile for each 800.
OOe.
Ships. railways. the easy hlghwa!
road. the mail carrier, the letter, tbs
printed page, they 20 together to civ
ilize. to uplife, to make life better
easier. happier. The letters writer
and mailed IN the United States eacl
year and carried to destination b!
road and railway amount TO eighty
for each man, woman aud child Of oul
population. In Russia only ten letter.
per head per year are written, In In
dia. only two. in Spain. only seven
in Mexico. only fourteen. And ina
OF Asia Minor and Persia. with near
ly thirty million people, there Is no
a mail train nor a good road.
Those vast populations that slep
while the outside world moved on ar
getting the beginning Of railways nov
But meanwhile they have Jagged far
far behind. and Il will take man
years for the civilization that follow
rapid transportation to do its worl
E..... ngt, Gs.r