Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1918-02-08
Read This Interesting and In
|structive Article ON Money.

copyright. 1917, Western Newspaper Union.)
"Your scheme is preposterous in he
extreme. It is of so e%Xtravagant q
character as to be positively absurd.
Then look at the r%ecklessness Of your
proceedingsl You are proposing TO
cut up our estates in all directors for
the purpose Of making an unnecessary
-oad. DO you think for one moment
Of the destruction of property IN it,"
Such was the comment of n Sir
Ashley Cooper, a great Engushman,
On the first railroad that Stephenson
proposed in England
Other comments of the time are also
interesting. For example, a Mr.. Berk-
rley, member of parliament for Chel-
tonham, said: "Nothing is -rlOrc dis
tasteful to me than to hear the echo
Of our hills reverberating the noise
Of kissing railroad engines running
through the heart of our hunting coun-
try and destroying the noble sport to
which I have been accustomed from
my childhood"
But this is mild in comparison with
what one Colonel Sibthorpe said: II
would rather meet a ~highwayman or
see a burglar on my premises than an
engineer"
Physicians stated that travelling
through tunnels would expose healthy
people to colds, catarrh and consump-
tion.
Witness this r%eassuring article APP
pearing in the London Quarterly Re-
view in 1925: at is certainly some
consolation to those who are to be
whlrled at the ate OF IS or 20 miles
an hour, by means Of a high-pressure
engine, to be told that they are in no
danger of being sea sick while on
shore; that they are not to be scalded
TO death nor drowned by the bursting
of q boiler; and that they need not
mind being hit by the scattered frag-
ments or dashed to pieces by the fir
ing off or the breaking Of n wheel. But
with all those assurances we should
expect the people of Woolwich to suf-
fer themselves to be fired off upon n
Of the C%Ongreve's ricochet rockets, as
trust themselves TO the mercy of an
engine, going at such a rate"
Indeed, for q long time, the nobility
OF England would not ride or
the railroads. If any travelling was
to be done they would allow their
servants, with the baggage, to use the
railroad, but for themselves they adj
hered to the old plan Of stagecOach.
This occurred during the beginning
Of what economists have called the
industrial revolution At that time
there followed in rapid succession the
invention of many machines, such as
the steam engine, cotton gin, spinning
jenny, and the like. This revolution"
ushercd in the highly developed and
organized world we live in today II
enabled Stephenson to bring the first
locomotive to u workable stage in 1880.
1t also led to the construction of the
first steamboat in 1907 by Fulton.
These two factors in modern trans
p~ortatiOn have done much for the
world. They have developed contin-
ncnts, brought the products of distant
lands to your table, knit together ma
lions through exchange with IN an
other, and equalized the distribution Of
food. This latter Is perhaps one of the
most important boons il has conferred
p o mankind. Tho Fearful famines'
Of the past, where millions Of people
have persisted through failure of crops
I'm one district, could have been relieved
If adequate transportation agencies
we're in existence and ready to cqua-
lie the extremes Of plenty and want
maintaining throughout the world.
But the modern transportation sys-
tenn that has relieved famines in In
lila, China, Ireland, and more recently
Belgium, would not be possible If the
millions Of dollars required for its
financing were not available. And so
almost simultaneous with the indus
trial revolution people began to saw
pnd invest money. Savings banks were
established and banks multiplied. 1t
Is an astonishing fact that previous to
his period and since the time Of Rome
Me accumulation Of capital by indi-
Ylduals was practically unknown.
Now capital is largely obtained by
Offering bonds for the Investment Of
'he funds of many people. Your city
erects schoolhouses and bridges; your
county builds roads; the country as a
whole carries on its share in the pres
ent war-ah through bonds.
Just as the funds Of thousands of
investors have made possible the re-
building Of American cities, so has
the same principle made possible the
progress and wonders Of the twentieth
century.
U-e fer Thlnness.
She (no'icldg Individual in 'front.'
Good gracloI,' Seeing Mr.. Meager re
minds me ! forgot 10 order the souI
bones from the butcher. 70 Passing
Show.