The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-08-03

miaunder8tanQ the privileges ana Qutles
Of organized labor, on the other, Of as
pirants for political power who are will
ing to sacrifice cur free institutions for
their own ends. Both close their eyes TO
the fact that the history Of government
ownership elsewhere is a record Of
hopes unrealized and promises unful-
| filled.
The first outstanding fact is that our
railroads, built, owned, and operated by
our citizens, have been the pioneers in
the country's development. They and
they alone made possible the creation
within less than three generations, Of
the great and populous inland empire Of
culture and advancement West Of the
Alleghanies. Before the advent of rail-
roads, American civilization and settle
ment were chiefly confined to seaeoast
fringes, as is largely the case today in
Australia where politics and labor trou-
bles have prevented the construction Of
adequate continental lines, a situation
which, in combination with unfavorable
features of soil and climate, has retard-
ed the growth of population.
If railroad building in this country
had merely followed the advance of set
tlement, cur national progress would
have been very slow. But the spirit Of
the pioneer and adventurer prevailed,
and most Of our great systems were
pushed far ahead of the country's actual
needs. This made possible rapidity
and permanence in the settlement and
development of the United States which
has no parallel in history.
Dependent on Roads.
The United States is more dependent
upon railroad transportation for its ex-
istence than is any other country in the
world. This is truth whose importance
is not as generally grasped as it should
be, but a moments consideration win
make the situation clear
The United States was fashioned-in
what, from historians viewpoint, is a
very brief period of time-out of abso-
lutely raw material. We have created a
civilization in the interior of this con-
tinent which in some ways is even more
complex than that of Europe, and we
have done it almost entirely on the ba-
sis of railroad transportation as the
means of holding it together.
| Today with only 6 per cent Of the
worlds population and per cent Of its
land area, the United States has 100000
miles of railroad line, or between 35 per
cent and 40 per cent of the worlds work
ing mileage. That abundantly illustrates
the relatively great Importance to US Of
rail transportation and our dependence
upon it as the mechanical agency by
which the unity of our national life is
preserved, and swift and easy communi-
cation provided over our vast areas of
mountain, valley, prairie and desert.
American railroads have led the world
in the mechanical and technical advance
ment of transportation. The air brake,
modern automatic signal systems, auto
matte couplings, steel cars, vestibule
trains, dining-cars and sleeping-cars
may be mentioned among the notable
improvements brought to perfection by
American inventive genius.
Together with the present day power
full engine, we have developed the heavy
capacity freight car, carrying so to 100
tons or more. The combination of the
two has made possible the long, heavily
loaded American freight train, travelling
great distances and producing the most
efficient large-scat> transportation SER
vice ever known.
Tracks and Bridges.
To accommodate such trains, we have
rebuilt our tracks and bridges to sus-
tain greater traffic burden than is car
ried by the railroads Of any other coun-
try. In short, here in the United States
we have transformed railroad transpor-
tation from a small-scale, localized ser
vice into service of national and con-
tinental scope, playing an indispensable
part in practically every activity of our
people.
In the manufacturing industries its
counterpart is found in what we call
"mass production" Mass production is
the distinguishing feature of American
industry, and may justly be regarded as
the most important source of our ma
tional wealth, because other nations
have rivaled us, or are capable of rival
ing US, in agricultural output. But, in
the efficient production of manufactur-
ed articles in great quantities, we stand
alone.
Now it is worth noting that before we
could have mass production in industry
we had to have the equivalent of mass
production in transportation service.
This is true because the basis of large
scale industry is the assembling at one
point of immense quantities Of raw ma
terials from widely scattered sources,
followed by equally continuous and
prompt distribution of the products.
1t therefore follows that we had to
have the railroad capacity ready before
our great mills and factories could op-
crate, and in past years this was invari-
ably the rule. 1t also necessarily fol-
lows that if for any reason railroad
progress in this country should be per-
manently checked, the progress Of our
industry will be checked also, because
the rate of production possible to our
industries is limited to the capacity Of
the railroads which serve them. More
over, our railroads have become one Of
the greatest employers of labor and one
of the chief purchasers of the products
of industry.