Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1922-07-27


pioneers in the coutnry's development. |
They and they alone made possible
the creation, within less than three
generations, of the great and popu-
fous inland empire of culture and ad-
vancement West of the Alleghanies.
Before the advent of railroads, Amer
lean civilization and settlement were
chiefly confined to seacoast fringes,
as is largely the case today in Austria
liza where politics and labor troubles
have prevented the construction of
adequate continental lines, situation
which, in combination with unfavor-
able features of soil and climate, has
retarded the growth of population.
. If railroad building in this country
had merely followed the advance of
settlement, our national progress
would have been very slow. But the
spirit of the pioneer and adventurer
prevailed, and most of our great sys-
TENS were pushed far ahead of the
country's actual needs. This made
possible a 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 depend
ent upon railroad transportation for
its existence than is any other coun-
try in the world This is truth whose
Importance is not as generally grasped
as it should be, but a moments con-
sideration will make the situation
clear.
The United States was fashioned
in what, from historians viewpoint, is
a very brief period of time-out of
absolutely raw material. We have
| created civilization in the interior of
this continent which in some ways is
| even more complex than that of Eu-
rope, and we have done it almost en-
/ tirely on the basis of railroad trans
portation as the means of holding it
together
Today with only sc of the world
| population and $50 of its land area,
the United States has 100000 miles of
railroad line, or between $3.50 and
| 1910 of the worlds working mileage.
| That abcndantly illustrates the re-
latively 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 COM
| munication provided over our vast
| areas of mountain, valley, prairie and
desert
American railroads have led the
world in the mechanical and technical
| advancement of transportation. The
air brake, modern automatic signal
| systems, automatic couplings, steel
cars, vestibule trains, dining-cars and
sleeping may be mentioned
among the notable improvements
brought to perfection by American in
ventive genius.
Together with the present day pow
erful engine, we have developed the
heavy capacity freight ear, carrying
so to 100 tons or more. The combina-
ton of the two has made possible the
long, heavily loaded American freight
train, travelling great distances and
producing the most efficient large
scale transportation service ever
known.
Tracks and Bridges.
To accommodate such trains, we
| have rebuilt our tracks and bridges
to sustain safely a greater traffic bur-
den than is carried by the railroads
| Of any other country. In short, here
in the United States we have trans
formed railroad transportation from
small-scale, localized service into a
service of national and continental
scope, playing an indispensable part
in practically every activity of our
people.
In the manufacturing industries it's
counterpart is found in what we call
mass production" Mass production
is the distinguishing feature of Ameri-
can industry, and may justly be re-
garded as the most important source
of our national wealth, because other
nations have rivaled US. or are cap
able of rivaling US, in agricultural out
put. But, in the efficient production
OF manufactured articles in great
quantities, we stand alone.
Now it is worth noting that before
we could have mass production in in
dustry We had to have the equivalent
Of mass production in transportation
service. This is true because the
basis of large scale industry is the as
sembilng at one point of immense |
quantities of raw materials from wide |
ly scattered sources, followed by /
equally continuous and prompt distri- |
button of the products.
1t therefore follows that we had to |
have the railroad capacity ready be- |
fore our great mills and factories
could operate, and in past years this
was invariably the rule. 1t also neces-
sarily follows that if for any reason