The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1923-05-03

ton that they might at some time
have a hundred locomotives pulling
trains on the road, woke up to find
that they had a thousand locomo-
tives in the service and that they
Baldwin Locomotive Works could
build them. The government found
that they did not need to move troops
up and down the road to quell the
Indians, for the very fact that they
could move troops great distances
over night, kept the Indians from
uprising. The government saved the
railroad fare they had expected to
trade out" and in addition to that
they began cutting down the number
of troops along the line and thus saw
ed the enormous cost of having them
at ALL
When the government asked the
railroad company to pay back the
hundred million in cash, they set
up the claim that they had more
than paid it by keeping the peace.
They said that the very presence of
the railroad had saved the govern
ment more than it owed them, and
considering the amount of troops
they were keeping stationed in the
belts of country that were not &C
cessible to the railroad to keep the
peace, they might better mark the
account paid and let the railroad use
that hundred million dollars to build
feeders or branch roads out into the
Indian country to develop that terri
tory and keep the peace, and the
government actually acted on such
a proposal and saved money by it.
True, they went thru some more or
less friendly litigation to accomplish
that result, but the roads went on
developing until at the time of the|
earthquake at San Francisco they
were rendering such a service that
the call for aid for the quake suffer
ers witnessed thirty-two trainloads
of relief supplies speeding westward
over the Pacific railroad between
Omaha and the Golden Gate before
the fire was out.
Railroads have tried to develop |
fast enough to supply the needs Of
the west. They have built larger
and larger engines to handle the |
longer trains made up of larger cars,
and now electricity is cutting in to
help take care of the burden of
keeping up with the development of
the country A few weeks ago
test was made, to show the power of
electrical locomotive over the enor-
nous steam engine. They took two
of the most powerful engines in Am
erica and matched them against one
electrical engine. The electric cut
off it's power and allowed the two
re- cfo rfn I1c11inpr If down |
the line; they allowed them to gain
a high speed before offering any re-
sistence, and then the electrical en-
kept increasing it until he brOugh
the two big locomotives to a stand
still while yet putting and pushing
with all the power there was in them.
Then the electric slid them back
wards still resisting and sent them
up the line.
The west is going to develop fast
enough to need all the help it can
get from the Introduction of electri-
,al engines; and electrical equipment
md gasoline equipment on the farms :
Ind in the towns will help to make
he electrified railroads necessary in
he race for meeting the demands of
he times. The average farmer has '
,een looking over his rusting ma
,hinery and fiat tires, in pretty much {
he same frame of mind as those
Who thought the Union Pacific would
axe what it could get out Of its s
ands and let the fright of way and s
he streak of rust" be forgotten. The !
oss and neglect of his old equip s
nent makes it harder for him to get 1
nto the swing of the new era that S
5 coming, and he will buy new equip-j s
nent in future years that is so much
etter than the old, that he will
ouse it and protect it and save time a
nd money by not being bothered s
nth the old cumbersome stuff, the t
anne as the government saved time t
nd money by sending the soldiers t
ONE and letting the presence of p
he railroad keep the peace.