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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1899)
r 8 The Conservative. A UAILKOAI ) EXHIBIT. Within a quarter of a century the question whether transportation was a branch of production or not was fiercely debated. Representatives of agricul tural and manufacturing interests de clared that the railroad was simply a carrier , and that its labors could in no sense bo deemed productive. In the files of this journal may be found an editorial showing that economists so different as John Stuart Mill and Henry 0. Carey agreed that transpor tation was production. A great interest which annually converts great masses of ore into rails and wheels , which con structs long trains of rolling stock , which consumes a largo share of the world's coal output , which bridges rivers and tunnels mountains , which fences miles of track and erects struc tures of various classes is a productive interest , if there is such a thing as a productive interest in existence. Rightly viewed , a largo share of what goes to make up production is transpor tation. The household meal , to cite a homely illustration , demands that spice be brought from the closet , various sup plies from the grocer , bread from the oven , meat for the butcher and milk from the farm. Many industrial plants could not be operated without the car riage of numerous materials over long distances. What is essential to produc tion is a part of production , and this common sense view is receiving the di rect endorsement or indirect sanction of most thinking men. The crude theor ists who once looked on railroads merely as locusts , bent on consuming the fruits of the earth , are learning to take broader views. With its importance as an employer and producer generally recognized by economists , the railroad interest ought to make a display that will appeal to the student of industrial processes. The National Export Exposition , soon to be held within this city , affords an H excellent opportunity for showing the progress of railroading. Some few careful observers have followed railroad development from the days of the "John Bull" and the "Rocket" to the days of the limited trains. Of necessity , how ever , students wore , are and will be few. The coming exposition will bo visited by multitudes who have no leisure , the in clination or the aptitude for detailed study , and to such people the railroad ought to present an exhibit that tells its own story. It would be possible to exhibit mod els or cuts of railroading under many different conditions. The old style road , with wooden rails ; the cumbrous iron rails of no very remote day ; the single track , the double track , the four track ; the yard crowded with tracks the light lagging road of a North Care Una swamp ; the heavy grade of a Wes tern mountain road ; the great feats o : bridging and tunneling , would be of in torest to all , especially the quick-witted schoolboys who are looking forward to an engineering career. While , however - over , the details of mechanical ingenu- ty are worthy of close study , what should , of all things , bo kept mostly n view is the importance of teaching that railroads may bo divided into three great classes. The governments of Continental Eur ope , where militarism is in the ascen dant , have built railroads chiefly as servants of their armies. Points of com mercial or industrial importance have jeen neglected , because the authorities were bent on connecting half a dozen powerful garrisons. The value of the roads , from a military standpoint , can hardly bo overstated. In largo portions of British India the only check on native uprisings is the knowledge that troops could at once be forwarded by rail to ; he scene of disorder. Soldiers who took part in the war for the Union can ; ell the present generation how desper ately contending forces struggled to control railroads , or to destroy them , in order to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. One of the main causes of the success of the Union cause was that skilled mechanics were numerous in the ranks of the govern ment and few on the side of the insur gents. "When a Northern road was damaged twenty regiments detailed their most skilled workmen and brought order out of chaos. When a Southern road was cut the injury was often per manent. England's railroads have been built on the commercial basis. The first great motive for railroad construction was to give an outlet to the coal mines. England's leading industries were on a well-established footing long before George Stephenson was born. The de sign of her railroad builders was to help bring larger cities into closer connection , to bind the seaport towns to inland points , to join London with Edinburgh , to furnish the salt works and cotton mills with carrying facilities. It was to serve the plants already in being rather than to start new enterprises. Fre quently have speculative Englishmen who wished to build new lines been re strained on the ground that existing rail facilities were adequate to the needs of the locality. Residents of new sec tions of our republic , where everyone is restlessly seeking business and specula tion , cannot enter into the British feel ing on this point. Residents of older sections , where millions of capital are locked up in unnecessary and unprofit able lines , will admit that something can be said in favor of the English idea of building railroads where they are needed , and only where they are needed. The military and commercial type of railroad being illustrated , there remains a third great typo the pioneer railroad In a large part of this country the rail road has been the advance guard of civilization. Pushing forward , it opened vast tracts of ground to settle ment , and enabled Western farmers to send their surplus grain to Eastern loints. Many who have purchased the securities of lines built ahead of the de mand lost on their investment , but the direct losers were often indirect gamers. Civilization was hastened by several decades , and the man who profited by arge real estate transactions , by lumber interests or by silver mines may have gained enough to more than compen sate him for loss on his bonds and stock. Each of the three great types may , under certain circumstances , bo a necessity. Railway World. ATAVISM AMONG ANIMALS. Whence the Horse of Today Derives His Swiftness and Strength. Dr. Louis Robinson , an English zoologist elegist , has just given to the world an account of his investigations as to the origin of the habits and mode of life of certain animals , and the conclusion at which he seems to arrive is that all such phenomena may be explained on the ground of atavism. Thus he claims the horse of our day derives his swift ness and power of endurance from the fact that his ancestors in former days werejobliged to flee from , and frequently defend themselves against their ene mies , the wolves. In like manner he claims that the reason why the horse shies is because his ancestors were forced to be constantly on the alert against hidden enemies , and that the reason why he rears and plunges is be cause only by pursuing such tactics could his forefathers shake off wild ani mals that had leaped upon their backs. Sheep when frightened immediately rush off to the highest point they can reach. The reason , says Dr. Robinson , is because all sheep originally inhabited mountainous districts. And this , ho claims , is also the reason why they wear a thick fleece of wool all the year through , the summer temperature in the mountains being almost as cold as that of winter. Finally , wo are assured that the reason sheep invariably follow a leader is because their ancestors were obliged to go in Indian file through the narrow mountainous passes. Pigs have also engaged Dr. Robin son's attention. He was puzzled for a good while as to the cause of their grunting , but now he thinks he has dis covered the real reason. The pigs of today , he says , evidently grunt because their ancestors made their homes in thick woods , and only by making this sound could they keep track of each other and guard themselves against going astray from the common herd. Commenting on this latter explanation , a scientist suggests that Dr. Robinson might now do well to spend some time in trying to find out why the horse neighs and the dog barks. Philadelphia Times.
