THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. 725 



When " Commodore " Vanderbilt began the railroad business in 

 1863, the railroads of the country had not emerged from the character 

 in which they were originally conceived they were improved turn- 

 pikes chiefly for local business. Rivalry with the canal for the trans- 

 portation of heavy articles was hardly thought of. The shipment of 

 freight for any great distance was a matter of no small expense, delay, 

 and risk. In short, the present railroad system of the country, by 

 which Dakota exchanges her wheat, produced at an expense of about 

 thirty cents a bushel (instead of about sixty-five in New York), for 

 Eastern manufactures, produced under equally advantageous circum- 

 stances, was yet embryonic. In the transformation of local lines into 

 highly organized and efficient systems, which give the public much 

 better service at much lest cost, two men were especially conspicu- 

 ous Cornelius Yanderbilt and Thomas A. Scott. More discerning 

 than the rest, these men saw the need and the possibility of improve- 

 ment, and organized the New York Central and Pennsylvania systems. 

 The ultimate result is well known. Rates from Chicago to New York 

 in 1868 were from five to ten time as high as at present,* and the serv- 

 ice given was in every way inferior to that now furnished. But 

 this in itself is a comparatively trifling matter. Without the cheap 

 transportation thus furnished, the world would be without the major 

 part of the rich product now annually pouring from Texas, Kansas, 

 Dakota, and the rest of our inland territory. The earnings of every 

 man in the United States and England have thus been incraased. 

 Even the Eastern farmer has been benefited, paradoxical as it may 

 seem ; for Mr. Atkinson has shown that the value of the product of 

 Massachusetts farms has been greatly increased by the fact that the 

 farmer no longer has to raise his own cereals, but can devote his en- 

 tire farm to perishable fruits, etc., which bring high prices.f Large 

 as were the gains to the great corporations thus organized, and to Mr. 

 Vanderbilt and his compeers, they were almost infinitesimal when 

 compared with the gains of the public. 



This is the outline of the history of the Yanderbilt fortune. The 

 substance of it is, that his organizing and constructive ability enabled 

 him to offer a great boon to the public, and he succeeded in securing 

 a share of the result of his labor a much smaller proportionate share 

 than the laborer ordinarily receives. His reward was based on the 

 value of his service and not on his expenses. Similarly with other 

 branches of business. The manufacturer and merchant most prompt 

 in meeting the new economic conditions outstripped competitors, and 

 the public were benefited, notwithstanding the discomfiture of the 

 less efficient. 



Differences in practical ability to appreciate the new world should 

 prepare us for corresponding differences in the theoretical under- 



* Hadley's " Railroad Transportation," p. 93. 



f See his admirable pamphlet, " The Railroads of the United States." 



