RAILROADS, TELEGRAPHS, AND CIVILIZATION. 319 



would be practically of little value in producing these effects were they 

 not accompanied by correspondingly increased facilities for the diffu- 

 sion of news. It fails to give an adequate idea of the extent of this 

 influence, to state that two and a half milliard copies of newspapers 

 were circulated in 1882 through the Postal Union, and that only an 

 insignificant proportion of these were carried otherwise than by rail- 

 road. Most of these journals being political, the part they have in 

 diffusing political intelligence among the people, who depend almost 

 entirely upon them, and in forming their political culture, may be con- 

 ceived but can not be measured. 



This feature also is attended with disadvantages. The newspapers 

 circulating in all classes of society, the number of persons upon whom 

 the formation of that vague force called public opinion depends has 

 become multiplied many times, and in it many are included who have 

 not the previous knowledge requisite to the formation of an intelligent 

 opinion, or capacity to form a real opinion of their own. Conse- 

 quently, the quality of public opinion has depreciated. It is more 

 easily led into error, and harder to set right. Furthermore, the ra- 

 pidity with which the telegraph makes it possible to convey news of 

 all important events and unimportant ones, too from all parts of 

 the world to all other parts, has given public opinion a taste and a 

 preference for mere matters of fact. The pressure to learn the latest 

 news is stronger than the desire to know events in their order and 

 connections. Thus interest is rather directed to what is striking and 

 sensational, and, responding to this, the papers give to news of that 

 kind space and conspicuousness out of all proportion to its value. 

 Consequently, we have shallowness of public opinion on the one side, 

 exaggeration and unreliability on the other. 



In another aspect, railroads and telegraphs have contributed to the 

 increase of knowledge and the expansion of the ideas and conceptions 

 of the people ; indirectly by assisting in the circulation of journals 

 that carry knowledge on all kinds of subjects through all the channels 

 of their circulation, and directly by making it possible for people of 

 moderate means, and inducing them, to travel and observe for them- 

 selves things and phenomena abroad. When I was a boy, the journey 

 of about thirty miles to the capital of the province was an event for 

 children and parents, which was talked about and prepared for for 

 weeks beforehand, and required a whole day of traveling. People 

 seldom went beyond the boundaries of the province, except on busi- 

 ness, or on the occasion of important festivals, or of death. Now 

 we can travel to the sea-coast or the mountains in the same time, 

 and with hardly more expense than it then took to go the thirty miles, 

 and we eagerly use the opportunity to change our scene, whether it 

 be to improve the health a shade, for mental relaxation, for instruc- 

 tion, or for pleasure. The attendance at baths, the rise of summer 

 resorts and air-cures, and furloughs for all classes of officers, have 



