2 RAILROADS IN A SOCIAL POINT OF VIEW. 



RAILROADS IN A SOCIAL ROINT OF VIEW. 



BY HORTICOLA. 



Mr. Editor — Dear Sir: As yon have incidentally tonelied, ia the last volume, 

 upon a most important topic — the railroad as a transporter — permit a hortieultnral 

 correspondent to say a few words respecting its infiuence in a social point of view. 



A good domestic joke used to be in vogue in my neighborhood. A home-body 

 in Newport, R. I., once made a trip as far as Salem, Mass., and ever after 

 descanted on the benefits of travel as a means of enlarging the mind! He did 

 not venture as far as we do in these days, but felt an influence ever after. Every- 

 body now expands, if not their minds, at least their travel, some cause or other 

 moving thereto, till the number of people in motion every day in this Union 

 would make a very respectable army to subdue the Russians at Sebastopol. 



What motives call so nmny people from home I shall not endeavor to inquire; 

 nor shall I condemn any, for I confess I travel hundreds of miles myself for no 

 other object than to see a good garden, nursery, or state or county fair. A few 

 observations, which, if you publish, I shall consider you indorse, may safely be 

 intrusted to your discretion. 



Attention is so much directed to the profits of railroads, that it is to be feared 

 the Americans are losing sight of some of the most important points in their con- 

 duct. During the mouth of October I travelled over nearly three thousand miles of 

 railroad, principally in the West. I came to the conclusion that, /or a hegiyining, 

 the system was wonderful ; but I also am confident that, if a few leading and sim- 

 ple errors in their management were corrected, the public, no less than the stock- 

 holders, would benefit greatly, for with the present want of accommodations, I 

 cannot but believe pleasure travellers are comparatively few ; if the system were 

 more perfect, this class would so add to the throng of those who travel for business 

 objects, as greatly to enlarge the sources of profit.* Let us see how it is at present. 



* It must be confessed that the experiment of raUroads as a stock investment has proved 

 a failure. England has lost five hundred millions of dollars in this species of proj^erty, 

 and the last semi-annual exhibit reveals a less satisfactory state of tilings than any before. 

 New England has lost over a hundred millions in the same class of investments ; each suc- 

 ceeding year's, and even month's, returns showing a change only for the worse. Scarcely 

 a dozen of her hundred roads now pay regular dividends, and but a solitary one commands 

 a premium in market for its shares. Of the roads in the Middle States, the account is but 

 a trifle more favorable. In the three rich and populous States of New York, Pennsylvania, 

 and Ohio, at least one hundred millions more have been sunk, and the tendency is still 

 downward. At the South, the state of things is no better ; and the West, except in some 

 favored localities, shows roads quite as unprofitable and unsalable as in any other part of 

 the country. Gradually, slowly, but surely, is the mighty ntitwork of iron, inaugurated but 

 a few years ago with such magnificent prospects, with steam-horse and flashing equipage, 

 and confident hopes of boundless and endless profits, wearing and fading away, and losing 

 its hold upon the public regard. — Exchange paper. [All this state of things might be greatly 

 improved by giving a little more inducement to travel. — Ed.] 



