FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 27 



ing." The corn exhibit you will find in the basement of the 

 Capitol, and the fruit exhibit in the rotunda. 



We will now stand adjourned until 1:30 o'clock. 



1:30 o'clock p. m. 



The President : The first on our program this afternoon will 

 be "Transportation — Its Relation to the Iowa Farmer," by Mr. 

 F. A. Delano, General Manager, C, B. & Q. Ry. 



Before reading his paper, Mr. Delano said: I feel very 

 deeply the honor you pay me by inviting me to address you. 

 Although I might have said a few words extraneously, I thought 

 I had better put my remarks in writing and try to stick to the 

 notes; at the same time I would like very much if you would 

 interrupt me and ask any questions you may desire. 



TRANSPORTATION— ITS RELATION TO THE IOWA FARM. 



F. A. DELANO, GENERAL MANAGER C, B. & O. RY . 



A/r. President^ and Gentlemen— Yon have asked me to address you on 

 the subject of Transportation in Its Relation to the Iowa Farmer. 



Transportation, in the broadest sense, enters into all trade, all com- 

 merce, and most intimately into our daily lives. Trade can not exist with- 

 out it, for all commercial transactions require that there shall be facilities 

 for interchange, so that produce and articles of manufacture not needed in 

 one district may be transported to another district where they are needed. 

 In the time of the Roman Empire it was so fully understood that civilization 

 required good means of transportation that the empire builders of that 

 time spent money on roads (wagon roads), which are famous even to this 

 day. The Roman Empire became supreme largely on account of its fine 

 wagon roads and its transportation facilities by water. 



Railway transportation, about which you expect me to address 

 you, is one of the most recent forms of transportation. It has been in 

 existence in this country only seventy-seven years, so that it is within the 

 memory of many now living that the vast network of railway transportation 

 has been developed. It is not to be wondered at that an i idustry, which, 

 although it has developed so wonderfully, is yet far from perfect. Cer- 

 tainly no railway manager would appear before you today and pretend that 

 railway transportation in this country or in any other country, was perfect; 

 nor that as railway managers we did not have a great deal to learn, but we 

 may fairly ask you to judge us by what has been done and what we are 

 honestly seeking to do, giving due consideration to the difficulties in the 

 way. 



An interesting feature about railway transportation is that in no other 

 way could a vast continent far av\ay from the sea, and much of it from any 

 waterway, have been developed and peopled. In no other way could great 

 inland cities have grown up. Suppose, for example, the city of Chicago 



