52 PHYSICAL CONSEEVATIOIS' AND RESTOEATION. 



operations in the temperature and the hygrometric state of the 

 superficial strata of the earth, and in its spontaneous vegetable 

 and animal products. 



The rapid extension of railroads which now everywhere keep 

 pace with, and sometimes even precede, the occupation of new 

 soil for agricultural purposes, fm-nishes great facilities for enlarg- 

 ing our knowledge of the topography of the territory they traverse, 

 because their cuttings reveal the composition and general structure 

 of surface, and the inclination and elevation of their hues con- 

 stitute known hypsometrical sections, which give numerous points 

 of departure for the measurement of higher and lower stations, 

 and of course for determining the rehef and depression of surface, 

 the slope of the beds of watercourses, and many other not less 

 important questions.* 



* Railroad surveys must be received with great caution where any motive 

 exists for cooking them. Capitalists are shy of investments in roads with 

 steep grades, and of course it is important to make a fair show of facilities in 

 obtaining funds for new routes. Joint-stock companies have no souls ; their 

 managers, in general, no consciences. Cases can be cited where engineers and 

 directors of railroads, with long grades above one hundred feet to the mile, 

 have regularly sworn in their annual reports, for years in succession, that there 

 were no grades upon their routes exceeding half that elevation. In fact, 

 every person conversant with the history of these enterprises knows that iu 

 their public statements falsehood is the rule, truth the exception. 



What I am about to remark is not exactly relevant to my subject ; but it is 

 hard to "get the floor " in the world's great debating society, and when a speaker 

 •who has anything to say once finds access to the public ear, he must make the 

 most of his opportunity, without inquiring too nicely whether his observations 

 are "iu order." I shall harm no honest man by endeavoring, as I have often 

 done elsewhere, to excite the attention of thinking and conscientious men to 

 the dangers which threaten the great moral and even political interests of 

 Christendom, from the unscrupulousness of the private associations that now 

 control the monetary affairs, and regulate the transit of persons and property, 

 in almost every civilized country. More than one American State is literally 

 governed by unprincipled corporations, which not only defy the legislative 

 power, but have, too often, corrupted even the administration of justice. The 

 tremendous power of these associations is due not merely to pecuniary corrup- 

 tion, but partly to an old legal superstition — fostered by the decision of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States in the famous Dartmouth College case^ 

 in regard to the sacredness of corporate prerogatives. There is no good reason 

 ■why private rights derived from God and the very constitution of society should 

 be less respected than privileges granted by legislatures. It should never be 

 forgotten that no privilege can be a right, and legislative Jbodies ought never to 



