582 CIVIL ENGINEERING 



to the extensive systems of railroads, that they may utilize their 

 rolling-stock and power to best advantage. In this work the rail- 

 way companies can well afford to expend large sums for road-metal- 

 ing in cooperation with local interests, as some are now doing, in- 

 stead of building railroads for their exclusive use and control, to 

 be maintained at great cost. The highway, thus improved, will 

 become available for all classes of vehicles (and at all seasons), 

 from the freight-wagon to the automobile, and will play a most 

 important part in the commercial, social, and industrial well-being 

 of the country. The introduction of the trolley has also served to 

 elevate the general condition of mankind by the facilities it has 

 afforded for the circulation of mind and matter at a very reason- 

 able cost; while the various devices for transmitting knowledge 

 by electric agencies, with or without metallic conduits, has given 

 a great impetus to the interchange of knowledge and the promo- 

 tion of all classes of improvements. Yet each innovation has had 

 to establish its.raison d'etre by a long contest and only the fittest 

 have survived. The war of extermination waged by certain trans- 

 portation monopolies against competition has in general established 

 the principle that the greater the distribution and mobilization 

 of the population, the greater the resulting benefits to the common 

 carrier. 



Thus the improvement of waterways has invariably increased 

 the profits of the railways from the resulting greater tonnage even 

 though carried at reduced rates; the building of trolleys, so long 

 bitterly opposed, is now recognized as a public benefaction; the 

 improvement of the highways, so strenuously resisted by the rural 

 districts, is now hailed with delight as adding immensely to the 

 value of the farm and at the same time reducing the cost of its 

 products to the consumer. 



This apparent paradox results from the saving in the waste for- 

 merly incurred in overcoming needless resistances, which has gone 

 to increase the margin available for transportation for the benefit 

 of producer, consumer, and carrier alike. 



The Isthmian Canal question, the solution of which has been the 

 desire of nations for four centuries, is still an ever-present problem. 

 Though a route has been selected and the right-of-way secured, 

 the canal is not un fait accompli. Were it so, the cost of transporta- 

 tion, by water, between the North Atlantic and North Pacific ports 

 would be reduced to about one third of the existing rates, with far 

 greater safety and with a corresponding increase in the potential- 

 ity of the fleets. Even under existing conditions, with the neces- 

 sity of circumnavigating South America, the railroads cannot 

 compete with the Cape Horn route for the reason that the average 



