KOADS AND IJAILWAYS. 83 



Valloy; wliili- ivtuni ticki-ts foi- Japan and Cliina ria the Canada 

 Pacific Railway at rhvap rates, will be sold at tlie Saint John's 

 Railway DcpAt. Nul alile to constnict a i-ailway of tliree or 

 four liuiulred miles, with a revenue of iiearlv a iiiillion dollarsll 

 Well iiiiL;ht we ask — 



'• Is our civilization a failure, 

 Or is the Caucasian jilayed out .'" 



The foregoing dreams ot a lecturer are now (1894) seemingly 

 to be soon realized in some fashion ; but sixteen years ago, ^vhen 

 believers in railways were few and far Itetween, it recinired some 

 nei've and moral courage to give utterance to such heretical 

 .opinioirs. Now, liowmer, they are shared bv almost e\eryone, 

 .and the opponents of railways are difiicult to disct)ver. It is 

 the history of all new ideas. They are held at first by a min- 

 .ority of two or thi'ee ; then they gradually spread till the whole 

 inass is leaveneil. 



In the same lecture occurs the following paragraph on roads : 

 ■"Roads are tyjies of civilization. AVhere there are no roads the 

 people are savages. Where roads are few and bad, law is ^-eak 

 and society semi-barbarous. If you Avant to know Avhether a 

 ])eople is stagnant or progressive, look at their roads. Wherever 

 there are mental activity, enterprise and a liberalizing spirit of 

 ;any kind, you Avill st^e their manifestations in the building of 

 roads for travel and intercourse. All the great epochs of civiliza- 

 tion in the world's history were ages of roads. Nothing marked 

 the splendid era of tlie Roman Empire so strikingly as the mag- 

 nifieent system of roads Avhich radiated from the Forum of Rome 

 to the furthest extremities of the most distant provinces. This 

 is, emphatically, the age of roails, not only of stone but of iron, 

 .along which rushes the iron hoi-se Avith heart of tire, mu.scles of 

 steel and breath of steam. Then, we make roads over the ocean 

 Tjy our steamships, and roads for thought by the telegraph wire ; 

 .and the day is not far distant Avheu the world will be one vast 

 seusorium, with nerves of communication to tiie very ends of 

 the earth." 



