438 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



railways they would now confiscate. While demanding 

 this, they do not remember the Illinois and Iowa of fifty 

 years ago, when it cost them one bushel of produce to get 

 another to the nearest market. Prairie farms could then be 

 bought for $2.50 per acre, and that, too, at second-hand. 

 The corn was accumulated in cribs and sold at ten cents 

 per bushel. Subsequently, railroads were built, since which 

 the farmers price for corn has rarely Mien below twenty 

 cents, while more frequently it has exceeded forty cents. 

 Meantime, the new territory has become populated, and its 

 products are transportated at one-tenth the former cost. 

 All the enormous increase of wealth, unparalleled in the 

 history of nations, was caused by the railways. Yet the 

 men whom they have enriched fancy they are oppressed by 

 them, and demand their subordination to the behests of 

 fickle legislators. 



In view of this clamor it might not be inopportune to 

 enumerate the branches of industry that are created by and 

 dependent upon the railways. They may be thus classified : 

 1. Construction; 2. Equipment; 3. Eepairs; 4. Supplies. 

 The first includes timber for ties, wooden bridges, and sta 

 tion buildings; iron for rails, spikes, iron bridges, and 

 tools; stone for bridge piers and retaining walls, and 

 brick and stone for shop and other important buildings. 

 The second includes locomotives and cars of every descrip 

 tion; the third provides for the incidental renewal of the 

 former ; the fourth embraces fuel, oil, waste, and the innu 

 merable items of daily demand, such as account books, sta 

 tionery, etc. Let any one consider that 70,000 miles of rail 

 way are in actual operation, and determine whether the 

 supply trade created by them is material to the nation s 

 prosperity or not. 



1. CONSTRUCTION. To build fifty miles of railroad re- 



