446 THE aEOUNDSWELL. 



from the eastern markets, with intervening rivers not 

 bridged, and mountains not tunneled, had they been left to 

 depend upon the natural highways to the sea, would yet 

 have been comparatively unbroken ; and, instead of being 

 dotted with flourishing cities and desirable homesteads, 

 would have remained the hunting-grounds of &quot; Indians not 

 taxed.&quot; 



Twenty years have wrought wondrous changes. Illinois 

 and Iowa farms were not at a premium two decades ago. 

 The rural toilers of those days could not spar time from 

 their drugery to brood, in conventions, over fancied wrongs. 

 They begged and prayed for railroads. Characteristic of 

 all, was the piteous plaint of men who, having hauled their 

 produce by ox-teams eighty miles to Rochester, Minnesota, 

 in reply to Jesse Hoyt s inquiry if they wanted transporta 

 tion, exclaimed, &quot; For God s sake, sir, give us a railroad ! 

 Oh, if you only would ! &quot; And their sons now threaten to 

 fence in the roads and tear up the tracks, if the companies 

 do not tamely submit to every legislative caprice. 



In the ten years following, from 1850 to 1860, farm 

 lands increased materially in value. In Ohio the increase 

 per acre was $13. 18; in Indiana, $11.10; in Illinois, $11.36 ; 

 Michigan, $11.04; Wisconsin, $7.02; Iowa, $5.82; and 

 Minnesota, $4.53. Meantime, the cost of the railroads, 

 which created this increase, had been about one-half the 

 advance in value of the farms; therefore, it would have 

 been actual gain to the farmers had they paid the entire 

 cost of building the roads. Carefully prepared statistics 

 show that every additional mile of railroad to 100,000 acres 

 of farm land yielded an average increase of $1.00 per 

 acre. 



These facts, which are uncontrovertible, and will with 

 stand the onslaught of the most fervid anti-monopolist, are 



