MR. MIDGLEY S ARTICLE. CONTINUED. 447 



commended to the consideration of those who view the rail 

 roads only in the light of soulless enemies. As Mr. Gros- 

 venor has clearly stated, however unprofitable the roads 

 may have been to those whose money created them, to the 

 farmers of the West, (who now berate them with every 

 breath) they have been worth at least $100,000 per 

 mile. 



Ten years later, in 1870, the record showed this subse 

 quent increase in value to be : in Ohio, $3.54 per acre ; In 

 diana, $4.68; Michigan, $7.13; Illinois, $7.28; Iowa, $7.17; 

 and Minnesota, $1.25. 



Not alone did the rural districts share the benefits. 

 Cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis were 

 created by them. A metropolis worthy of the age and the 

 people was built in every State, and stands, to-day, the 

 glory, no less than the advantage, of their respective com 

 monwealths. 



In one respect only has the the result exceeded antici 

 pation. It was not supposed, when the first charters 

 were granted, that such a volume of traffic would be at 

 tained. Naturally, then, the expenditure that produced it 

 should command abundant return. For a time it did, 

 whereupon shares advanced. Then came reverses, brought 

 about by ill-advised legislation, until railway stocks sank 

 lower in home and foreign markets than almost any other 

 securities. Thus capitalists suffered from the imprudence 

 of spending their money for the public good. So late as 

 1867, the total market value of share property in railways 

 in England was, according to Sir Eowland Hill s report to 

 Parliament, from which we have drawn liberally, much 

 lower than the original amount invested therein. Neither 

 have the losers been consoled by public gratitude. The op 

 posite has been their experience. They have been charged 



