VII 



BY LAND AND SEA 



IT WOULD BE extremely unwise to compose an epitaph for the 

 railroads, steamships, trucks, and busses at this point. Airplanes 

 will compete strongly with surface transportation in the next 

 few years, but these carriers are preparing to put up a stiff 

 fight for business. 



Furthermore, as W. A. Patterson, president of the United 

 Airlines, pointed out, "If the volume of air-borne cargo in- 

 creased one hundred fold it would still take only one tenth of 

 one percent of the freight noiv being transported by the 

 American railroads! 



"The airplane and railroads," he added, "will be definitely 

 competitive for certain types of express, but the gains which 

 the railroads will achieve in freight traffic created by the air- 

 plane will more than offset their loss of passenger business to 

 the airlines." 



The railroads grew up with the United States, and their 

 bands of steel helped bind the growing country together. In 

 Europe the rails were laid between well-established cities. But 

 in the United States the railroads pushed westward and people 

 and towns followed. Because of the importance of transporta- 

 tion in the Far West, the states and the Federal Government 

 stimulated railroad construction with loans and grants of 

 land. 



After 1920 the competition of oil pipe lines, automobiles, 

 trucks, busses, inland waterways, and finally the airplane 

 sharply cut railroad passenger and express business. Certain 



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