IO UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



but also of large sections of the country. As already indicated the geo- 

 graphical situation of the city and the country tributary to it were in 

 great degree absolutely dependent upon the freight rate for any reason- 

 able growth. Water communication which has guaranteed fair rates 

 to so many places did not exist; navigation of the air was not possible; 

 haulage by wagon was so expensive that it was prohibitory for all except 

 the most valuable kinds of freight. The Rocky Mountain region was 

 therefore absolutely dependent upon the mercies of the railroad manager. 

 The history of railroading in the United States shows clearly enough 

 that the railroad manager is guided in his action by the interests of the 

 men that own the railroad. The men that build and operate a railroad 

 are entitled to make a profit out of their work and hence it happens that 

 the manager is primarily interested in what dividends he is able to secure. 

 Railroads are built for the purpose of hauling commodities primarily 

 and anything that tends to make communities self-sufficient and thus 

 eliminate the need of transporting goods to them is not likely to receive 

 aid and support from the men who have invested their money in and 

 are devoting their energies to railroads. If each community in the 

 United States began in considerable measure to manufacture the things 

 that are consumed in that particular section, and if the raw materials 

 of manufacture were not required to be hauled in, it is at once apparent 

 that there would be some diminution in the amount of freight carried by 

 the railroads that are now serving these places in the capacity of carriers. 

 It is therefore to the interest of the carrying industry that manufactures 

 should not spread over all sections of the United States. In the railroad 

 manager's point of view, it is more to his financial interest to have manu- 

 factures largely localized in the eastern part of the country and to keep 

 the West engaged in the production of raw materials. By accomplishing 

 this, he will be able to furnish enormous traffic for the carrying industry. 

 He will haul the manufactured goods from the East to the raw material 

 producing regions of the West and vice versa. This will greatly increase 

 his profits as long as the industries remain thus localized. This brings 

 to mind the navigation laws of the seventeenth century and the prohibi- 

 tion of manufactures that preceded the revolutionary war. The interest 

 of the mother country was to keep the colonies raw material producing 



