16 G. G. Ilabbard — The Evolution of Commerce. 



tion of I{;ricHSon, followed by vessels built of steel, and lastly the 

 Citij of Pdris and Majestic, carrying fifteen hundred tons of freight 

 and sailing five hundred knots a day or twenty knots an hour. 



Untilthe present century all commerce between remote j)oints 

 was by water, excepting in the Roman Empire. After the down- 

 fall of Rome there was neither commerce nor travel and no use 

 for roads, the cost of transportation even for a short distance ex- 

 ceeding the value of the goods. 



The railroad was introduced about the same time into England 

 and America, and was rapidly extended into every countr3^ The 

 steam engine on land and water has revolutionized the methods 

 of transportation and created a new commerce. " The movement 

 of goods in a year on all the through routes of the world did not 

 then equal the movement on a single one of our trunk lines of 

 railroad for the same period." Formerly it cost ten dollars to 

 move a ton of freight one hundred miles ; now it can be moved 

 thirteen hundred miles for the same sum. The grain and corn 

 . from our western lands, then not worth the transportation to the 

 sea-coast, are now sold in London, and our prairies yield to the 

 western farmer greater profit than the grain lands of England 

 yield to the farmer there. The land commerce created by steam 

 probably exceeds today the commerce carried on the water. 



The cost of moving freight by railroads varies greatly in different 

 parts of the United States and in different countries. The highest 

 cost west of the Rocky mountains is two and a quarter times 

 more than in some of our middle states. The average freight 

 receipts per ton per mile in this country is $0,922, which is less 

 than those of any other country, although the Belgian and Rus- 

 sian rates are not much higher. In England the rates are from 

 fifty to seventy per cent higher than in America, and in the 

 other countries of Europe higher than in England. 



In England and America the railroads are operated by private 

 companies in competition. 



In France railroads are operated by private companies regu- 

 lated by laAV, the country being divided among different lines of 

 road. Lines are constructed by private companies and run at 

 rates fixed by the government. 



In Belgium and Germany the principal roads are owned and 

 operated by the government. 



Our system has yielded the best results to the people. 



Tlie commerce which was in olden times transported only 



