THE PEOPLK AND THE RAILROADS. 113 



THE PEOPLE AND THE PtATLROADS. 



hY REV. C. CAVERNO, LOMBARD, ILL. 



The following are so))ie views connected with the railway ques- 

 tion. It is not pretended that there tire not other views, but these 

 lie near the base of the subject, and cannot be disregarded. 



The transportation question is one to which we must iu the fu- 

 ture give close attention, if we would properl.y discharge our duties 

 as American citizens. Whether we are to exist as a united nation 

 or not, may depend upon our views and practice respecting rights 

 and rates of transportation. 



Macaulay says that of all modern inventions, those which abridge 

 distance are of first civil and social import. The South failed to 

 detach the West from the East in the rebellion because the men of 

 the West had come from the East. But generations are to come 

 after us who were not born at the East. Whether the sympathies 

 of the various sections of our country are to flow together in time 

 to come will depend upon the amount of communication there is 

 between them. That will depend upon facilities and rates ot tran- 

 sit. We shall be a u.iited people if we are a traveling people. 



It is a patriot's duty to see that the conditions are supplied which 

 ■will create mutual interest and sympathy between all sections of 

 the Republic. Once there was but one name for stranger and ene- 

 my. The fact is of deep significance. Given no strangers under 

 the government flags, and there will be no enemies. Among iso- 

 lated people springs up the tendency to rebel. 



The question then before us touches not alone the pocket; it 

 touches the heart as well. It is a question not merely of rates on 

 exchange o^ j^roduce, but one of rates on social exchange — an ex- 

 change of ideas. 



Just now the item of freight is the one uppermost in the public 

 attention. But if we look deep enough we shall see that the mat- 

 ter o'l passenger rates is one of tremendous import. 



Just where we are in the whole matter can best be brought out 

 by the statement of a single fact. A few weeks ago the telegraph 



