ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 63 



this now familiar miracle, and it has been reproduced and multiplied in the 

 interests of the people and to aid in the development of the material indus- 

 tries of the country. In other words, the railroad was devised, established, 

 and has been maintained in the interest and for the benefit of agriculture 

 and commerce, and to advance these by lessening the cost of each. That 

 the water-ways of the country still exist and are in comparative disuse is 

 proof of the superiority of railway facilities. 



If, then, a single railroad is an advantage to a people, the multiplication 

 of roads is a multiplication of advantages, and it follows as a necessity of 

 reasoning, that the welfare of the people at large is best subserved by meas- 

 ures tending to the increase and permanence of these artificial highways. 



Much public and individual discussion has been had, aforetime, touching 

 the advisability of controlling these roads by State authority, but the world 

 has yet to discover the first man in favor of their abolishment. 



Fairly construed, this fact may be taken and stated as an universal 

 assent to their utility and value, ft constitutes an admission that the true 

 policy at this juncture is to adopt such measures as shall tend to the further 

 extension of such roads as you now have, and the projection and construc- 

 tion of others. You will please note that I am now speaking from your 

 standpoint and not from the standpoint of the roads themselves. For the 

 owners there may be railroads too many— for the patrons there must ever 

 remain too few. 



The establishment of a second livery stable in your town not only gives 

 you larger accommodation and surer service, but it secures you against 

 excessive charge by the competition inausiurated. Precisely the same thing 

 is true of railroads. Competing lines enable you not only to choose your 

 route, but each road protects you against extortion by the other. That the 

 presence of a railroad is understood to be an advantage and a convenience 

 to the people, we have proofs on every hand. Counties and towns tax them- 

 selves to secure their construction. Cities and citizens donate land and 

 money to build depQts. Did anybody ever hear of a county or town taxing 

 itself to procure the removal of a road, or a bonus being offered for the 

 demolition of a depot? 



No, Mr. President, we look in vain for opposition to the presence of a 

 railroad, and every cry coming up from the people is a cry of invitation. If, 

 then, an increase <>f roads is desired and desirable, it must follow that meas- 

 ures calculated to deter or retard their construction are unwise and disas- 

 trous. The question, then, is. How to encourage construction, and this ques- 

 tion may be in part answered by showing how their construction may be 

 discouraged. 



If there is one thing which, more than any other, must tend to dishearten 

 capital and prevent its investment in enterprises such as we are now consid- 

 ering, it is the much indulged threat of placing the railroads of the country 

 under eHher National or 8'. ate control. The owners of money in New York 

 and Boston, as of England and Germany, are not unlike the rest of mankind 

 in their desire to handle and control their own means, both after as well as 

 before investment, and which of you would sell your farm and your cattle 

 and put the proceeds into something over which you could never again have 

 any control V If money in railroads is to pass into the hands of those in no- 



