Social legislation and social activity

by American Academy of Political and Social Science

Among the results already realized, which directly forecast what will further happen, some of the more obvious may be briefly mentioned. For well understood reasons the speed and capacity of water craft are much superior to those of vehicles drawn by animals, while the cheapness of the former gives them a great advantage over the latter. While the old conditions prevailed, the waterways were mainly relied upon for the conveyance of bulky products. Commercial movements on land were, of course, considerable, but the transfer of heavy goods, such as enter most largely into ordinary consumption, was principally effected by sailing vessels. Therefore, the fertile lands along the river-banks and the indented shores of the sea were the first to be occupied for agricultural pursuits, the exchange of produce for merchandise being accomplished by water carriage. The great cities founded prior to our time were for the most part located upon or near navigable streams while the masses of population outside the towns dwelt within easy reach of these natural channels.

But the building of railroads has often deflected and sometimes wholly altered the routes of distribution. In our own country, for example, notwithstanding it is penetrated by numerous rivers which flow, generally speaking, from north to south, the great volume of traffic is carried by railways running east and west across valleys and mountains. Even where the rail lines are parallel with river courses they absorb the greater share of freight and passenger movement. In short, the routes of land transportation in all the principal countries of the world have been largely recast in the last fifty years by the changes from river to rail conveyance.

The next most noticeable effect, as it seems to me, is the prodigious increase of commerce under the stimulus of modern agencies. It is estimated by Mulhall that as late as 1820 the carrying capacity of all the sailing vessels of the world—and there were then no others—did not much exceed 3,000,000 tons; yet this is less than one-sixteenth of the tonnage actually moved last year by the railroads of our New England states. This astonishing growth in the quantity of transported articles, and in so short a time, is sufficient to produce, as it certainly has produced, the most important and significant results; since the fact itself indicates a current volume of transport business compared with which the commerce of our grandfathers seems like the idle play of children. Because of this wonderful speed and cheapness of distribution, the average prices of food, fuel, clothing, building material and other necessary supplies have been greatly reduced, independent of the standard by which prices are measured. And this cheapening of most commodities has in turn brought a marked alteration, within a very brief period, in the style of living, dress, home-furnishings and the like, which makes the present conditions of life far more desirable and attractive than ever was known before.

The effect of this cheap conveyance is also seen in the commonness of pleasure travel, the extent of immigration, the spread of population over new territories, and in all the employments and surroundings of the people everywhere. The railway is not only the chief means of developing uninhabited or thinly settled regions, but the same line may operate in both sparsely and thickly populated districts, since an indefinite number of trains can be moved on the same track. For instance, the 200,000 miles of railroads of the United States serve some 75,000,000 persons, distributed through an area, excluding Alaska, of more than 3,000,000 square miles; while in Great Britain about 22,000 miles of railway serve at least 45,000,000 persons, located within a mainland area of less than 117,000 square miles. Thus, in Great Britain as compared with the United States, one-ninth as much railway mileage reaches more than half as many persons, because of the density of a population confined within a territory not larger than one-twenty-fifth of the land surface of the United States.

Again, the railway at once causes the concentration of people in cities and at the same time is the prime factor in the creation of cities. It is impossible that such inland towns as Atlanta and Denver, for example, could have acquired their present importance without the facilities for carriage and intercourse which railroads provide. In 1870 nearly forty-seven per cent of all our people employed in gainful occupations were engaged in farming; while only twenty years later barely thirty-six per cent were following that pursuit. And what is still more suggestive, the recent census shows that more than one-third of our entire population live in towns of 5,000 inhabitants and upwards, as against less than seven per cent in 1830. That so great a change has taken place in so short a time in the geographic distribution of our people can only be explained by the potent force of steam transportation, while the fact itself has a social significance which can hardly be overstated.

In the region west of the Alleghanies the railroad has been the pioneer in opening up unoccupied lands for settlement, while the lines upon which railroads were there built and the points they reached determined the location and growth of numerous towns and cities in that great section of country. On the other hemisphere, as is well known, a wonderful railway is now pushing to completion across the vast stretches of Siberia, a territory larger than the United States and Europe combined, connecting the capital of Russia with the Pacific Ocean. The consummation of that project cannot but have immense effect upon the commerce, industries, social welfare and military power of a large portion of the world’s inhabitants.

In connection with this should be observed the rapid increase in stationary steam power which has been coincident with and primarily caused by steam locomotion. Taken together they make up the colossal forces now exerted in the fields of commerce and industry, in comparison with which all the power of all the beasts of burden is hardly worth the mention. And this in turn reminds us of the mutual action of production, shipping and land transportation in producing the stupendous results we everywhere observe. It is impossible that these gigantic agencies should come into such active operation without the most vital consequences to every phase of human life.

Take into account, also, the new and wonderful means of transmitting intelligence. The obstacles of time and distance, hitherto so formidable, are swept away by telegraph and telephone. We send our thought and speech with lightning swiftness to the four quarters of the globe, and hold all lands and peoples within the sphere of instant intercourse. So recent is this miracle that we are still dazzled by its marvels and fail to realize how powerfully it aids the unification of world-wide interests.

That this substitution of steam and electricity as the instruments of commerce has been an immeasurable gain is witnessed here and everywhere by half a century of unparalleled progress. Along these modern pathways the world has literally leaped. No longer tied to beasts of burden, the entire realm of industry has been quickened and enlarged; productive energy has been invigorated by new and limitless means of distribution; the products of the whole earth are embraced in wide circles of exchange; all the luxuries of all lands are brought to every household; wealth has multiplied until we are almost surfeited with its abundance; the genius of invention has been stimulated to larger exercise, the sphere of thought grandly extended, the impulses of charity awakened to nobler activity, while keener sympathy through closer contact is leading the race to real brotherhood.

But these manifold benefits have not been secured without many and serious dangers. The potent energy which produced such marvels of utility and convenience has generated an array of forces which test with severe strain the structure of organized society. So radical a change in the methods of distribution, and consequently of production, was sure to be attended with peril as well as beneficence, and to entail a series of results, immense and far-reaching. Passing by the acute abuses which are incident to the process of development, for they are transitory and must gradually disappear, we may well consider the more profound and permanent effects, what I venture to call the economic effects, of present and future methods of transportation upon the whole range of industrial activity. This brings into view again the impressive fact I mentioned at the outset, and suggests some graver consequences than those that appear on the surface and appeal to ordinary observation.