Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/745

Rh When "Commodore" Vanderbilt began the railroad business in 1863, the railroads of the country had not emerged from the character in which they were originally conceived—they were improved turnpikes chiefly for local business. Rivalry with the canal for the transportation of heavy articles was hardly thought of. The shipment of freight for any great distance was a matter of no small expense, delay, and risk. In short, the present railroad system of the country, by which Dakota exchanges her wheat, produced at an expense of about thirty cents a bushel (instead of about sixty-five in New York), for Eastern manufactures, produced under equally advantageous circumstances, was yet embryonic. In the transformation of local lines into highly organized and efficient systems, which give the public much better service at much lest cost, two men were especially conspicuous—Cornelius Vanderbilt and Thomas A. Scott. More discerning than the rest, these men saw the need and the possibility of improvement, and organized the New York Central and Pennsylvania systems. The ultimate result is well known. Rates from Chicago to New York in 1868 were from five to ten time as high as at present, and the service given was in every way inferior to that now furnished. But this in itself is a comparatively trifling matter. Without the cheap transportation thus furnished, the world would be without the major part of the rich product now annually pouring from Texas, Kansas, Dakota, and the rest of our inland territory. The earnings of every man in the United States and England have thus been increased. Even the Eastern farmer has been benefited, paradoxical as it may seem; for Mr. Atkinson has shown that the value of the product of Massachusetts farms has been greatly increased by the fact that the farmer no longer has to raise his own cereals, but can devote his entire farm to perishable fruits, etc., which bring high prices. Large as were the gains to the great corporations thus organized, and to Mr. Vanderbilt and his compeers, they were almost infinitesimal when compared with the gains of the public.

This is the outline of the history of the Vanderbilt fortune. The substance of it is, that his organizing and constructive ability enabled him to offer a great boon to the public, and he succeeded in securing a share of the result of his labor—a much smaller proportionate share than the laborer ordinarily receives. His reward was based on the value of his service and not on his expenses. Similarly with other branches of business. The manufacturer and merchant most prompt in meeting the new economic conditions outstripped competitors, and the public were benefited, notwithstanding the discomfiture of the less efficient.

Differences in practical ability to appreciate the new world should prepare us for corresponding differences in the theoretical