Rome Free Academy - De O Wain Sta Yearbook (Rome, NY)

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16 THE SENIOR facilities for transport were now re- moved. During 1875 hundred million tons of goods were conveyed two by railroads from the producers to the consumers. The restrictions placed on the means for traveling had resulted in number of ing an.antipathy.towards the other. a great secluded towns, each bear With these restrictions removed, there Men and desire to travel. different learned how’ much one needed the oth- sprang up a from communities met there was to hate and er—how little how much-their common interests lay The from isolation gradually melted away together. evils which spring in the unity of speech, custom and be- lief of one united people. England, while forming a splen- did example of the power of steam, is but one of the European nations which has prospered through the same influ- ence. The others, although they may not have attained the same degree of success, have greatly benefited by its use. Africa, once a truly ‘‘Dark Conti- nent,’ depending on its rivers and car- avan routes for transporting facilities, is being transformed by its railways. Among the most important may be mentioned the Rhodesia Railways in the south, It is obvious the construc- tion of railways is of the greatest im- portance in the development of a coun- try where there are but few navigable rivers, and the building of roads in the vast sandy tracts is necessarily ex- pensive. Perhaps nowhere has the effect of steam transportation made such radi- cal changes as in the United States of America. One of the chief obstacles in the settlement of the west was the difficulty in moving goods from one ANNUAL It was in 1807 that steamboat, Robert place to another. the first successful Fulton’s ‘‘Clermont,” began making trips up and down the Hudson River. In 1811, a steamboat was Jaunched on the Ohio Pittsburg, the ‘‘Gateway of the West,” and so.n the River, at western rivers were busy with vigor- ous little vessels carrying settlers with their household goods and merchan- dise, westward. At the close of 1812, the effects of this was seen in the new In four years, from 1816 to 1819, as many new One succeeding year, they the war of growth of the western states. states were added to the union, entering each were, respectively, Indiana, Mississip- pi, Illinois and Alabama. In 1836, anthracite coal was ‘suc- cessfully used in producing steam, and two years later steamships began mak- ing trips across the Atlantic, Ina short time this began to increase our population by the influx of laborers from Europe. In 1830, New York City was over two hundred years old with a population of two hundred thousand, while Brooklyn had about twelve thou- sand; within the next sixty years the new and sudden growth carried the population of those cities to nearly two and a half millions. Chicago, now a city of more than a million, was then but a little village in the wilderness. With the development of steam in locomotion there has been a tendency for country people to flock to the city. At points of intersection along the road, little towns swell into cities be- cause there is very little trouble in bringing necessaries and luxuries to such places. Commerce and manufac- tures naturally increase in proportion to the size of the town. In the west, immense farms and

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL 15 By applying steam to transporta- tion, all parts of the world have been brought into closer communication. Mountains, which once formed a seem- ingly impassable barrier, have been conquered by engineering feats. There has been created a solidarity of com- mercial interests. fasy means of traveling, by bringing people in con- tact with one another, and habituating them to new scenes and different phases of society, have made them more liberal and tolerant, while new ideas become immediately the common possession of the whole world. And, of vast importance, here is found the solution of governmental problems. The chief difficulties in the mainten- ance of a confederation of states have been removed by the virtual annihila- tion of time and space, and such broad territories as the United States have been made compact and consolidated. Without such powerful means of com- munication, it is doubtful what the outcome of the Civil War would have been. With their aid, it was an easier matter to successfully maintain a close Federal Union. Professor Seely’s opinion seems to be a general one, when he says that England may be- come a World-Venice with the ocean for streets. Furthermore, human pro- gress has been accelerated to such a degree that the work of years, and even centuries, has been crowded into a day. Take for exampe, Japan. We find that this country has been modi- fied more by our modern civilization within the last twenty years than Britain was modified by the civiliza- tion of Rome in four hundred years. The power of Japan, on the outskirts of the world, was strikingly illustrat- ed by her recent victories in the war with Russia. Could these results have been obtained had not Japan been connected within, and brought into communication with the rest of the world by steamahip and railroad lines? There is no dispute as to the su- premacy of English commerce, but the position is a comparatively new one. In the year 1785 the exports of Eng- land were under fourteen million dol- lars and the imports only a trifle more. Until long after the middle of the eighteenth century, there was great personal danger in Lancashire on ac- count of the condition of the roads. The obstacles in the way of traveling were increased in winter, when pack- horses carried the food to London. In some places, no market could be found for the meat and grain, while towns near them suffered for food. Once a month a stage-coach made the journey frow Glasgow to London, tak- ing about two weeks for the trip. The absence of good roads resulted in the seclusion of the people. It was not until the nineteenth century that England was relieved from the diffi- culty of taking goods or people from one place to another. But with steam transportation, all was changed. After the triumph of George Stephenson in construction of the engine for the Liverpool Man- chester Railway, there was no more doubt about one of the grandest of in- dustrial triumphs. For a time, the railroad system extended but slowly. In 1845, however, the construction of railroads increased at such a rate that in four years the capital in these un- dertakings had increased from eighty- eight million to two hundred and thir- ty million dollars. The restraints which had been caused by insufficient

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THE ranches have been developed for the supply of European and eastern Unit- ed States markets. Not long fresh fruits and vegetables were a lux- ury in the North, but now it is possible to furnish them at ago mid-winter in moderate rates. The increased size of farms has made labor-saving machines a necessity, so that while many specu- lators have amassed fortunes, the com- fort of working classes has been great- ly increased. As late John Quincy Adams, poor little wag- as the administration of ons struggled over muddy roads with their farm produce or parcels of mer- chandise, exposed to all the dangers Now, less than a century later, enormous freight along the miserable way. trains rush night and day from one end of the United States to the other. While the steam being applied to transportation changes caused by have been manifold, some nations have felt the effect more powerfully than But one thing undisputed we have witnessed one of the grandest others. of industrial triumphs in its applica- tion. It write the history of this age, differing so greatly from any of its predecess- ors, for who can tell far it has advanced towards its culmination? It may well be that we have witnessed the greatest wonders of modern inven- tion, and that intellectual and moral development will characterize our fu- ture. would not be possible to how FLORENCE SWEENEY. ecereeeeeres The boss in the copper mill: ‘ Hey, Bronson, you and the rest of those da- goes get to work.” eeererererss If Orton can’t lean on Campbell he must on Grimm. SENIOR ANNUAL 17 WHAT THEY REMIND US OF Bronson Cornish Stook Orton Evans a sport. a politician. a statue. an orator. nobody. Mr. It. a deacon. Hodges Edell Flanagan—Happy Hooligan. Burton—Mr. Pig. George Barnard—a headlight. a comedian. Santa Claus. a bunch of kids. Savage Kelley Freshman Class Parry Gerwig a grind. An athlete. Denio—nothing. +4o4+4e4++ Something worth hearing—Fitz’s farewell to Anita. The “Bryan” of R. F. A. politics —Ab Orton. Your name is singularly appropri- ate—Miss Tobin to Tommy Savage. A truly child—Nahum Pratt. Flanagan looking over Annual ma- ‘These not spare their chief.” precious terial: villainous editors do Webster (Daniel) Field (Cyrus) What mockery , Putnam (Israel) to Parry (Commodore) noble names | Leo (Pope) Oscar (King) The shorn $ronson, Ol- ney, Sweet and West, with their sen- sational hair cuts. lambs- Listen to my tale of woe—Ada Furgeson. “I hope Cicero doesn’t hear you.” —Miss Higham to Cicero class. Our happiness in this world de- pends upon the affections we are able to inspire.—Mary Squires, Etta Ther- inger.