. The American railway; its construction, development, management, and appliances . tation methods could grow outof this beginning. Least of allcould such a result be foreseenin England, whose admirablecanal system seemed likely todefy competition for centuriesto come. And yet, curiouslyenough, it was a man whollyidentified with canal business who first foresaw the future im-portance of the railroad. The Duke of Bridgewater had builtcanals when they were regarded as a hazardous speculation ; butthey proved a success, and in the early years of the century hewas reaping a rich reward for his for
. The American railway; its construction, development, management, and appliances . tation methods could grow outof this beginning. Least of allcould such a result be foreseenin England, whose admirablecanal system seemed likely todefy competition for centuriesto come. And yet, curiouslyenough, it was a man whollyidentified with canal business who first foresaw the future im-portance of the railroad. The Duke of Bridgewater had builtcanals when they were regarded as a hazardous speculation ; butthey proved a success, and in the early years of the century hewas reaping a rich reward for his foresight. One of his fellow-shareholders took occasion to congratulate the Duke on the factthat their property was now the surest monopoly in the land, and was startled by the reply, I see mischief in these tramroads. The prophecy is all the more striking as coming from an Balaam, the Duke of Bridgewater had a pecuniary interestin cursing, but was so good a prophet that he had to tell the truthin spite of himself, even though his curse was thereby turned intoa George Stephenson. 34*5 THE RAILWAY IN ITS BUSINESS RELATIONS. It is hardly necessary to tell in detail how this prediction wasrealized. Thanks to the skill and perseverance of George Ste-phenson, the difficulties in the use of steam as a mode of propulsionwere rapidly overcome. What was a doubtful experiment as lateas 1815 had become an accomplished fact in 1830. The success-ful working of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway gave an im-pulse to similar enterprises all over the world. In 1835 there were1,600 miles of railroad in operation-—more than half of it in theUnited States. In 1845 the length of the worlds railroads had in-creased to more than 10,000 miles ; in 1855 it was 41,000 miles;in 1865, 90,000; in 1875, 185,000; in 1885, over 300,000. There were perhaps a few men who foresaw this growth;there were almost none who foresaw the changes in organizationand business methods with which it was
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