66

couragement, and loss at times that might fairly have excused him for the abandonment of his work. I am sure that no one will hail with greater delight the success of Mr. Mills than will Auguste Goffart. They have worked in different fields, and unknown to each other, but for the accomplishment of the same purpose. The work of Mr. Goffart and his enthusiasm in it, while, of course, begun in his own behalf, has its highest motive in the behalf of others. His farms and stables have always been open to the inspection of the farmers of his neighborhood and country. Speaking of his own work and his ambition in it he has said, "What I have done can be done by thousands of others, and my sole desire, my sole ambition, is to enable them to imitate me as soon as possible." Mr. Goffart was of course obliged to confront those who doubted the success of his system, who told him that he would lose all his stock if he continued to feed them exclusively on maize throughout the year; but he says, I continued to do it, and all my animals enjoy health without even a shadow of disease." He faced disaster after disaster in the preservation of his fodder: but went on undaunted in his work, and the spirit that went with him is shown in his simple story of the great misfortunes that befell him in 1871. He says: "I returned to Burtin after having taken part in the defense of Paris to find that typhus had emptied my stables by carrying off sixty-three horned cattle out of sixty-four. With Norman bulls, which I had changed every two years, I had created for myself a new and fine race, and my stables were renowned in Sologne. In ten days I lost the fruit of twenty years' labor; the blow was severe, but what was the loss of a few thousand francs compared with the great natural grief which caused all our hearts to bleed? With courage I begun my work again. I purchased for the replenishment of my stable young animals which continually improve, although aware that time would fail me to replace what I had lost. Let us strive courageously. Perhaps the most obscure of the pioneers of agriculture brings you to day an effective means by which you can charm away the dearth of fodder, which is one of the greatest plagues of agricultural industry. Do not deny to this poor but interesting Sologne, the honor of having been the cradle of a system of ensilage that is effectively preservative, and of having given an example that the richest countries will not be slow to imitate. This is my earnest prayer and brightest. hope."

The thanks of the Central Agricultural Society of France were unanimously given to Mr. Goffart in April, 1875. The decoration of the Legion of Honor was conferred upon him in 1876; but when this decoration has faded and is entirely forgotten, the memory of him will bear the decoration of the spirit that actuated him in his work, and he will survive long in the grateful memory of those who have followed, and who shall hereafter follow, his example and his method.

Alluding to a pamphlet issued by him in 1873, he said: "My profound conviction is, that the culture and ensilage of maize is destined to cause a complete agricultural revolution. It ought in ten years to double the number of animals supported on our soil. Was this a chimerical hope? God has preserved me from all discouragement on this point. In the last four years the progress that I have made at Burtin has exceeded all my hopes; and upon my reserve of thirty-five hectares (862 acres), I kept during the Winter of 1876 forty-three horned cattle, and I shall keep during the Winter of 1877 seventy, with the assurance of going much beyond this at the end of 1878. Here are facts more conclusive than any arguments. The great establishment that I have finished, and shall inaugurate in October, 1877 (to which I invite all agriculturists), proves my firm faith in my work. I have spared no pains nor expense to insure solidity in my buildings, in dear Sologne-which may be considered as the cradle of this new industry-and they represent the point of departure of an immense agricultural progress. Perhaps I may, without too much pride, inscribe upon them the words of the great Latin poet: Exegi monumentum, aere perennius.””

Remembering his service to agriculture, and the spirit which actuated him in it, the agriculturists of the world would say if they could give voice to their thought— "Inscribe not only, 'I have completed a monument more enduring than brass,' but write under it, for expression of yourself and your motives, the words of another Roman poet, Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto,' (I am a man, and therefore am interested in all that concerns humanity)."

FRANCIS D. MOULTON.

BY EDWARD ATKINSON, BOSTON, MASS.

The close relation existing between these two great factors in society can be made evident in the most striking manner only by an appeal to the eye.

Since the end of the civil war in this country our railway mileage has increased from 34,000 to 94,000 miles. The figures in the following diagram show the miles of railroad in operation on the 1st January in each year, and the black lines show the proportionate increase. Railroad begets railroad, and where we had one mile before slavery ended we now have three.

MILES OF RAILROAD IN OPERATION ON THE 1ST JANUARY IN EACH YEAR AND THE MILES ADDED IN THE YEAR ENSUING.

The construction of 1881 will probably exceed that of any preceding year.

During the same period the grain crops of the country have increased in the pro

portions pictured in the next diagram, the figures on the left showing the number of bushels of maize, wheat, oats, rye, barley and buckwheat produced in each year. It will be observed that the curve of the increase of crops follows substantially the curve of the increase of railway mileage, proving the mutual relation of each to the other.

The production or leading forth of the fruits of the earth consists of three interdependent movements; first, stirring the soil, planting the seed and reaping the harvest-carried on by the engines known as plows, planters, reapers and the like; second, the movement of the grain, and its subdivision by means of the stationary engines known as elevators and flour mills; third, the movement of the food by means of the locomotive engine or the steamship to the point nearest its place of final conversion or consumption.

Each part of the work depends absolutely upon the other, and the common condition of success is in ratio to the removal of obstructions to all these movements. The farmer is free to plant and free to reap; the miller is free to grind and free to sell his service; the owner of the elevator is free to use the vertical railway on which he trans

fers the grain from the farmer's wagon or from the canal boat to the bin that is to hold it for a time; but the manager of the horizontal railway may not move his locomotive engine without being threatened with the obstruction of meddlesome statutes imposed by Congresses and Legislatures in which there may not be a single man who could himself conduct with success the complex work even of a hundred miles of railway.

The world-especially the legislative world--is slow to perceive that all interests are harmonious. If the wheat-grower does not prosper, no grist will come to the mill; if the miller does not obtain an adequate toll, the traffic of the railway will cease; if the dealer cannot obtain his profit, neither the bags of grain or the barrels of flour will be moved from the station where they have been discharged; if the consumer, perhaps in some far distant land, can obtain his food with less labor than he must exert. to obtain the means of purchase with which to buy the grain, the whole movement will cease.

Like some of the new processes in grinding, by which the attrition of the particles of grain upon each other works the best results, so in the distribution, the attrition of each apparently conflicting interest with the other defines the service that each has rendered, and thus all are saved from the arduous drudgery that still retards human progress in the places that the beneficent service of commerce does not reach.

Commerce, or the exchange of services among men, promotes abundance; if obstructions are placed in the way, it matters not where, all alike suffer. The railroad removes the obstructions of time and distance. Statutes have been required to enable men to combine for their construction; in order that the utmost freedom should be given even general acts have been passed. It is now proposed to reverse the acts that have enabled railroads to be built, and by other statutes to obstruct their use.

If we desire to know what class has reaped the greatest benefit in this free and vast progress of our railroad system another appeal may be made to the eye.

Chicago being the great market of the world for grain and meat, what has been the cost of moving these staples to the principal port of export, New York? The following tables give the increase of tonnage, and the decrease in the charge upon one of the great lines that unite the two cities.

This line has been selected for the purpose of comparison, because it has not only performed the greatest service to the community, but also because it has been very profitable to its owners. Its traffic also consists mainly of products of agriculture and general merchandise, and very little of coal.

The Lake Shore and New York Central Line has also been taken as an example, because the line has remained substantially the same from 1869 to 1880, while other lines have greatly extended their mileage. The same rule may, however, be established if the same comparison be made of the traffic of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Erie, or the Baltimore and Ohio lines. The same relative reductions may also be proved from the accounts of all the great lines in the West, if the comparison be made on the main sections between principal points that were in operation at the two respective dates.

Between 1869 and 1879 the traffic of the Boston & Albany Railroad increased 105 per cent., the charge per ton decreased 544 per cent., and the earnings decreased 7 per cent.

Between 1872, the year before the panic, and 1879, the traffic of the Pennsylvania Railroad increased 80 per cent., the charge per ton decreased 43 per cent., and the earnings increased less than 3 per cent.

The graphical tables showing these reductions are not repeated, because one example will suffice.