liament passed the Railway Act of May 22,
1888. This act, containing 309 paragraphs, provides for the complete
regulation of railroad affairs, and for this purpose creates a Board of
Railroad Commissioners, consisting of the Minister for Railroads and
Canals, the Minister of Justice and two or more members of the Privy
Council. The act also repeals all former railroad laws. Though it has
been in force less than five years, its beneficial effects are already
extensively felt by the Canadian public.

CHAPTER III.

HISTORY OF RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES.

In no country in the world has the growth of railroads been so rapid as
in the United States. With a population less than one-fifth as large as
that of Europe this country has a larger number of miles of railroad
than that continent. While European countries generally opposed the
introduction of the new system of transportation, our people extended to
it a hearty welcome. This difference of sentiment can easily be
accounted for. At the time of the invention of railroads Europe had a
system of turnpikes and canals which, at least for the time being,
answered every purpose. It became necessary for the railroads to enter
into competition with these well-established agencies of transportation,
which had the test of time, popular prejudice and governmental sanction
in their favor. Moreover, the railroad as a new and unknown quantity
caused a feeling of uneasiness in all conservative circles. It seemed to
make war against time-honored principles of statecraft and society, and
threatened to bring about a revolution the outcome of which no one could
foresee.

The condition of things was entirely different in the United States.
There were but few good roads and still fewer turnpikes and canals. A
vast territory in the interior awaited cultivation. Excepting the coast
and a few cities situated on the large navigable rivers, the East and
the West and the North and the South were practically without commercial
relations, and were only held together by a community of political
traditions and the artificial cement of a common constitution. Even had
the country had a system of turnpikes and canals, the Mississippi River
would still have been a forty days', and the extreme Northwest a three
months' journey distant from New York. It seems extremely doubtful
whether the different sections of so large a realm, having so little
community of commercial interests, could long be