Great men are usually the products of their times and one of the men developed by these times takes rank with the greatest railroad leaders in history.

The United States as we know it today is largely the result of mechanical inventions, and in particular of agricultural machinery and the railroad. One transformed millions of acres of uncultivated land into fertile farms, while the other furnished the transportation which carried the crops to distant markets.

The States which form the northern border of the United States westward from the Great Lakes to the Pacific coast include an area several times larger than France and could contain ten Englands and still have room to spare.

Many of the railroad evils were inherent in the situation; they were explained by the fact that both managers and public were dealing with a new agency whose laws they did not completely understand

Farmers, merchants, manufacturers, and the traveling public have all had their troubles with the transportation lines, and the difficulties to which these struggles have given rise have produced that problem which is even now apparently far from solution.

As the contest proceeded, public interest increased and the entire country watched to see which company would win the big government subsidies through the mountains.

With the reorganization of 1898 finished, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad entered a new period in its history.