There is no one field of modern endeavor which affects so many people, directly and indirectly, as transportation. There is no other single branch of human effort-no one combination of capital and laborwhich has such a vitally important bearing on the welfare of the civilized world.
In 1915 the railways of the United States employed in various capacities the enormous army of 1,848,883 men, to whom was paid $2,915,000,000 in salaries and wages. Similar statistics for the water lines of transportation, if obtainable, would increase these figures very materially. Some idea of the immensity of this force of employees engaged in rail transportation work alone may be had by comparison with the numerical strength of the Northern army engaged in the Civil War of 1861-1865. The total number was 2,656,053. But these were not all in service at once. The figures represent the total number of men enlisted or drafted during the entire four years of warfare. It is safe to say that the nearly 2,000,000 human beings engaged in railway operation in 1915 constituted a much larger army than was ever marshaled at one time in the history of the world.
Transportation facilities, or the lack of them, especially those afforded by railways, make and unmake communities. Wherever the railway penetrates prosperous villages spring up, and the terminal and divi