Friedrich List - Railways

Railways

List was the leading promoter of railways in Germany. His proposals on how to start up a system were widely adopted. He summed up the advantages to be derived from the development of the railway system in 1841:

1. It is a means of national defence: it facilitates the concentration, distribution and direction of the army.
2. It is a means to the improvement of the culture of the nation…. It brings talent, knowledge and skill of every kind readily to market.
3. It secures the community against dearth and famine, and against excessive fluctuation in the prices of the necessaries of life.
4. It promotes the spirit of the nation, as it has a tendency to destroy the Philistine spirit arising from isolation and provincial prejudice and vanity. It binds nations by ligaments, and promotes an interchange of food and of commodities, thus making it feel to be a unit. The iron rails become a nerve system, which, on the one hand, strengthens public opinion, and, on the other hand, strengthens the power of the state for police and governmental purposes.