The success of this railway stimulated railway enterprise throughout Europe and America. But while railroad projects created much enthusiasm on one side, they also met with bitter opposition on the other. The prejudice of the short-sighted and the avarice of those whose interests were threatened by a change in the mode of transportation used every weapon in their power against the proposed innovation. The arguments used were often most absurd. It was said that the smoke of the engine was injurious to both man and beast, and that the sparks escaping from it would set fire to the buildings along the line of road, the cows would be scared and would cease to give their milk, that horses would depreciate in value, and that their race would finally become extinct. Nor did many of the European governments favor the new system of transportation. Some openly opposed it as revolutionary and productive of infinitely more evil than good. The Austrian court and statesmen especially looked upon the new contrivance with undisguised distrust; and from their point of view this distrust was perhaps well founded. The rapid movement of the iron horse seemed to savor of dangerous radicalism, not to say revolution. When the Emperor finally, in 1836, concluded to sign a railroad charter, he based his action upon the dubious ground that "the thing cannot maintain itself, anyhow." It may be said that the history of the railroad is a conspicuous illustration of human short-sightedness. The Prussian Postmaster-General Von Nagler opposed the construction of a railroad between Berlin and Potsdam upon the ground that the passenger business between those two cities was not sufficient to keep even the stage-coach always full. It never occurred to the Postmaster-General, as it does not occur to many railroad men of to-day, that new and cheaper means of transportation increase the traffic. Even so wise a statesman as Thiers said when railroad construction was first agitated in France: "I do not see how railroads can compete with our stage-coaches." M. Thiers also opposed for years the building of a railroad between Paris and Versailles, declaring that on account of a railroad not one passenger more would make the journey between these two places.