The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-17 00:00:00

(itz
,ut.

LONDON
MONDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 17, 1342.

The Horning Post, in throwing doubts on
some observations on the effects of railways in
diminishing the general prosperity of the coun-
try, has some judicious remarks on the change ra-
ttler than the lessening of employment, by the
use of new Coatrivances, which, sire: should wish
that journal always to remember. Speaking of
such places as Hounslow and Barnet, our Con-
temporary says—
But we must demur to the soundness of the con-
clusion that these " deserted villages" are the cause
of the general distress, since they no doubt produce
much activity in other quarters, and the difference
hetwen the large sums they receive, and the divi-
dends paid to shareholders, must go into the pocke&
of working people of some kind or another, and
thence-to the purchase of such commodities as these
people consume. There is, however, much reason
to doubt that the innkeeping business has at all kept
pace with the increase of travelling in England. The
railroads enable people to do without the accommoda-
tion of inns. Formerly, if a man were coming up
from Liverpool, or Manchester, or York, to transact
business in London, he would probably spend a couple
of pounds by the way, going and returning, at the
roadside inns. Now he gets from his own home to
London, or from London to his own home, without
spending more than a shilling in some luncheon-pa.
lace on the railway line.
But if he does not eat at the inns he eats at home.
True ; but then he pays only what the thing costs,
whereas at the inn he " distributed" about three or
four times the cost of the viands. There may be
something in this. The railroads, while they pay ten
per cent. to rich people, who embarked capital in
them, cut away many of the profits of the poorer sort.
The same doctrine, of course, applies to all
kinds of machinery, all the extra profit made by
;which will certainly be invested in some kind
of new production or other, and find its way into
the yockets of some class of working people.
.g Mon 9y-making men," says the Editor of the
Struggle, published in the heart of the manufactur-
ing districts, and well acquainted with the habits
." never accumulate ; that is to say,
of capitalists,
they never lay it by, for as it respects the actual
possession of cash, they are often amongst the
barest. They either sink it in trade, or place it
in the bank, whence it is lent on interest to
others who are short of capital. In either case
it is used in such a manner as to find employ-
ment." What master manufacturers gain, there-
fore, by improved machinery, and by cheapening
production, they immediately put out to use, and
the greater their gains the greater is the sum
which they so putout; the greater of course, also,
is the demand by capital for labour, and the more
-.the labourers are benefited. That is a clear and
plain deduction front the admission of the Post,
and we hope that our Contemporary will not
2.gain accuse machinery of lowering wages, or
cheap-production of injuring the labourer.
Having thus entered the Post on a right track
1)y its.own impetus, ne proceed to notice, which
our chief object in making the quotation, the
beneficial change in morals and in employment
y-bich our Contemporary proves to be the conse-
que ace of railway travelling. Sojourning in inns
has 1. -nig been felt to be a great discomfort to
donies.'ic men, and has been long stigmatised as
unfavourable to morality by religious teachers.
Raiicvays, in a great measure, enable travellers
with inns.
to dispense. They pass from their
borne to the other extremity of the island in a
few hours, ami rarely, or never, have occasion to
stop at an inn by the way. The old system of
travellers drinking every half-dozen miles is quite
at an end; if thereby innkeepers have suffered,
many ho:neF, webelieve, have been made hap-
pier, aild i-ouch money saved from taverns has
been spent in q. more beneficial manner.
Tlie-chate're w liich that indicates in employ-
s.
incnt 'M not undot.c'rving of notice. Travellers
'""1'13111,6," at "ions F. peod considerable sums of
:money :on waiters, boots, and chambermaids,
Persons whose Occupations, however respectable
the individuals, require no gi•eat degree of talent
or skill. So the use of stage coaches gave em-
ployment at every coach and
posting-boil to a
considerable number of
helps, riding bostlers, grooms, stable
oys, loungers about the tap, half
mendicant s, half labourers, ready for any kind of
job—to ride a spare horse, to carry a parcel, to
run with. a letter, to deliver a message—a great
body of persons wh o were never trained to any
continuous patient Oil, and were amongst the
commu-
nity.i At least it is consis least skilful and the lea: it elevated of the
-tent with all our early
impressions to believe that
.um were, next theto multitudes who
93 about coaching
iitable portion of
ichei?s, perhaps the ,least cre.