The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-02-03

Massachusetts Claim, which originated in the |
Senate, were read and ordered to a second |
reading tomorrow.
The bill to establish the Massachusetts, Rail- |
road Corporation, was taken up.
Mr. jackson of Newton, rose for the purpose
of answering the gentleman from Salem (Alr.
Mack.) He dissented wholly from the views
( expressed by Mr. Mack relative to the Obsta-
[ cles TO be encountered. The difficulties to be
overcome by the Baltimore and Ohio Road
were far greater than those on the proposed
route. The estimate of the Commissioners as
to the cost of iron was too high. They put the
iron at $40 per ton. Tho South Carolina Rail-
road Company had imported it at $5o per ton
The arguments deduced from the cost of Eng
lish railroads were unfair. As well might it be
I argued that our estimate was too high, because
other railroads have actually cost less than that
estimate. The cost of canals here and in Eng
land showed that such works could be cheaper
made here than there. Tredgold says canals
IN England have averaged $4,000 per mile.
Highest cost here has been $2l 600 per mile,
and the Pennington canal cost but 81 900.
Taking into consideration the greater difficult
Pies of the route, and also, that in New Eng
and, such work can be done better and cheaper,
the actual cost of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-
road as far it had gone, $4,000 per mile,
} fully confirmed the accuracy of our Commits
sioners. The income of the road would be sat
J isfactory Remove the difficulties of transpor-
taton and the trade of Berkshire would again
Iseek the Boston market, because it was the
best The tonnage from the Connecticut river
i the Commissioners had estimated too low. He
wan sat;.ivd thst &c 900 tons the last season
passed Brattleboro'. The Commissioners esti-
mate was 10000 tons. Locomotive engines,
moving rapidly and with certainty, would SUI
persede sloop navigation. He thought the in
crease of passengers could be reasonably calcu
lated on, and that the estimates of the Commits
sioners in this particular were we'll founded.
As a mode of carrying passengers, il was far
superior to the best steamboats, rivers, or to
any other mode. He exposed the fallacy Of the
, reasoning, that ar increased supply would de-
, crease the price OF given article at one mar
ket. Such would be the case, were the article
brought only for home consumption, but where
there was free trade and the article was suited
for export, such would not be the case. The
= price of our pork would always be regulated
by the price Of it in the West Indies and if all
the pork in the United States could be brought
! to Boston, that would not reduce the price.
Mr.. Blake said he was afraid that there were
some men settled in their opinions and pre-
JUDGES, that if one spoke with the tongue of
? men and angels, they could not be moved. This
was no novelty. Copernicus kept locked up
for thirty six years, his theory and illustrations
of the solar system, because his countrymen
would not be convinced of their truth and
Calico, his contemporary, was compelled to
: sing the seven penitential psalms every day in
the week for almost as many years, because he
would not acknowledge the sun to be satellite
of this little speek of clay, which we are the
short lived tenants. But we might come nearer
to our own times, for examples of this power of
prejudice, this pride of opinion, and find them
in the histories of Fulton and Clinton With
the first of these men, Mr.. Blake said, he was
well and intimately acquainted, and he had
i heard from his own lips the most melancholy
and notifying story of his Disappointment,
and the various impediments thrown in his way
, by ncredulity and prejudice. But what is the
result of his perseverance Fifteen hundred
steam boats are now traversng the rivers of
the United States, and all Europe is enjoying
the advantage of his labors. Almost as much
could be said of Clinton. Mr.. Blake said he
had been personally knowing to much of the
nR1oosste1 Ehfh lbs h ssp haad r scheme of
ment in his native State. He could mention
the names OF great number of men-gentle.
men OF learning, of science, of practical skill
OF great experience and fairness-some dead
and some living, who had treated Clinton's
proposition with contempt; and if he had not
been man of great frmness of nerve he would
have sunk under the ridicule and the sarcasm
that were poured upon him from every quarter.
1t was said by men who claimed a good share
OF Judgment, that the Erie canal could never
be constructed at an expense of less than fifty
millions OF dollars and yet both that and the
Northern canal, which was not at first contem.
plated, had been successfully completed for
considerably less than ten millions He men.
toned these things to show how natural it is
Tor men to suspect every project for improve
ment as useless and extravagant innovation
Bacon-the Friar-was charged with DEALING
with internal spirits, because he happened 10
know little of that science, which every
school boy IS now in possession Of He had no
doubt that the man who first invented the man.
ner of balancing meal bag on his horse with
any thing else thar stone, was met with scorn
and derlslon, as an innovator. In regard to this
plan of railroad to Albany Mr. Blake said he
had been one of the doubters. There was
time when he should have thought it as easy TO
scale Mont Blanc as to make a rail road over
some of the hills he had travelled on this route
Mr.. Il. then alluded TO the circumstance thai
the Commissioners had taken every possible
means to procure correct information. lie
thought 1t useless waste of time to discuss
any further the question of cost That rail
roads are superior to canals there was now no
question. The fact had been placed beyond
doubt. in respect to the utility of such road
il was utterly impossible for any man in his
senses to doubt. If the prosperity of the agri.
cultural interest were entirely out of the cues
ton, the utility in other respects was sufficient
70 justify the undertaking. But it is said Mas
sachusetts has no resources Massachusetts, is
poor-She is in debt-and would be mad to ex
pend money for rail road which she does not
need. But, according to his view, these con
siderations went for nothing. It was like a
man shifting piece of money from one hand
to the other. The eleven hundred thousand
dollars which it was contemplated to oxpend.
would, indeed, in part, go from one portion Of
the commonwealth to another, but there would
not be cent less in the aggregate. II is said
Massachusetts, has no resources. He undertook
to say, that she is at this moment richer in re-.
sources-freerfrom embarrasslnent-betters ble
TO carry on works of internal improvement than
any other State in the Union. What const;.
tuies the riches Of State' Not gold-not
mere dollars and Cents The richna &c N CO.