Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-02-09

house is built = not machine is
made-not an acre titled, without involving
the labor and expense of Transportation.
From the Constitution of DOR Govern
ment and the habits Of our people, this ex-
pense is proportionally greater among us,
probably than in any other country
We are peculiarly travelling, migratory
nation. The travel to aud from the COM
mon centre Of Government, including that
of the public officers, parties in the Federal
Courts, applicants for place, or justice, or
privileges, the interested and the curious Of
all classes, is immense In addition TO this,
the Capitals of the several States and Ter
rItories, attracting multitudes near and re-
mote the transmission of mails the con-
veyance of military forces and public stores:
the removal of families from place to place !;
and excursions for health or pleasure, for
the transaction of business, or the indul-
gence of the social affections, augment the
amount of inland transport, probably, be-
yond our most liberal conlectures.
The business Of transportation Of persons
and products is, therefore, very great busi-
ness, employing large numbers, and requir-
ing an immense amount of capital. Hardly
/ any vi Jul SOCltt1 10 ulOIG ICludT
BILE than this domestic commerce. Were
the apparatus at all times in operation to ef-
feet it, brought together, like that of a man
ufacturing establishment, in convenient cen
trail places, the amount would astonish us
The mere travelling expenses of family, for
a series. of years, are among its more consid-
cradle out goes. What il pays besides, in
directly, and unconsciously, for transporta-
ton, what is deducted from all it has to sell
and what is added TO all it has 10 buy, for
freight TO and from market, il reckoned up
by itself, and separated from every thing
else, would startle and terrfy an economi-
cal man. mddling farmer in Lebanon,
by actual calculation, transports TO and
from Concord, in the articles Of beef pork,
mutton, wool, cheese, grain, molasses and
salt, about five tons. The expense per hun
bred is half dollar; and the total amount,
of course, fifty dollars To this should be
added what he pays for transportation, in the
price of all his purchases at country stores.
Suppose it, however, TO be fifty dollars
Tie number OF families in town may be
four hundred If half Of them average this
amount of transportation, the whole cost
would be ten thousand dollars year. The
amount of transportation by the merchants
of Montpelier, as appears from their report,
I for the last year, is more than twenty-five
hundred tons, which, at the rate of eighty
cents hundred, is forty thousand dollars
If we take these towns as exhibiting the av-
erage transportation Of places similarly sit
uated, we see, at once that the tax imposed
upon us for the mere conveyance of mate
rails and products is vast public charge ;
and when added to the expenses before
mentioned for travel and communication
may not improperly be considered as an i'm
mense burden upon the national industry
And yet, the national production is not in
creased in quantity by all this expenditure
Could transportation be reduced to nothing,
the same soil, the same mechanical power,
the same human labor would produce ex-
actly the same amount for the supply of our
wants, and the indulgence of our tastes.-
And all the capital and industry now engag-
ed in the transportation, merely to carry us
and our products from place to place, with
out in the least changing those products
themselves, would be at liberty to be en-
ployed in actual production. The prodnc-
tive power of the country would be Just SO
much increased the wants of society Just
so much better supplied the wealth Of the
country so much augmented.
In this view, the matter seems almost too
plain TO be argued. Considering the coun-
try as one. aud its prosperity as the aggre-
gate prosperity of all its ports, making 40
distinction of New England interests, or
Western interests, or Southern interests, it
is as clear that Railroads, running in all d.
|
places, must be national benefits, as it is
that single farm is the better for having
easy access to every part Of it. Would
anything be more unreasonable than to con-
tend that a farmer in Montpelier, whose ara
BILE land now lies on the Winooski, his
pasture land in Williamstown, and his wood
land in Barre, would be none the better off
if he should find, next spring, that these
several parcels were all brought snugy to-
gether-the pasture skirling the meadow,
and the gray wood GROWING the hill that
rises behind? But what would be the prac-
teal use of this miracle, except to save him
the expense and Inconvenience of drawing
his wood and driving his cattle so far, and
of laboring at such distance from home T?
Let this all be saved to him by some invtn-
tloh WhlCn Wdhes ulstdhOS HothinS, dnu MS
scattered parcels are virtually brought to-
gether In the month Of September you
may see men, on the marshes which line the
sea-coast, laboriously bringing off their hay,
by hand, upon pair Of poles And did
an inland farmer ever look at them without
plying the poor fellows, obliged to make a
team OF themselves Tor want of good foot
ing for their cattle? And yet, it would be
not jot more absurd for these hay-makers
to object to having a firm road offered them,
at a moderate rate of toll, or for this Mont
! heller farmer TO object 10 havinn his tillane