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


come upon the farmer For the transport
tation is all either deducted from the price
of his pork and cheese, or added TO the cost
of the goods he buys
Be this greater or less, he pays it. The
ieamster and the merchant are, in this re-
speci, his agents, connecting him with the
market, and paid, by him, for doing so.---
Whatever he gets for his surplus hay and
grain, above what he would have obtained,
had there been no team employed in This
transportation, he in fact pays from his own
pocket. 1t is his transportation and as
we have seen, paid for by him, in his deal
ings with the merchant. Itmatters not with
whom he deals be may carry his own pro-
ducts to market, and bring back his own
purchases, or he may deal with one, who
deals with another who goes to the market
But, at last, in one way or another, lie who
produces things that must be transported be-
fore they are consumed, or buys things that
must be brought to him from distance,
paws the cost of the transport. 1t may es-
cape his notice, but il cannot be evaded !;
other men never pay for Transporting his
things. What is true Of one farmer is true
of ALL The whole body Of agrculturists,
comprising, in the United States, seventy
seven in every hundred of the population,
and out of the cities a much larger proper
ton, are paying, in some form, the immense
expense Of conveying their bulky products
TO the market, and bringing from thence the
iron, salt, -four, molasses, plaster, and other
heavy commodities received by them in re-
turn.
Nor is this the whole Of the burden i'm
posed upon the agricuturist by an expen-
sive transportation He feels it whenever
he, or members Of his family, travel by the
public coaches; and in The incidental ex-
penses by the way. The fare from Boston
10 Albany, by the Railroad, distance of
$50 miles, is S4 from Boston to Monpe-
lier, by Stage. little more than $50 miles, it
is 81. II now takes two days TO 90 from
Montpelier, to Boston; if a Railroad were
made, it could be done in eight hours, and
the expense of living on the way nearly, or
entirely, saved. The single item Of time in
this amount of savings is of no inconsidera-
bic moment. Suppose the speed of the car
to be but three times that ofthe stage coach,
the same amount of travel would be per-
formed by one third the number ofmen now
upon the road; and ihree-fourths of the
multtudes, a, present taken from the va
rious calling Of life, and spending their time
most unproftably and uncomforiabiy, in be-
ing dragged over melancholy lengths of way
would be added TO the industrial, productive
power of the country. fr,.
Again the farmer, in the interior, is
nearly precluded, by the cost Of transporta-
ton, from the. use Of certain manures in
dispensabe to the highest culture OF our
soil Were the freight reduced, as it would
be by this improvement, lime, abundant in
particular localities, might come into gene
raj use; plaster, so well adapted to many of
our crops, would be brought from the sea-
board in large quantities; and even the ar
tificial manures manufactured in the cities
could be advantageously carried to some dis
lance into the country. If then our agri-
culture is really burdened with the transport
of the products aud the purchases of the
population, how clear it is, that the cheaper
this transport is made. the better it is for
the farmer how plain it is, that the sup
posed advantage Of a market, occasioned by
men aud teams engaged in conveyance of
persons aud commodities, is a mere illusion,
the receip; of money with one hand, which
is Immediately paid out with the other. la
truth, community no more finds uuneces-
sary horses and carriages, good husbandry
and good economy, than single family does.
And it would be hardly more wise for a
state TO keep men and teams for the purpose
of eating up their surplus hay and grain,
and bacon and eggs, than it would be for
an individual to do So If there is cheap
er mode of conveyance, on the whole, for
the commodities of our country. than those
now in use, the expenses of maintaining the
dearer falls, ultimately. on the consumer,
that is, on the men whose products and pur-
chases aud persons are conveyed--the
very men who imagine themselves to be
getting high prices and ready sale for their
agricultural products, in consequence of
keeping men and horses to consume those
products.
The agriculturalist, il is true, is not the
only person Interested all classes bear their
part of the expense, because all have more
or less occasion to travel or transport; all
consume commodities. which have paid
| freight, and nearly all create values TO be
carried to distant market. The principal
weight falls, however, ont the farmer and the
manufacturer, because they are, both from
Their superior numbers and the nature of
their occupations, the great producers and
the great consumers.
If il be denied, that Rail Roads are, in
the main, cheaper than other means of COLI
veyance, it is obvious to reply, that unless
they prove so, they will not snpercede other
means; if they prove so, it must be folly TO
maintain the dearer
1t is, however, by no means certain that
the construction Of Rail Road tends ultl-
mately to diminish the use Of animal power
in the country. These roads can be intro
duced only along great tborouphfares 10 the