The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-07-31


ties nsArrt New York. upon the line Of road raised
grain an butter-svery ono has heard Of Orange
county utter. a w p1
Gas son, however. a. ths railroad was opensd
hrouglthese counties. The farmers discovered they.
'ould mike more money by sending other articles
to MARIE; or rather by sending rheir products in
difyerst shape, and the consequence IL, that now
instead pr sending grain aud butterJ they send
milk to New York. This road brings daily into
New Yok nearly 100, 900 quarts Of milk, much of
/ is broght distance Of 100 miles. The farmers
here fand out that The products Of their farms
we're with more in the shape Of milk than In any
ther wy; and it has proved itself to be twice a.
yaluablto them in this shape ~ in any other. The
onsequnce 10, that the farms In that region Of
ountryaave increased in value from $40 and $50
in acre!o 800, and even 8 100 per acre; while
he fara still more remote from New York, say
$50 or 30miles, which, before the construction Of
he roadvere worth from ten to fifteen dollars
,cre, nowreadily bring from fifty to seventy-Hve
dollars pc acre"
1t doesnot concern usto inquire whether the
above calculations are strictly accurate or not.
The result to which they lead is one thathas
been verified by the experience of every region
m which improved modes Of transportation have
been substituted for inferior. The whole saw
ng, in tln cost of getting the produce Of the
and exchanged, has been added to its value.
Nobody las been injured by the process, but
everybod has been benefited, for the cost to
he consumer is not increased. Agricultursts
ire beginning to appreciate their interest in
bringing themselves into proximity with their
customer, by facilitating and cheapening the
cost oftleir going to the latter 1t is a strange
thing tia they will not take another step, and
accomplish the same end by bringing the con-
sumner to them.
The cost Of railroad of one hundred miles in
length ischeaply estimated at two millions and
a half ,fdollars. The amount of It's advantage
to the 'crupiers of the land lying upon it, is,
that treluces the effective distance of each of
them fpn market in the proportion of 100 to
10, ascompared with the turnpikes which we
may suppose to haze previously existed. The
most distant upon the line has for all financial
purposs moved his land to within nineteen
miles T the point where its products must be
sold But it is plain that this advantage
diminihes, as we recede on either side from
the Inc Of the road, in the inverse proper
ton. The farmer living off the track can
compile with him at its extremity only by
|'keepig within such line that the distance
which crops have to be hauled by team in
creass but nineteen hundredths of a mile for
everymile that the railroad transportation is di-
minlsled. This being the case on each side,
it follows that the effect of the railroad is
summed up in the statement that it has made a
paralelogram one hundred miles long and nine
teen road Of the same value as the nineteen
milesTuare, Immediately surrounding the mar
ket, previous to its construction.
The amount expended in the construction of
one Kindred miles of railroad would pay for the
erectim of twenty-five manufacturing estab-
lishmmts, costing one hundred thousand dollars
each. 1t would have made twenty-five mills
capable of working up two thousand bales of
cotton each per annum. 1t would have made
three times that number of furnaces, each of
them capable of producing FIVE thousand tons of
pig ron per week. If we suppose it divided
equally we should have fifty mills and fur
naces scattered over a surface of nineteen hun
bred square mlles-one TO every thirty eight
square miles-about the size of an ordinary
township. This would bring every producer
within seven piles of market, and reduce his
expense of transportation, as compared with the
redrtQn effected by railroad, to less than
onelhrd.
llt the question may be started in respect TO
the ,xtcnt of such a market. This there is no
mole Of estimating, for ii constantly increases.
TIE operatives who work in the factory or
mil draw about them those who make their
clolrss, their shoes, and minister to every other
wateXcept that ofiood. Each ofthose who comes
forthat purpose brings with him wants Of his
own, which require the services Of still fresh ar
tiars, and all Of them must be fed, and clothed,
AMI housed, and kept warm by the labors of the
neghboring farmer. The progress is in geo
m,trical; and not simply an arthmetical ratio;
aud the only way in which a proper conception
Of its npidity can be obtained il by watching
tie growth of the villages which cluster about
manufactures.
Those who have seen, or in the South are
new witnessing, the wonderful effect Of such
towns upon the surrounding country, will have
n, difficulty in believing that the market which
o,e of them supplies is better and surer than
that small share in distant though larger one
which is available TO the man who has TO 90 a
hundred miles TO reach it, and meet there the
ntivators Of circle Of twice their diameter.
But we had no further purpose than TO accrl-
nulate testimony to the general proposition that
al the freight Of agricultural products is
charge upon them, and upon the land which
bears them. IL follows from this. that recon-
to the farmers and planters TO depend
upon foreign markets is equivalent TO asking
them to keep their lands at the lowest possible
value to which they can be reduced.
Why riH our venerable contemporary Of the
Union continue to make himself laughing
stock by appearing in public astride Of that
wretched, broken-down hobby--the alleged pc
IL. A. ~. = a