Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1853-04-22

| foEhEoS OF THE ART OF TRANSFORMATIONS
West ID. Humphreys, Esq, has written anG
laid upon our table pamphlet on railroad i'm
proyements, from which we gather the follow
ing curious and interesting facts of history:
/ Highway robbers did not disappear as a
marked feature of the English population, till
the turnpike system began. Christianity itself
was flrst propagated along the great paved Ro
man roads, the remains of which are to this day
the admiration of the curious. The state Of
the roads in all old countries NAV be taken as a
correct test not only of the state of trade, but
OF all the arts of civilization. Consequently
you find in all civilized countries the ablest and
the best men engaged in endeavoring to cheap
en- the cost of producing things and the cost OF
carrying them from one point to another by wa
ter and by land; for in so doing, they defuse the
means OF comfortable subsistence among the
masses of men who would not otherwise be
able to obtain them, in consequence of their
poverty. Go to the louse of the humble farm
er and you will find there sugar, coffee tea salt.
knives, guns, silk and other articles, which
come to him at as reasonable prices from the
most distant countries, you will find him ma
king cotton or tobacco, or provisions, which go
to the Indies, or that find their way to England,
France, or Germany, though he may sell them
in neighboring village and may never know
their destination. Now, withdraw the steam
engine from the manufacture and transporta-
ton Of the leading necessaries OF civilized life,
and they instantly rise in value and scarcity to
such all extent that their consumption would be
confined to the rich, comparatively small por-
ton of every community. Hence, say Smith,
Say, Chambers and Mill, the poor are the most
of all interested in the progress of labor-saving
cOntrivanCes, for it increases their employment
and their wages and reduces the cost of the nee
essarieS of life.
Before the introduction of steam navigation,
about lS+7, the whole upward commence of
New Orleans was conveyed by about 20 barges
carrying each about 200 tones, and making
but one trip per year, longer period than is
now required to make an East India voyage
On the upper Ohio, about $50 keel boats were
employed, each of The burden of about 80 tons,
making the trip from Louisville TO Pittsburg
about three times per year. The whole amount
of the tonnage of the boats navigating the
Ohio and Mississippi was about $500. The
heavily laden boats were propelled against the
current by poles, or where the streams was too
deep, it was drawn by ropes. The boatman
obliged by the heat Of the climate to throw his
clothing off, and exposed to the burning sun,
was forced TO travel on the heated sand, to wade
through mire, to climb precipitors banks, to
push his way through brush and to -ead along
the undermined shore. After n day spent in
the most exhausting toll, he then threw himself
down to sleep, exposed to the noxious damps
and exhalations, and the ferocious attacks of
millions Of mosquitoes; he falls asleep amidst
the belowings of the alligator in the swamps.
lMcGTegor's Statistics, p. 500.
What a ritv tbat tl.a should lor
Sgr-.S1 1-itSc mes. Cmt loy'llci, ere IS
pecally as they delivered sugar at Nashville 5y
the barrel at % cents per pound, salt at 80 80
per pushel, and other supplies at the same pro-
portionate cost
The comparative cost of transporting freights
BY railroad and by wagons as applicable to the
aggregate wants of a community, is fixed by
Charles Elliott, superintendent of public works
in Virginia, at q cents per ton per mile by
railroad and Is cents per ton per mile by Nc
Adamized roads. This is presume, allowing
a fair interest on the cost of constructing and
keeping up each road, and must OF course vary
according to distance and other circumstances.
Without undertaking to be accurate on this
subject, | can appeal to established facts to
prove that the cost of wagon transportation
from New York city to Buffalo, before the con
struction of the canal, was s. per hundred by
they could reduce it to 80 cents per hundred,
and that it is now reduced by railroad and canal
at from 30 to rs cents. The superintendent of
the New York canals in report to the legisa
ture, takes barrel of -four from Detroit to New
York, thus: From Detroit to Buffalo, y! cents,
thence to Albany % cents; Hudson river to n.
York IL cents, in all so cents, again rs cents
by canal" This is cost to the railroad and
profit to the canal. He says, "it is evident that
the canal can and will be affected at its pres
ent capacity by railroad competition. IT is ca
sv to see how much saving is effected by rail
road and canal in reducing the charge from
S5 per hundred to 40 so or 20 cents per hun
dred. The wagon charge from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg was S. per hundred. The trans
portation of certain articles of heavy farm pro-
duee is now reduced 70 IS cents as appears by
the tariff of charges just issued by the railroad
company" Dickson and Humphreys county
pay now so cents per hundred on tobacco to
ClarksvilIe, or to Nashville, or S. so a hogs
head of 1900 lbs, worth perhaps $50. Cannot
any man see why people, so situated are Meth
er able to sell nor to buy much, and that the
country remains comparatively without wealth
and without population. ."-Nash. Ban.