New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-10-05


formsrt psrticul,rize. the road intended 20 con
rect the Nshonoy or niidle coal fed With tia
T., adirg Road upon which .eyerI hunlrei thols-
aud dollars bad been expended, and the Cati-
wisss Road that had already cost from oae 70
two millions OF dollsrs.
Within the coal rrgion there hal been exPe1d-
ed vast amount of money for TIC opening OF
mines. The making OF roads other than railroads
the building If houses ani towns the erection OF
s,tsm-speines, AMI other purposes; AMI wl1hOu'
tie region the amount invested ia cinal-ooa's ami
horses for the transportation Of nearly million
of tuns-the first coal transported on the Reafog
Railroad having passed at the close OF l';l-was
very large. TIE average quantity that could. IN
the then state of canal navigation be sent to
market in ,esson by boat, with its sing'e
horse, did not exceed seven hundred tuns aud as
the average cost OF boat and its equipments
was about SEQ. it follows that the capital EN-
yioyed IN ihi, manner alone must have been one
dollar for every tun transported, or, IN the whole
about million OF dollars.
Seeing these facts our readers can scarcely, We
think. hesitate 10 agree with us in the belief that
the amount of capital that had thea been applied
10 tie work of preparation for supplying tle
! market with coal was not much oSer-estmated st
slxty millions of dollars, and we may nov look TO
its product. The quantity sent 10 market in the
ls.t year OF the British free trade experiment
that was closed BY the passage of the act OF i>i!
vas million of tuns. and were We even TO take
three dollsrs and half as the average price, II
would give but three and half millions OF dollars
as ME total produce of years labor; and II
the whole had been divided among those who
had furnished means for tie work, ii would
have given them less than Elk per cent. The
actual cost Of q tun OF coal, however, at that
time, paying any reasonable wages TO the peo-
PIE engaged in mil ing il, aud any fair compen-
sstion for the labor of Evaporation, could not
have been less than three dollars. or nearly the
price at which it sold, leaving nothing for the
owner Of the land. nothing for the wear and tear
of machinery, nothing for the use OF railroads
and canals, and nothing for the commission mer-
chants. If all Of them had remained unpaid the
capitalist might have gotten something less
than legal interest. As it was the lsborer
had half wsges and be and his family suffered
the land owner obtained but little rent
the canal boat earned bali wages for its
Op Der--and thus was left a tribe for the own
ers OF canals railroads. and o:her permanent
Improvements; but even they could not, as
we are assured, and as we have many reasons
to believe, have had six per cent. interest, had
they divided among Themselves the whole receipts
from the trade, without deduction for the coal in
the land for the labor of mining 1t, for it's carriage
to the canals, tor the services Of the operators,
for the transportation to the CRY, for the COM
mission of the coal merchant for the hire of the
wharves at which i. was loaded, or for the labor
OF putting il in the vessel by which was to be
carried away.
The natural consequence Of this, our intor-
msnt states, and as our readers may naturally
Imagine to have been the case, was that the
Whole OF the great coal region was one vass scene
OF oesoaton. Mines were everywhere absn-
doned aud machinery everywhere going to ruin.
Houses were tenantless. Rails were being worn
out and roads were becoming impossible for
want of means to repair them. Canal boats
we're being used up, aad none were being built.
Everybody was desirous to scratch out OF the
existing capital the means of existence, but no.
body was wiling to iDvest a dollar for any pur
pore OF improv, ment. LandholJeLs obtained little
or nothing for their property, and those in debt
were everywhere in the hands of the sheriff.
OPP rators were everywhere ruined, and canal and
railroad stockholders their wives and their chill
dren found themselves deprived OF dividends. II
was, however, as is always the case with the
periods of British free trade, time of harvest
for the MIDDLE men--deolers 10 coal. Tney could
do large business on small capital, and the
coal operators were SO distressed that they were
willing to accept money on any terms. Already
ruined, they felt that any further loss must fall
Oh their creditors and not on themselves
Such Was the picture presented by this most
important trade-the one, OF all others, most
becessary to the country as furnishing Po1er-st
the close Of our first experiment of horizontal
tariff constructed solely with a view to revenue
and intended TO carry into full effect the idea Of
British free trade; and our readers may be dis
posed to pause now for moment TO look at it.
Doing 50 they will see that at the close of twenty
years OF most sssiduous labor the consumption
Of coal had risen from almost nothing 10
million of tuns-that the community had thus
been enabled to substitute the best and most
powerful fuel in the world for the very inferior
wood they bad been accustomed to consume
that they were paying but little more than
three dollars for more heat than they had pre-
'iousiy obtained for ten or twenty-that with
this heat they had obtained porsr, and had been
enabled to apply steam to en- infinite variety Of
manufacturing purposes, and that thus they had
prnffrd To- nm extent acarcelY TO be cAlcua fed--