New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-12-11

'oStoiy uIu Tue hlQe-Wu1I OttcutA tm1StuottOn
foresfadswed. They carry hin 90 rapidly thatdis-
lance becomes q fact for the laad- surveyor and
geoerapher, but not for the traveller aud common
carrier. When day takes man or a ship. load
from this city into the heart of Ohio. and another
day into Illinois, aud another day or so into Kan.
sas, IL union of the States is confirmed. and the
agency which keeps it together is no longer de-
peIdent on paper sc reement, but the ,igamentsare
bar ds of iron not to be broken That is duty
Of the first rank for Congress so to egislate that
railroads shall be extended as fast as possible aud
repdered valuable, is clear; for they are indis-
pensable to our nationality aud prosperity Let
Us examine, therefore, for a moment how far the
action of our Federal legislation inclines toward
the best development of our railroad system; not
BY making or refusing to make railroads, but
simply through the operations of it's general COM
mercial policy.
Although the earnings Of the chief roads have
very greatly increased during the past three or
four years, the price Of their stock has fallen.
Taking twenty four such roads, we find that their
receipts are six millions grester in 1854 than in
1853 and yet their stocks in 1855 have fallsn from
what they we're worth in 1864 by Que fourth of
their exchsDgesble value Taking, therefore, all
the railroads through the United States, the fall in
their values has been nearly two hundred millions
of dollars, with prospect of its reaching three
hundred millions And this, with the fact staring
us in tie face that the receipts of the year 1855
have increased nearly fifty per cent over those of
1854! The reason Why railroad shares are thro vn
on the market-and the best are sold as recklessly
az the fancies-arites from the scarcity of money,
which in turn arises from the fact that the chief
business of Congress has been to egisate so as to
faver foreign countries, especially England, aud
iniure our own. We import one hundred millions
ia cloth and iron which shoxld be manufactured at
home, and we export fifty millions in gold which
should remain in circulation among our people.
This simple fact may well be set down as an in
stance of reckless folly that might cause the ad-
mrers of popular government to despair
At the head of the army of spendthrifts stand
the very railroad com )anies most interested in
economy They do their best to destroy duties on
iron, and refuse to change their suicidal course.
Cheap iron from England they want that is to
say monopoly by the English iron masters who
on destroying all competition can put up prices
to whatever point they choose. These railroad
men make constant war on the domestic iron
trade, and are paying accordingly for their error.
As q general thing the railroad stocks not at par
are below it simply on account of British Free
Trade. Don este furnaces are closed, workuen
are scattered ard 20 west or crowd into the cities,
new roads must be made to the new regions pre-
maturely settled and then the cry for foreign
iron in the face Of the fact that reduction of duty
is sy anonymous with enhancement of price. Mean
while from this cause alone immigration is cut
down this year by one halt. Such policy has
neither fact, philosophy, justice nor humanity to
warrant it,
Of the war made by British manufacturers
against American interests an idea may be formed
from the following extract from report made to
the British Parliament at it's last session:
~ believe that the laboring classes generally in the
manufacturing isticts of this country and especially
In the iron and cal distrcts very little of
the txtept to which they often indebted for their
being empo, ed at all to the in mense losses which
their employers voluntarily ncur 10 ad times 10 order
TO destroy fo eign competition and TO gain and keep
p session of foreign markets. Authentic instances
are well known Of employers having in such times
carried their works at loss amounting in the az
giegee to $500 600 900 600 In the of three
or tour years If the efforts of those who encourage
the CON bnsti9Ds TO restrict the amount Of labor and to
produce strikes to be successful for any length of
time the erea. sccumulatiofs of capital could no
longer be made which enable few of the most wealthy
capitalists to overwhelm all foreign composition in
times OF great depression, and thus to clear the way
for the whole trade to step in when prices revive and
TO cury on grea. business before foreign capita can
egsn sccuK uate to such an extent as to be able 10 es.
tabl.h competition in prices with any chance Of
cess The large capitals of this court are the great
Instruments of warfare If the expression may be al.
lowed against the competing capital OF foreign coun
tries ana are the most essential instruments now re
naming by which our manufacturing supremacy can
be maintained; the other els ments-chesp labor,
abundance Of raw materials, means Of com nunics
ton, and skilled sbOr-beng rapidly in process Of be-
irg equalzed.'
To adopt the words of the eminent political
economist Mr.. Carey in q recent pamphlet upon
this subject d" The miller who saw that water was
abundant, and was all the time running over his
" dam, while his mill was not doing half work.
"woud feel assured that it was required he
should raise bis dam, and thus prevent the water
g from running off before it had done its work
" That is precisely what we need. Our dam is too
low; and because it is so, the gold is all running
" off without doing any work. Let us raise the
" dam and hold the gold for time, and then money
will be plenty, stocks will rise, animation will
" exist throughout the country and roads will be
readily made Instead of this our railroad frends
ARE all the time seeking to lower the dam and let