New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-02-13
NemYork DAILY @ribn,te
TO TIE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES.
LETTER XVIII.

Every i'm prov ement in the construction OF the ship
tspds 70 lessen the proportion borne by her tunnAge to
the weight Of the commodities to be moved. Every
Improvement in the quality of the commodities moved,
tende TO augment the proportions borne by the value
transported to the tunpage of the ships required for its
transportation. Here, Mr.. President is simple prin-
sple, by aid Of which may, perhaps, be enabled to
.nve at some conclusion in reference TO the tendency
Of our present policy-prOgress toward civilization
having, everywhere manifested itself in dimnutiou
IN the proportions borne by the machinery OF trans
portstion TO the value of the things transported
In the first year which followed the adoption of the
Compromise Tariff, that Of IS}4-j, we sent abroad
cotton and tobacco food and lumber, to the amount OF
ga 600 o00 and in that year the shipping, domestic
and foreign that cleared for foreign pors, amounted to
1880 900 tuns. SIX years later, IN l8iO-il, when that
Tariff had begun to operate, We exported OF the same
rude products $9S 600, 000-the quantity of shipping
clearing from our ports having, in the same PERIOD
risen TO 353 600 tuns. Two years since, as has been
shown the total value Of these exporswss $3.50 O00
while the quantity of shipping leaving our ports
amounted to little less than millions Of tuns-the
increase in the former in twenty years, having been
but $50 per cent while that OF the latter had been
nttle short of $50 per cent.
II there is Mr.. President, any single proposition in
social science that cannot be- disputed, IL is that
wealth civiiZ ation and power increase In the ratio
OF the dminuon OF the machinery required for per-
forming the work of transportation On the turnpike,
single horse performs the work that before had been
done by two; and the railroad single car trans
ports as great weight at first had been done by
hundreds Of horses and men, carts and wagons With
every movement in that direction, land becomes more
valuable, and man becomes more free. With each
and every one in the opposite direction the vaue Oh
land declines, and man becomes more and more en-
Lsved.
The first and heaviest tax Mr.. President TO be paid
by land and labor ia that Of Transportation and
the only 10 which the claims of the State itseii
are forced to yield precedence. increasing IN geo.
metricsl proportion the distance from market in'
tyesses automatically therefore il is that, agreeaby
to tables recently published corn that would produce
al market ga 10 per tun, worth nothing at as
lance OF only a hundred and sixty miles, when the
communication is by means OF the ordinary wagon
road-the cost of transportation being equal to the
selling prce. BY railroad, under ordinary circun-
stances that cost IL but 81 40lesving to the farmer
ST. s. the amount of tax saved TO him by the con-
structop Of the road and If we now take the product
Of IN acre OF land as averaging tuu the saving i.
equal 10 interest at sH per cent 1870 an acre. As
cunning the product OF an acre of wheat be twenty
bushels the saving equal to the int crest on 800
INIT If we take the more bulky products-hsy' no
tato,s and turnps-it will be found to amount Ia
thrice that sum. Hence 1t Is that an acre Of land
near London sels for thousands Of dollars, while one
of exactly equal quality may be purchased IN Iowa OF
Wisconsin for little more than single dollar. The
owner Of the first enjoys the vast advantage OF th
endsss motion OF IT'S produo's i'Vn Nv y.
crops in the wear and returning to II al once qusn
tity Of manure equal TO all he had sbstrscted ant
thur improving his land from year to year. ne
Plok,ng & mschioe; whereas hs western coinBeutol
forced 10 lose the manure, Is destroying one. ,tn.
no transportation to psy the former can raise to-
things OF which the earth yields largey-as Potatoe'
carrots, or turnps; tLose whose delicate charsc.e
oTb'ds that they should be carried to distant MAJ
and thus does he obtain large reward Tor tnat co
unuous application OF his faculties and VI ms lahu
which results frrm the power OF combination win III
tellow.men.
In the case Of the latter, all is widely d'hern
Having heavy Il transportation TO pay lie cannot ras
potatoes, turnps. hay, because OF them the cart
yields oy tuns As q consequence Of which they woui
be almost, even when not wholly, absorbed the roa
W market. lie may raise wheat, Of which the cart
yields by bushels, or cotton, OF which it yields b.
pounds; but II he raise Indian corn, he mus
manufacture II Ins pork before the cost Of trsnspor
tsboD can be 90 far dimini.hed ~ ~ ensble HIM 9
obtain proper reward for labor. Rotation Of crop
beng therefore, ting pnkpewp e LlIn, there ca