The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-02-10
KEoKUK. IOWA.

.. IL AAhhAs
KEoKUK. IOwAs
SUNDAY MORNING, FEB. 10.
WHO PArs COST OF rRxnsronrA.
TION.
"when writer will 80 outrage common ssnse
and the teachings Of expsrisnes ~ 70 seriously
contend that whom We, ~ people exchange our
agricultural products for the manufactured goods
Of England, We "are at the expense Of taking
our products to the market Of consumption, ~ we'll
Is the expense Of bringing home the merchandise.
received in exchange" all that need Be said Of
him is just what the Republicans says Of the Carr
Cry" saeA Ignorance 10 dissrocVfsi- "-Cbassffs-
fion.
We will not pay the readers of the CARE
CRY, the poor compliment. Of supposins they
entertain the slightest doubt Of the correct
ness of the position of the GArE CIrY, ~ to
the party who pays the costs of Transports
ton. But We would like TO promps them to
enlighten the readers Of the Consultation, by
adducing some familiar illustrations, within
the province Of their own experience and
observation, that in seeing the sbsurdity Of
the advocates Of Free Trade upon this point,
they may suspect the soundness Of their
theory throughout.
farmer ten miles from mill, who
wants -four, or meal, don't expect
the miller to bring it to him, but loads up his
wheat or corn, hauls il to the mill, and gets
it ground, or exchanges it for -four and meal,
and hauls it home. He 10 at the expense Of
transportation both ways.
The farmer wants lot Of goods from .
neighboring town, and expects to sell, or ex>
change produce, to get them, he loads up his
butter, chickens, potatoes, &C., and drives to
town, disposes of his produce, and takes the
goods purchased, back with him, at his own
expense.
A stock raiser, has let of cattle, which
he takes by rail, or otherwise, to New York,
paying freight through on them. A stock
raiser, in New York State, Fifty miles from
the city, takes an equal lot, at the same time,
and gets the same price that the Iowa farmer
did. They both paid cost Of transportation,
which is to be deducted from the price re-
ceived and the Iowa farmer carries home
less money than the New York farmer, by
the amount, of the difference against the for
mer in the cost Of transportation.
So the farmer who lives fifty miles from
Keokuk gets the same price for his produce
in Keokuk, that the farmer who lives three
miles from Keokuk and to ascertain the nett
proceeds, which each receives, the cost OF
getting it to keokuk must be deducted. And
On exactly, it is in regard to the salt and iron,
or whatever else they buy, and take home with
them. Each farmer pays both ways, and
hence the advantage of living near town, and
the reason that land near the city is worth
more than land at distance.
The same principle holds good if you make
The price of wheat is, say So 90 per bushel
The English farmer, ten miles from Liver
pool, gets that price for his wheat, delivered
there, and the Iowa farmer gets precisely ths
same and if they buy anything, to tax,
home with them, each pays the cost of get
ting it home.
How utterly absurd it would be to expec
that the Liverpool merchant pays the cost o
transportation TO the Iowa farmer. when b,
don't pay the Iowa farmer ceut more thar
he pays the English farmer, for his wheat
and don't sell him his goods for cent less
although the Iowa farmer transports his trap,
four or five thousand miles, while the English
farmer, by the supposition takes his but ter
miles.
These plain propositions, obvious to ever,
mans experience, AMI common sense, art
stated in general terms, by DR.. Adam Smith
IN his Wealth of Nations, and we believe
were never contested by any political econo.
mist, of any authority in any country. We
quote him the more readily because the Free
Traders rely on him as an authority, in theil
favor, and because he sets forth, so beautiful
ly and so truly, the importance and the bene
hts OF domestic commerce, and local ex-
changes over foreign commerce, while enun
ciating the principle, that the former rays
cost Of transportation both ways.
He says:
1.-The great commerce of every civilized soeiet,
Is that carried on between the inhabitants of III,
town and th use Of the country. 1t consists in the
exchange Of rude for manufactured produce, eli
Their immediately, or by the Intervention Of money
or of some sort Of paper which represents money
The country supplies the town with the means Of
subsistence and the materials of manufacture
The town repays this supply, by sending back a
part Of the manufactured produce to the inhabi.
tsn.s Of the country. The own, in which there
neither is, nor can be, any reproduction of sub
stances, may very properly be said to gain it,
whole wealth and subsistence from the country
We must not, however, upon this account, imagine
that the gain of the town is the loss of the coun
try. The gains Of both are mutual and reciprocal
and the division Of labor IL in this, ~ in all other
cases, advantageous to all the different persons
employed in the various occupations into which il
10 subdivided. The Inhabitants of the country
purchase of the town q greater quantity OF man u
featured goods with the produce Of a much small
or quantity Of their own labor, than they mus,
have employed had they attempted to prepare
themselves The town affords market for the
surplus produce of the country, or what is over
and above the maintenance of the cultivators
and it Is there that the inhabitants OF the country
exchange it for something else which is in de
mand among them. The greater the number and
revenue of the inhabitants of the town, the more
extensive is the market which 1t sfolds TO those
OF the country; and the more extensive that mar
ket, it is always the more advantageous to great
number. The corn which grows within . mile OF
which comes from twenty miles distance. But the
price OF the latter must, generally. not only pay
the expense Of raising it and bringing it to mar
kei, bat afford, too, the ordinary profits Of agri-
cultur TO the farmer. The proprietor. and cnif,
eaters n the country, therefore. chieh he. ~ IA,
neighb1rhood Of the torn, and above the ord
mary prefss Of agriculture, gain, ~ the price o.
rAot they seH fhe uhole raise of the cariag. Of "a,
IKE produce that 81 brought from more distan
part' aud they .are, besides, The rAoie vatse o.
As carriage IN ths price Of vhat they buy. Com.
pare the cultivation of the lands in the neiGhbor
hood OF any considerable town. with that or those
which lie at some distance from il and you will
easily satisfy yourself how much the country i.
penented BY the commerce Of the town"
CANAL AROUND THE RAPIDs.
The Washington special of the Chicago
Tribune Of the 9TH has the following in regard
TO the acton on the improvement of thu