The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-04-08
CHE a'alne nf &ailruads,
The Proftableness of the Expenditures o.
Public Money in Railways.

The Proftableness of the Expenditures Of
Public Money in Railways.
FROM THE MINORITY REPORT OF THE CON.
aREssIoNAL COMMITTEE ON PACIFIC RAIL
WAYS.
In England, in the prc-railway. times,
the rates Of tonnage by earth roads aver
aged 26 cents per ton per mile. The stage
wagons charged $50 for hauling ton OF
goods tronl London to Birmingham, a dis
tance of 113 miles. From London to
Leeds, l90 miles, the enormous gum OF
S65 ton was charged. The freight
charge by canal for the general bulk OF
goods was s cents per ton per mile. The
railroads came and carried q ton of goods
25 miles the hour for u cents per mile,
and carried passengers for the same price
against All average charge by the old
coaches of III cents mile. The journey
by mail from Doncaster to London, l56
miles, cost $40 inside and Sc outside, and
consumed 20 hours OF time The railway
now carries passengers between those two
cities in hours time, at cost OF S5 81
first class, and SIS % second class. Paria
mentary returns of the railway traffic OF
England from 1913 to 1865 furnish evi.
dcnce that the transportation of passen.
gers and goods by rail has been six times
greater than it was before the introduc-
ton of railways, and that the saving et-
fectcd by the railways in cheapening fares
and freghts in single year, 1856, was
$3.50, ,OO0,U1O sum larger than the entire
taxation Of the United Kingdom. This
result, very imperfect because it does not
include the value Of the time sayed to
252 900, ,OUO of passengers who Travelled by
rail that year, is amazing. Accepted and
applied as measure of the worth of IL
system Of steam highways that shall
cover the United States, G must be seen
at O flash that within tine scope OF federal
action there is no Use Of the public money
or property 80 profitable and SO economi
cal and so benefcent DIS that which aids
the construction Of railroads-national by
their length and cost; national by their
passage through the public domain; ma
tional as avenues to distant States and
Territories; national in their benefits
national as part of the military defence
of the United States; and more than
national in the relation to the commerce
of a third Of the world.
The value of q wagon load OF wheat is
consumed by the cost OF hauling it on
common earth roads 800 miles. Indian
curn will bear profitable transportation on
the ground on y lU0 miles. Before the
construction of the Erie canal, and only
43 years ago, the city of New York was
almost wholly cut off from the trade of
the State of New York. The wheat and
potash of the centre and west Of the
State were foated down the Delaware and
Susouehannas rivers to Philadelphia and
Baltimore. The canal finished terminated
the rivalry of cities on the Atlantic coast.
1t made New York the commercial
emporium of tho nation. 1t not only
seized the products of the earth and forest
I'M to the foot of Lake Erie, but ntortgaged
the labor of the armies of emigrants that
poured through it into the wilderness
where now arc northern Ohio, Michigan,
northern Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.
The property owners of New York city
resisted tho construction of the Erie canal.
1t has long been manifest that they could
proftably have taxed themselves for the
cost of the work if the State had not
borne the expense.
All of tie native residents of the State
of New York above 50 years old. who live
On the Central Railroad, have seen the
six-horse, eight-horse, and mne'horse
teams attached to the vast Conestoga
wagons watch maintained commerce be-
tween Buffalo and Albany before the
existence of the Eric Canal. The canvas
coored vehicles rolled and pitched over
the clay reads like ships in swell and
consumed 20 days in the westward TRIP
With such machinery of transportation
ut once insufficient and most costly, 1t
was not possible tor the farmers OF the
new country to market the products OF
their labor. They were . very poor
people. The return trips of the wagons
were generally empty. The commerce
from Philadelphia west over the Alleghe-
ny mountains had the same anreciprocal
and wasteul character of freights in only
one direction, consisting of manufactured
articles principally essential to the support
of human life and tho subjugation OF the
wilderness. The economy of water navi
cation first, and aftcrward of the railroad
vitalized the industry cf the two great
States and much of the region west OF
them. Labor found u market, and men
became free. Tho amount of Western
products that reached Tide. water by cana
in ls49 was 4l9 900 tons In 1851, wher
! tho Erie Railroad was opened, and the