Litchfield enquirer., 1872-03-14
TAE wooDsuRY RA,LaoAD.e.

1 0OD6UMrR RAIkRO@0sA
 Woodburysis profoundly excited over the question of branch Naugatuck rail Iroad fo that place. We understand that the Eaugatuek railroad will give about two thirds the sum necessary for the en- terprise provided individuals oa the line line will furnish the other third. As will be seen by our Woodbury correspondent the route is to be surveyed and careful estimates made of it's cost. Then Wood bnry peope will know exactly what they must do to get their railroad. In the meantime serious opposition has started, as 1t always does in such cases. There is l . rush of long communications in the last Waterbury, American, opposing the scheme. We give the following sample of the arguments used: la =. We cannot saos0 seU farms, and yet some of our farmers who desire to dispose of their farms and engage in more remu- nerative labor, delnded by the mistaken | notion that railroad will increase the de- mand for farms, may vote in it's favor. Farming now pays the nsissinsat,a profit, and while as before intimated, with rail road taxes will be ifevitably yincreased and profits diminish. Why, if the facilities for. transporting Western grain are in- creased, our Burtons will not grind the corn which you raise unless you will pay them therefor 3a c0ia, and at the same time will furnish the fruits, grains, and vegetables of the west at price so much less than you can raise the same, that you will be unable to sell enough of the pro- duce of your farms to raise money enough to pay your taxes. a 5asi z 1zf@. zat elI I've cannot not now sell far1nr" Is that the case in Woodbury? Farmers who live on lines of railroads make no such complaint s 1l4s ?. .-sltts@ -4T Gsa,
 The latter portion of the paragraph quoted above relies SO undisguisedly up- On the fundamental fallacy that underlies the country farmers opposition to rail- road extension, that we must make brief reply. The false assumption, clearly set forth, is this: s'The Woodbury farmer can- not compete with the West in raising grain and many other farm products.
 Therefore, impede transportation so that grain will cost half as much again in Woodbury as in New York, and you are doing. the Woodbury farmer favor; for you enable him to compete with the West.
 On the other hand, every project tolessen the cost of transportation threatens him with ruin from increased competition. Now, in point of fact, transportation can not be so obstructed as to make it profit able for the Woodbury farmer to raise grain. He must rely on dairy and other products that he is obliged also to trans port to city markets. Hence costly trans portation tells against him in two ways. It increases the cost of the flour, grain, &c., he must buy abroad, and 1essens the net proceeds of his own produce that he must sell abroad. The tendency of New England agriculture, in short, is to "spe- cialties,' ' to the raising of tobacco, of dairy products, and the sale of milk. Our soil is not rich enough to enable us to compete with the west except in few special branches of agriculture for which cheap and Gas in the case of milk speedy transportation is indispensable. What the Woodbury farmer wants, therefore, is easy access to city markets. There he buys grain cheaper than he can raise it, coal cheaper than he can cut wood, and sells a few products, to which he devotes his whole attention, at tremuneratiye prices. To be successful, in short, the New Eng land farmer of our day needs to be in the world, and not out of it. -. r',-'
 In.regard to another wild statement that we notice in the Woodbury letters word of explanation is necessary. It is there stated that sirtee1s maiU tar has been made necessary in Morris by theirrailroad subscription. This is plainly a mistake
 The amount of tax that any railroad sub scription will necessitate is very easy matter to calculate: For every one per cent of grand list voted, the tax neces- sary to meet interest Cat six per cent. will be 6-10 ofa mill. A five per cent sub- scription, therefore, requires three mill tax to meet it's interest. In all cases, we believe, the towns on the Shepaug line
 have been able to borrow the money to pay their subscriptions at six per cent
 If, therefore, Morris lays g sixteen mill tax, she needs thirteen mills of it for other purposes than to meet her railroad in- @oraue :. When ,ve knov that duyinor tba past year that town has had an important lawsuit and other unusual expenses, the sixteen per cent tax is readily accounted for on other reasons thar ssrailroad inter- est. +,-4 ....''t.> .....,r-.-.. - .-l