Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1873-10-09
The transportation Question.
What a New York Merchant has to Say
on the Subject.

What a New York Merchant has to Say
on tho Subject.
At the cheap transportation meeting
in New York, represented by $500, ,0O0,-
900 in capital, A. w. Tenney, in the
course of his remarks, said: The SUBJ
ject of Cheap Transportation concerns
not the banker, the merchant, and the
capitaiist 5f our States alone, but it
concerns the mechanic, the farmer, the
manufacturer, and the consumer OF this
entire land. To O man Of wealth 1t
matters little what may be the price Of
barrel of -four or ton Of coal, but to
those bons Of toll who earn their daily
bread by the sweat of Sheir brows and
the blood Of their hearts it matters
much what they pay in dollars and
cents for the necessities of life. It is
to them an earnest and sober question.
Workmehl why is it that you are pay
ing $11 and $12 for q barrel of fotr
when You should not pay more than So,
and perhaps ret more than 81? The
reason is found in the great expense
necessary to transport that barrel of
-four from the wheat-felds of the West
to the grain-marts of the East. Why is
it you are obliged to pay SO. and 80 for
coal when you should hot pay more
than 30, aid perhaps not more than $5 ?
The reason is not because of the scarcity
Of coal nor the want of laborers, nor is
the fault to be found in Elizabethport
or in and around the markets of New
York. The reason is the great price
charged by railroads for the ttahsporta-
ton of the Coal from the mines of
Pennsylvania to the coal markets of
New York. Why is it that the farmers
of the West are, as a class, poorer to-
day than they we're five years ago ?
Why are their farms more habitually
mortgaged, and the owners themselves
deeper in debt?
The answer is simply that the labor
of their hands has proved unremuner-
atiTe, from the fact that they have been
unable to pay the enormous freight
charges for transporting their products
TO the buyers and consumers in the
East. The question of cheap trans
portation then applies itself directly to
the industrial interests of the country ;
and if we wohld have general prosperity
among all classes of our citizens, we
must foster and protect with jealous
care the industries Of the Republic. We
must have the benefits of cheap trans
portation at once for the farming in
terest of Illinois, for the cotton port of
Mississippi, for the coal mining of
Pennsylvania, and for the manufac-
turing interests of New England. The
interests of the North, South, East and
West are mutual and reciprocal. You
cannot, you cannot over-enrich one
class of your citizens without cores
pondingly impcverishing another. True
prosperity depends not upon the pros.
perity of few, but upon the general
prosperity of all. The draft drawn at
sight upon the blood and sipews of the
door man will have to be honored and
paid sooner or later by the blood and
sinews OF the rich man. What we want
is that every man will stand shoulder to
shoulder with his fellow man, and that
every branch of industry shall be the
equal and the counterpart of every
other, as we 60 forth to lay the founda-
tions of new States, developing the un-
told resources of this great land.
honor here tonight the City of New
York for the promptness with which
this stand has been taken. This is moi
the first time that New York has taken
her place on the side of right and or
the side of the people.