The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-04-03
TN COsT on TRANSPORTATION.

The internal com merce aof the United
4 States is&grenter than that Of any oth-'
or Eve nations. But tho fruits OF this
vast industry are harvested by mooop-
olists who Cypress the ugrioulturist and
producer on one hand, and the con-
suuer ON the other. They coatrol
Legislation, and assume imperial DOW
~ ersS over citizens as over the industry
of the country. The rates OF transport
tation are raised to the highest point
that will allow Of the bare existence OF
industry.
Ifthoss who are directly Interested
in the industry Of the country had
built our railroads, the o'rrying inter-
est would have been subservient and
secondary, as it should be. We should
have now more as we'll as cheaper ia.
oilities of transportation, and the wealth
which is nov'drained from industry,
and which drifts into speculative chan
nels, would return into the legitimate
channels Of industry. Labor, both ag-
risultural and mechanical, would have
been emancipated from ssrfdom, and
the dignity Of labor would have led to
a universal system of industrial eduoa-
ton. The exhorbitant cost of trans.
portatiou has more than anything else
enhanced the difficulties of the labor
problem. 1t is because species Of
capital, elevated into and maintained
as q monopoly by our Legislators, can
make wheat which within one hundred
miles Of the Mississippi is worth Only
forty cents worth $l.97 in New York,
that the cost Of labor IS so great, aud,
great as it is, unsatisfactory it is this
which arrays labor against every spe
eies Of capital. Industry which en-.
cages labor suffers almost equally With
the latter. England, owing to her
small area, does not suffer from high
transportation as this country must.
And she completes With US successfully
through the che.pness Of labor, be.
coming the workshop of the world.
distributing not only her immense
wealth in her own steamers, but also
carrying the mails aud hA ndliog tho
exchange Of Europe, Asia, Africa, and
America. Labor is oppressed in Eng
laud by land.h olding aristocracy.
But the oppression Of labor in this
country is equally severe through the
despotism OF monopolists-so severe
that Consul Archibald, 10 his report on
the condition OF labor in this country as
compared with that Of English labor,
estimated that the hig her rate of wages
was compensated for BY the higher
cost of the necessaries CT life.
The exhorbltant est of transporta-
ton diminishes our exports. The total
exports OF cereals from Russia amount.
ed 10 1870 to 132,917,0O0 bushels,
ours to only 40,OO0,OO0 bushels. THIS
is because Russia is active in project
in4 works OF internal improvement, for
the purpose Of cheapenluy the trans
portation of its cereals to the sea board,
aud Is determined 20 hold her agrlcul-
tural supremacy 10 the markets of the
world. Of the 100000 bushels OF
cereals imported BY Great Britain in
1877 | she received from this county
only 47,l85,s86 bushels. Our ex-
ports Of. cola equal those of bread
stuffs.>=
= An. important political effect of high
traospOstatlonsis its tendency to di.
minlsh the mutual inter.dependence of
the various secti ms Of the country = t.
isolate these sectiuns. The West and
the South are beginning to teel that
they have long enough paid tribute to
Eastern monopolists, and that they
must suffice for themselves. Missouri
has inexhaustible resources of the
best:knowu iron ore Tor the production
Of Bessemer steel. The leading men
in that State are beginuing to consider
the expectancy Of reducing this ore
within the limits of the State. In that
case, as the Hon. 81. T. Blow recently
stated 10 his address before the Rulla
School of Mines, shipments of the ore
eastward would cease, and the added
wealth to Missouri Tor each year would
amount to twenty dollars on every ton
u. e., IS per ton freight to Pittsburg,
So per ton back, aod $40 per ton profit
in the works The South, too, will,
under its improved system Of tree Ia
Dor, manufacture its own cotton. The
South nov exports cotton to the ex-
tent of $3.50 900, aod the value OF
every pound would be increased fve-
fold if exported already manufactured.
The establishment OF an extensive man.
utacturing interest ia the West would
furnish new market for the products
of Western agriculture, and We should
no longer hear Of corn being used for
fuel because it could not pay for it's
transportation to market. The pro.
ducts Of this new industry would-if
the cost of transportation by the pres.
ent channels is not largely reduced
be diverted to other channels; the
Welland and st. Lawrence canals
would be enlarged so as to piss vessels
of 1000 tons burden, in which case
bushel Ct corn could be transported
from Chicago to Montreal for tourteeB
cents. New York would suffer By this