Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1873-11-19
CHEAP TRANSPORTATION.

CHEAT EA<NsNS oA<
"You may legislate till doomsday."
says a correspondent Of the st. Louis
Democrat. sand you can't force COM
from It's beaten tracks and
strongholds. AS we'll try to force the
Mississippi River to run up stream
with a paddle as to try to force trade
in a contrary direction BY legislation"
This correspondent Is discussing
the question Of cheap transportation
and has seized upon the only sure and
rational solution Of the difficulty,
which has latterly given rise to so
much agitation In the Mississippi and
Missouri Valleys. That remedy we
have, In discussing this question. long
since suggested. 1t Is simple. yet Of
fectual. It Is merely to avoid the
transportation Of staples from the Far
West to the seaboard there to be work
ed up into articles Of use, and then
transport them back to the locality
where they are required for use. In a
word. 1t is to establish local manufae-
lures In the great West. For years
the people Of tho trans-Misslssippi
Valley have been sending their hides
to New England to come back In the
shape Of shoes and leather. The wool
produced in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa
and Nebraska travels eastward a
thousand miles to be utilized, and re-
turns with not only the cost Of man
ufacture, but the expense Of double
transportation added to its value, to
be paid by the producer. It is the
same with nearly every staple pro-
duced In the great West. Produce In
stead CT finding a homo market Is sub
jecsed to the expense Of q long trans
~por,ation, which, Of course, falls both
on the producer and consumer. There
are limits beyond which certain staples
cannot be protitably transported, and
1t Is because these limits have, In the
great producing districts, been nearly
attained that the hardships Of trans
p~orration have latterly become so man
ifest. 1t takes no acute mathematician
to calculate how far a bushel OF wheat
can be carried at existing rates before
IL transportation equals Its intrinsic
value {; neither Is 1t a difficult task to
say at what rate per hundred pounds
per mile such wheat can DO transport
ed with existing facilities. There Is
obviously a limit, aud no legislation
can change 1t In the least. The cor
respondent asks, Is pertinent to this
subject, "What would you think Of a
farmer who would haul his grain a
great distance to get It threshed at a
cost of double what 1t would cost him
we're he to buy a machine Of his own?"
The analogy is good and the remedy
is plain, being nothing else than to
make arrangements for manufacturing
the staples as near as possible to where
they are produced. Millions Of
money" says he, "thas are now paid
railroads for transportation, would be
saved to the producer and the country,
instead Of as now going into the
pockets Of European capitalists" WIN
mainly own our railroads. 1t would
give work to thousands Of operatives
create a home demand for breadstuhs,
and ave a double cost Of transpor'
tation to the producers Of the grea'
West. We believe this Is the surest
most rational, and In fact the only
business way Of solving successfully
this present difficulty Of cheap trans
~portation. There are at least a hun
dred reasons In It's favor above al
methods yet proposed. In Legislation
upon this subject, save to confine
railroad tariff within reasonable
bounds. We have little confidence. Th'
practically Of our Legislators Is Ii
general below par, and their laws ar
similar.