The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-10-22

from the means of transportation.
The importance of railroads to agri-
culture is apparent when we consider
that while it costs twenty cents per
mile to transport ton Of freight over
ordinary earth roads, it only costs two
cents per mile to move the same freight
by rail.
Eliminating the cost of raising wheat
at seventy cents per bushel and the
price at the nearest market at one dol
lar, without railways which can be
raised at profit for market only with
in the limits of fifty miles, while with
extended to Eve hundred
miles, and every station along the whole
distance becomes local market. Inn
provements are constantly being made
ia the construction and operation of
railways lessening the cost Of transpor-
tation.
1t has been demonstrated that rail-
ways having less capacity, and with .
narrow guage, can be constructed and
operated at less than two thirds the
cost of ordinary railways. while they
are capable Of doing all the business the
country demands.
The day is not far distant when rail.
| ways of this description will be con-
structed through all the settled por-
tions of our State. They are necessary
| 20 its development, and if honestly con-
structed and operated, they will prove
rcmunerative to capitalists, and bless.
ing to our people.
With such railways extending through
our State, navigation of the Mis-
sissippi river unobstructed from St. Paul
to the Gulf: and the harbor of Duluth
improved, we have little to ask from
the general government, and nothing ia
fear from the legislation of other States,
Few countries have such natural ad.
vantagcs for transportation. The Mis-.
sissippi river and its great tributaries
the Ohio and Missouri, extend through
eighteen degrees Of latitude and define
the boundaries Of fifteen States, en-
abling each to regulate the transporta.
ton of its own products. These States
include most of the wheat, corn, Tobacco,
cotton, sugar, and much Of the mineral
lands Of the country, and the exchange
Of these articles form no inconsiderable
! part of our commerce.
This is an empire of itself; with its
natural channels Of trade, capable Of
producing nearly every thing that car
| administer to the comfort and happi.
ness of man. In its limits it extends
from the extrems North where vegeta'
ton is scarcely perceptible, to the
South, where the fg-tree blossoms and
the orange puts forth its fruit.
But transportation, with all its i'm
portance, is secondary to questions re-
| lating to the exchange of commodities
The former affects seriously few cum.
bersome articles; the latter nearly ev'
erything of daily consumption.
| Before entering upon the discussion
Of this subject it is necessary to call te
mind that great and unerring law that
nearly every com mercial transaction is
in effect only an exchange of one pro
duct for another product. The fact that
money is metimes employed in nc
way affects the rule. although it often
| conccals the operation. In this sense
money is only q medium Of exchange
For example, in the purchase of horse
If paid for in mon-y the meney die
not spring out of the ground, but was
obtained from some other transaction
If the money was obtained from the sale
| of an article, the article sold as truly
paid for the horse as if exchanged fol-
| it.
If the money was received for labor,
labor would have received no reward
unless it had produced something and
the article produced or the recompense
received therefor. paid for the horse as
certainly as,if exchanged for it in the
first instance. If the money was re.
| ceived as interest On an investment the
borrower must have produced some.
thing desired with the money or he
could make no return as interest, and
the article produced paid for the horse
! as truly as if it had not been converted
into money and paid as interest.
Product for product is ,law as un-
erring as grdritation, the one though
unseen keeps erery star in its place.,
the other. though often obscure, regu-
idtes the exchange ralus of everything
material ON the earth zoe inhdbit. This
rule furnishes an easy solution Of the
effects of the tariff on agriculture.
The great staples, wheat, corn.
cotton. tobacco and cheese,
being produced in excess of home con-
sumption, are reported and the price of
the surplus sold in the foreign market
controls the price of the whole. As
other countries report the came articles.
the price is regulated BY competition
with those countries.
1t must stand therefore as IN admit
ted fact that government is powerless
by tariff or otherwise to increase the
price Of any article exported. Such
being the case the effect of 3 tariff or
tax ON articles consumed by those en-
gagged in the production of exports can
be only injurious. It increases the cost
Of production without being able to in
crease the price Of the article produced.
The cgricnlturists Of this country
are today selling their products in
naorkst uhere free trade governs the
price, but buying in a market rhere