The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-05-11
Cheap Transportation.

larger cities OF the country whose avowed
object is to secure cheap transportation.
Their methods Of effccIing the desired re-
suits are to be by pcaceable and legiti-
mate agitation, combination and appropri.
ate legislation. They are even more eff
fective for the accomplishment of their
aim than was expected To say that this
is a matter Of importance to Middlebury
and Addison County, is only feeby to
mention an all important fact. We have
abundant resources of power and material
for manufactures of various kinds. We
lack capital, to be sure, but that lack
would be abundantly supplied by the vol.
untary influx of all the capital needed to
place our manufacturing interests where
they ought to DC in the scale Of success,
if the one condition Of local prosperity,
that is, cheap transportation, were not
lacking. Mou of means and skill would
not long suff.r our splendid facilities for
manufactn og to be unimproved, if they
we're not are of some deficiency in the
conditions Of success Our manufactur.
ing enterprises would not fail, as they
have failed during She last few years, if
there were not some paralyzing condition.
And what is the difficulty? 1t is because
the expense Of transportation of coal and
raw material to the point Of manufacture,
and the expense of carrying the finished
article to tidewater, added to the cost Of
manufacture, puts our products above the
competing price in market, So there is
no alternative but to sell at ruinous rates
or stop business. We may well ask, is
there any remedy? These cheap trans.
portation organizations are designed to
devise such remedy and much has al.
ready been accomplished by the New
York and Boston societies, and it is
thought organized effort might be equally
effective elsewhere. Whether We could
devise any way out Of the difficulties VIC
have to encounter BY such an organiza
ton, is yet to be determined. But such
are our necessities that it must be admit
ted to be an experiment worth trying. II
is certain that there is unjust dscrimina
ton on the part Of transportation line
against localities which are not and can
not be, competing points. Whether W,
might not secure water communication
through canals, or at least obtain SOM
sent an united front is question w
ought to determine. Certainly we nigh
unite for the purposes announced as the
objects Of the New York association
namely to obtain, preserve and circulate
valuable and useful information reiatin,
to transportation to encourage tho i'm
provement, and of faciires for handling
and storing goods and produce, to facii
tate the adjustment of differences, contro
versies aud Misunderstanding between it
members and transportation companies
to advocate the construction of new aven
ues for transportation and the improve
ment Of those now in use to devise, ad
vocate and submit plans Of legislation, b,
which the defects and abuses OF the pres
ont systn", may ha rnmnaicd, and to AL
vocate such other principles and project
in connection with the subject of trans
portation as will tend to advance the com
mercal prosperity Of our city and coun
try.
The Journal, speaking of the Boston
effort, gives utterance to thoughts amos
equally applicable to our locality, as fol
lows:
The trouble has been that, for years
this subject of cheap transportation ha
been the hobby Of theorists, who hav
brought forward one visionary scheme af
ter another, till the whole matter has be
come discredited in the public mind
Some of these men aimed to accomplish
too much, others were on the w-on.
track, and others still had their own in
terests at heart as well as those Of tn,
public. 1t is time, therefore, for our soit
business men to take this question il
hand, to collect the facts, to compar
views, and to report their conclusions t,
the people. What is wanted is sucl
transportation facilities as shall be ampl
and thoroughly effectual on the one hand
and on the other, as low in rates as i
consistent with reasonable profit to thu
transporters. Anything below this mus
come out of somebody's pocket, and will
he costly transportation in disguise. Tn
subject, then, is comprehensive one, ant
it must be worked out by the whole com
munity. If the present undertaking i
entered upon in the right spirit, we hav
not the least doubt that it will meet will
excellent success; but if theories AM
crochets are to continue their asccndenc,
over the subject, the failure of the futur
can be read in the past,
From the Coal Mines.