Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-03-04
A NEW IDEA.
Railways as Public Enemies---How They
Kill the Geese That Lay the Golden

Railways as Public Enemies--How They
Kill the Geese That Lay the Golden
Eggs.
The Builder calls attention to the
tendency of building in England, and
points out in striking way the influ-
ence which railway management has
upon the movement of population III
any country. Almost without excep-
ton the great cities OF England have
gained in population within the last
ten years, while the countrytowns and
villages have either remained station
ary or have lost; but it Is rather sur
prising to find that among the. cities
those situated on the coast have
gained the most. Apart from the
pleasant seaside resorts like Bourne
mouth and Hastings, which have re-
Gently become very popular as places
Of permanent residence, the seapOrts
of Grimsby, Hall, Cardiff, Gateshead,
Hartlepool, and some Others, have
gained from thirty to sixty per cent.
in population within the last decade,
while Manchester, the second city IN
England, has actually declined during
that time, and other interior manu-
featuring towns have either lost, or
have gained very little.
The fact that manufactures have
been transferred to seaport towns from
the interior places, which depend on
railways for their transportation, IS to
cOnSpicuOuS to escape attention, and
on examination it is found that the
present system of freight charges on
the English railway practically pro
hibits manufacturing in the interior OF
the country, while it fosters the inn
portation of manufactured products
from the continent in a most effective
manner. Thus iron wire. which was
once made in great quantities IN Biz
mingham, is now brought by sea from
Antwerp to London, and thence carried
by rail to Birmingham, at total eX-
pense of 81 16 a ton; while the railway
charge for carrying homemade wire OF
the same kind from birmingham to
London is $3.50. Antwerp Is about
200 miles from London, and Birming-
ham 100, so that, supposlng the ex-
pense of transportation by sea, and
transhipment, to be only half that of
TRANSPORTATION by land for the same
: distance, the Birmingham manufact
urer paws IS. SO a ton more than the
Antwerp commission merchant for
carving his goods to London. We do
not know the price of wire IN England,
but. suppOsing it to be $44 ton, the
discrimination made against the
BIRMINGHAM manufacturer by the rail-
way amounts to an impoSt OF 20 per
cent. IN his largest market, to which
his continental competitors admitted
free of duty. 1t is needless to say that
no honest business can long sustain
such a burden, and the wire manu-
facture, once one of the principal in
dustries of Birmingham, has been
transferred to the new sea-cOast manu-
featuring towns, whereit is IN measure
independent of railways.
Another town, near Birmingham, is
Northampton, where nails areman-
ufactured IN great quantities. The
port most nearly in the direct route
from Wolverhampton to Antwerp, the
great distributing center OF the CONT
nent, is Harwich. The present cost of
Transporting nails from Antwerp to
Northampton by way OF Harwich,
where they are transhipped, Is three
dollars and ninety-two cents ton;
while the charge for railway trans
portation alone from WolverhamptOn
to Harwich, about one-third of the
distance to Antwerp, is five dollars
and twelve cents a ton. 1t IS evident
that the expectation OF nails from
WOIyerhamptOn to the continent I'M
der such circumstances is out OF the
question, and the nail manufacturers
who wish to supply foreign markets
must either remove their works to the
coast. where they will no longer de
pend upon the railways, or give up
business.
In less degree the same powerful
though unseen influence IS modifying
the distribution of population all over
the civilized world. 1t is not an insane
desire to live in dirty tenement houses
that draws working people everywhere
to the great cities. but the greater GER
tainty that they will find work there,
which comes from the concentration
of manufactures in them; and the con-
centration of manufactures III the
cities depends upon the fact that the
cities are what railway directors call
competing points," and that the
same directors, In order to get away
each others business, are generally
willing to carry goods between these
and other competing points" for less
than cost, making up their loss
by exorbitant demands from the
manufacturers who have been
so ill-advised as to build their works
at points which are not competing"
and where they are, inconsequence, at
the mercy OF the railway companies.
In England, where combinations
among the railway corporations have
taken the place of competition, the
number of competing points" has
been reduced so far that all the pro-
ducers Of the country are more or less