Year: 1874

Ass& ~ oNARAuo Va 0uC0IC0-tuT MINIMUM ~ ~>~~
mercy of those dens of infamy over which
baby farmers preside. There is an excellent
field here for the exercise Of the well known
charitable spirit of the metropolis and for the
vigilance of the police.


Boston and the Export Trsde-Com-


msrcisl Supremacy Of Hew York.


We applaud the spirit of the enterprising,
ambitious town of Boston, but its citizens,
who hope. in spite Of fate. that State street
will yet be the headquarters of the grain
trade, are cherishiug hopes that can never
be realized. Emerson somewhere says, in
his quaint way, that it is probably
better, on the whole, that there are Ave
thousand two hundred and eighty feet in
mile and that the ground cannot be got over
without passing that distance. His mercan-
tile fellow citizens Of Massachusetts, will have
to reconcile themselves to the inevitable facts
of geography which forbid their thriving city
to compete with success for the export
trade in Western grain. Inasmuch as
the distance by rail from Albany
to Boston is longer by many miles
than the distance from Albany to
New York, and as every one of those miles
contains the full number of linear feet, it is
evident that Boston is at the same disadvan-
tage in this contest that is experienced by an
army operating against an enemy who is in
possession of short interior lines. There is
no possibility Of transporting grain as cheaply
by rail from Albany to Boston, two hundred
miles, as from Albany to New York, which is
only one hundred and forty-two miles. Be-
sides, there is no point but Albany from
which Boston can receive Western products,
and between those cities there is but single
railroad, which precludes competition. A new
road would be more likely to increase freights
than to reduce them, because the inevitable
distance would still have to be passed over,
and if two roads had to be maintained to do
almost the same amount of business, compe-
tition with New York would be still more
hopeless. Capitalists are too prudent to
build new road against these certain dis
advantages, and Boston must accept her
natural inferiority of position. There is no
| help for it unless the distance between Boston
and Albany can be shortened ftty-eight miles
It may be thought valid reply to this
reasoning to say that Boston had at one time
share in the export grain trade. Nothing is
so delusive as an argument founded on an ex-
ceptional fact. Boston had for few years o
small share of the grain trade, because the
Central Railroad lacked terminal facilities for
handling and transferring grain in New York
These have been partially supplied, and the
Erie road and the Pennsylvania road will
be compelled, in self-defence, to create
like facilities on the west bank of the
Hudson. Nothing is more certain than that
New York will speedily be relieved of the
standing reproach of being behind the West
en grain cities in this important respect.
| Nothing could be more futile than the ex-
pectations of Boston.


| 1t may be said, indeed, that these argu-
ments, however conclusive as regards Boston,
are not reassuring with respect to Philadel-
| phia and Baltimore. Both of those cities are
nearer to the great Western grain marts than
New York, and it may be thought that the
reasoning founded on distance tells az
strongly in their favor as it does against
Boston. But here again we must be on our
viewing the whole case. Advantages in dis
tance may be counterbalanced by difficult
grades The configuration of the country has
stamped New York with the broad seal of
commercial supremacy. The connected noun
tain chains which extend in continuous line
| tO Moina ho Ann oh on
range which runs parallel to the Atlantic
coasts cleft to its base only at ono point


In the Highlands of New York an opening is
made for the passage of the Hudson, and there
only, in the whole distance, does tidewater
pass through and extend beyond the range.
The hand of nature, by opening this single
gateway through the mountains and forming a
spacious sheltered bay at the mouth of the pass
ing river marked the spot for the commercial
emporium Of this Continent Stretching west
ward from the upper waters of the Hudson is
the valley of the Mohawk, and beyond that o
region almost perfectly level to the shores of
Lake Erie. 1t was this confguration of the
country which invited the construction of the
Erie Canal, and which has made it SO
profitable, bringing the rich stream of West
ern commerce which gave such an impetus
to the growth of New York. At the compile
ton of the Erie Canal Philadelphia was a
larger city than New York but FIVE years
later New York had outstripped her. and is a,
certain to maintain its rank as the Hudson is
to flow through the Highlands to the sea-
The same confguration enables the Centra
and Hudson River Railroad to convey freight,
from the lakes to the seaboard without climb
ing and descending the great mountain range,
and with corresponding advant ages of grade


Even the roads which are compelled to max,
heavy grades prefer New York as their East
ern terminus, although the distance is some