454 FUTURE PROSPECTS, 



soon induce manufacturers to emigrate and establish them 

 selves there. 



It may become a question, at no very remote period, whe 

 ther the communication between the eastern and western 

 States will be cheaper by water conveyance or railroads. The 

 waters are shut by frost for a portion of the year, the naviga 

 tion of canals is necessarily slow, and that of rivers often un 

 certain from want of water, and at all times expensive by the 

 tear and wear of vessels in struggling against the stream. On 

 the other hand, the level surface is admirably fitted for rail 

 roads, and the western countries abound in coal and iron. 

 There is no w r ay of so effectually connecting the east and 

 west as by means of railroads. Government commenced a 

 national road, the construction of which has been suspended 

 by President Jackson, to extend from Washington to Jeffer 

 son on the Missouri, a distance of nearly 1000 miles, and 

 running through the prairie country. The funds arising from 

 the sale of land might easily form a railroad between Jefferson 

 and Pittsburg, which would be connected with the seaport 

 towns on the Atlantic. 



The value of farm produce and land in the different sections 

 of the country will be affected in opposite ways by the open 

 ing of the communication between the east and west. By 

 lessening the expense of transport, a greater quantity of pro 

 duce will flow from the west to the east, and there will be less 

 difference in price, either by produce falling in the east or 

 rising in the west. If prices fall in the east, the value of land 

 will fall there ; and if prices rise in the west, the value of land 

 will increase there. Facilitating the intercourse between the 

 countries will extend the market for western produce, and 

 operate like an influx of inhabitants ; and the natural effects 

 will be, a rise in the value of produce and land in that 

 quarter. 



The west will be farther benefited by the opening of com 

 munication lowering the price of the manufactures and luxu 

 ries of the east. In a very few years, the prices of Illinois and 

 New York will vary only according to the expense of tran 

 sport from one place to the other ; and the difference will 



