84 



FARxMERS' REGISTER— INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 



mon expense; Fortifications, navies, ports and 

 public Avays and many other things, in their nature 

 ot" general interest, have ever been supposed to be 

 within the proper care of the ij'overnnient. Even 

 our imperlect system for miildng and repairing 

 roads, has been, and now is, strictly' of public con- 

 cern. Our highways have been for their more 

 convenient administration , considered as part of the 

 county police, and placed under the care of th-e 

 county courts; but thus, under the direction of pub- 

 lic functionaries, tliey are as much subjects of 

 sovereign care, as if they were directly controlled 

 by the general assemblj'-. 



We will now inquiie, how far our industry 

 would be benefited by the adopiion of a system 

 of internal improvement; for it is by no means as- 

 sumed by us, that national wealth will follow, 

 under all circumstances, li-omthemakingof canals 

 or rail roads. Gain or loss will flow from an ex- 

 penditure of labor on these works, as in all other 

 cases; as the works themselves may be- needed or 

 not, and may be well or ill planned and executed. 

 Nor do the public, as has been sometimes errone- 

 ously imagined, venture upon a public xvork on 

 other terms than an individual docs on a private 

 one.. It has been thouglit by some, that as the 

 citizen is paid for his labor and materials on the 

 public Avork, that even if the work docs not repay, 

 that there has been only a transfer of capital from 

 the government to the citizen, and no loss. But 

 this is a very manifest error. There is an absolute 

 loss of labor and materials to just the amount that 

 is not re-paid; for the labor and materials might 

 have been applied to a work that AvoUld have re- 

 imbursed them by itsprofils, with interest; and the 

 public having paid for them and misapplied them, 

 has lost tliem. It is not otherwise, with an indi- 

 vidual. If' he has work done, he pays for the 

 labor and materials, and he who does the labor and 

 sells the materials, being paid,- is no loser. So, if 

 the proprietor has in the work something that Avill 

 repay his expenditure with a reasonable profit, he 

 is sajfe; but otherwise, if he has not, he has incur- 

 red an absolute loss. 



It is impossible, from the wantdf sfatistical.in- 

 formation, to make any estimate of the amount 

 paid by ihe citizens of North Carolina, or of any 

 particular district in the state, in money or Iabx)r, 

 for inland tr?ms|)ort; and therefore, it cannot be 

 shown what will be the saving effected by any 

 railroad or canal that has been proposed. Nor 

 can it be conjectured, what will be the increase of 

 production from such road or canal. This impor- 

 tant information can only be obtaine^l from surveys 

 and reports made under legislative enactment, and 

 at the public expense. Rut, in the absence of 

 such useful knowledge, actually denied us by Qur 

 last assembly, Ave are not Avithout facts, both as.to 

 the effect of improved Avays in other cotmtries and 

 in.this, to shoAV that we may expect the greatest 

 advantages fi-om the improvement of our means 

 of transport. We knoAV that almost the Avhole of 

 our produce from the middle and Avestern counties 

 is carried by Avagons from the farms on Avliich it is 

 groAvh, to some toAvn in this state, or more gene- 

 rally in another state, accessible to ri\'er boats or 

 sea A^essels — that it is >sold there or delivered to a 

 commission merchant, to be sent to a more favora- 

 ble market. This carriagt^ over land is exceed- 

 ingly expensive, because only very light Aveight 

 can be draAvn at a very sIoav pace over our ill-made 



roads. The cost of the wagons and teams eni- 

 ployed in transportation in ourAvestern and middle 

 counties is not a liglit sum, but it is a mere trifle 

 to Avhat is expended in the support of the horses- 

 and the hire and support of tlie men employed on 

 our mland carriage. If an estimate could be 

 made of expenses, AA^e do not hesitate to believe, 

 that the saving Avhich might be effected in it for a 

 feAv yea-rs, on an improved system of public AvaA's, 

 Avould be sufficient .to make all. the rail Eoads that 

 have been projectedi Our Easterii people arc 

 better off; they have very generally Avater carnage, 

 and yet it has been shoAvn by calculation, that the 

 indus.;ry efa fcAv eastern counties is taxed, annu- 

 ally,, to- the large sum of $335,00,0, in delays •and 

 in overcoming by lighterage, &Ci a single obstruc- 

 tion. In speculatuig on the expediency of im- 

 proving our country by making land and Avater 

 carriage, quick and easy, it has been usual to 

 make a comparison betAveen this state and Ncav 

 York, since the cuttmg of her grand canal, and 

 betAveen this state and England, in the present ' 

 highly improA^ed- and improving condition of her 

 high Avays by land and Avater. The great wealth 

 derived by Ncav York and England from improve- 

 ments by- roads and canals, is A^ery encouraging to 

 us, Avho Avish to enter upon similar enterprizes. 

 But our physical and social condition, and tbatof 

 Ncav York and England, are so dissimilar, that 

 any reasoning derived from theii' example has only 

 a genertd ap])lication to u.s» EA^ery one knoAvs, 

 Avhat an immense and rapid increase of wealth 

 has been the result of the-gteat canal in NeAV York 

 and Ave need not dAvell on it. There-are fact's con- 

 nected Avith the improA'ement of the roads and 

 canals in Englaiid, not so generally knoAvn, that 

 hold out to us the most aniniating encouragement. 

 It may not be knoAvn, that in England, &11 roads 

 were repaired by contribution in labor to the reign 

 of Charles II. (1650) and that not until 1767,.(:just 

 sixty-seA-en years ago,) AA'as the system of improA'- 

 ingthe great roads in that kingdom, by tolls taken 

 for carriage and travelling on them, made general. 

 It is more remarkable, that as late as in the yenr 

 176.?, there Avas but one coach running. betAA^een 

 Edinburgh and London; it set out once a month 

 and Avas from tAvclveto fourteen days oii the jour- 

 ney. • ki 1825, there AA-ere six or seveir daily 

 coaches, and they take forty hours between the Iavo 

 cities — distance 400 niiles. All the provinces are 

 noAv traversed by stagecoaches, an turnpike roads, 

 aA'eraging a speed of ten miles per hour. In 17.55, 

 the first act jmssed in I^ngland for a public canal, 

 and in 1759, the Duke of BridgCAA^ater obtained 

 his first act; and the complete success of his canal 

 led to the general adoption of canals in England. 

 NoAv the Avhole kingdom is intei'sected by canals 

 for trade and passage, the details of Avhich AA'ould 

 be foreign to this address; and since the inA'.ention 

 or rather the perfecting of raihvays and the appli- 

 cation of steam power to the attraction of loaded 

 carriages on them, they are eA'ery where erected 

 and erecting, and passengers are carried on them 

 at a speed of from twenty to thirty miles, and mer- 

 chandize at an a-A'emge of -fifteen miles per hour. 



VVonderfid and interesting as these facts are, 

 they are equalled, by Avhat has been brought to 

 pass in our oAvn country, and ev^en in our oAvh 

 state. The fact, tJiat our post office system began 

 in 1764, has not, perhaps, attracted the attention it 

 deserves. In that year, a sum of £l'63 6s. was 



