66 



FARMERS' REGISTER— INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 



fitable. Nor do wo whose interests are in conmaon 

 with yours, wish to make any ])Tiblic work that 

 will nut pay lor ileelf with interest. It is in our 

 opinion, no bad test of the utility of a work that its 

 tolls will re]:)lace the expenditure made on it, with 

 interest. It is certainly advisable that the tolls 

 should never be raised much beyond what is neces- 

 sary tor this purpose, as they will be (if too liifrh) 

 jand inconvenient and probably a very unequal tax 

 on the industry of the citizen. If any work be a 

 useful one, besides the profits from the tolls, there 

 will be accordinii; to all experience a f>;reat increase 

 «f the wealth of the state, by the enhanced value 

 that will be <j:iven to all real property in and near 

 the route of the road or canal. 



It is not easy, if we liad space for it, to antici- 

 pate what would be the result of such a plan of 

 internal improvements as has been proposed by 

 the convention, executed accordins^ to our sufffves- 

 tions. Not only would our cotton be relieved from 

 |he cost added to its production, by the present in- 

 convenient and expensive mode of transport, but 

 we fihould be enabled to divert the labor of the 

 middle and western counties, to the cuhure of 

 bread stuffs, for which none of our competitors in 

 any of the states have a more favorable climate; 

 und if our soil should be improved by a judicious 

 husbandry, we liave notliinrrtofear on this branch 

 of our industry from any competition. A ijreat 

 many articles, the culture of Avhich does not enter 

 jnto our rural economy, would be found to yield 

 Ijreat profit, when they could be sent in a short 

 time and by a cheap conveyance to market. Nor 

 js this ail, it seems to us that one of the trreatestof 

 the improvements to be expected fi-om the applica- 

 tion of steam to the drawing of great weigh ts'upon 

 p, rtrilway is, that it. will alter the location of large 

 towns and cities. Jleretolbre they have groAvn up 

 upon the sea coast, or on large rivers, where the 

 heavy articles necessary for building houses and 

 lor fuel and provisions for their dense population, 

 .might be brought by water carriage: as might also 

 the bulky raw materials on whicli the industry of 

 iheir artisans might find employment, and from 

 whence by the same means, the product of their 

 Jabor could be easily sent to their customers. Now 

 5vhen from 50 to 200 tons can be drawn on a rail- 

 way, at (he rate of 10 or 15 miles, in an hour, by 

 jJlis new application of steam power, the location 

 QJt cities will not di^pend altogether on their prox- 

 imity of the sea or a river, and assuredly large in- 

 Jttud towns may and will spring up in rich agricul- 

 tural districts remote from the ocean and the great 

 ji'ivers, In liict, in England, the large manufiic- 

 turing towns of Manchester, Leeds, Bolton, Bir- 

 mingham, ShefTield and Preston are inland, and they 

 are su|)plied with all things necessary for l^uilding, 

 i'or fuef, for provisions and for the processes in the 

 arts and with a vent for their fiibrics of the loom 

 and anvil by artificial canals and latterly by rail 

 Foads. This seems to us to meet one of our great 

 wants. If considerable towns can be built up in 

 the interior of our state on the routes of canals 

 and railways, the effect on our wealth will equal 

 p.ny ijober calculation. 



But desirable as theseresults to our wealth may 

 be, they are very light in comparison of what the 

 improvement of our transport is designed to have 

 und must have on oursocial and political condition. 

 Wealth is ])iincipaiiv desirable, not for itself, but 

 }hr what may be eli'ected by it, and the liislory of 



our race will show, that without exception, no 

 people liavc ever been distinguished for refinement 

 — for eminence in the arts — for knowledge and 

 science and for a pure state of morals, without a 

 considerable portion of wealth. An indigent peo- 

 ple arc always barbarous and savage; they may 

 excel in the destructive art of war, buttliey are not 

 capable of adding any thing to the enjoyments of 

 peace. We desire, therefore, wealth for our fel- 

 low-citizens, that they may be an intellectual and 

 moral peoj^le, abounding in all the necessaries and 

 luxuries of lili.',, and adding their share to tire arts 

 that improve and adorn it. It is obvious tfiat this 

 will be the e fleet of increased wealth by allowing 

 classes of men among us to devote themselves ex- 

 clusively to the fine arts, to literature and science, 

 and by the endowment of schools and colleges for 

 the promotion of sound learning. And Avhat is of 

 essential necessity to the existence and perfection 

 of our free institutions, we shall be able, by a sys- 

 tem of general instruction at the public expense, to 

 have the children of the poorer classes, which must 

 continue to exist in every community, properly ed- 

 ucated; not according to the meagre scheme of 

 common schools, in the mere elements of learning 

 only, but with these they can be well infor.Tied on 

 the subject of their civil and political rights and 

 duties, and what is to them and to their felloAV-cit- 

 izens of paramount importance, they can be 

 thoroughly taught in the useful arts and in domes- 

 tic economy, whereby they can enter on lite with 

 such knowledge, skill and habits as will put within 

 llieir power comfort and independence and useful- 

 ness and respectability. 



Nor is it to be overlooked in the recommendation 

 of a plan of improvement for the raj'id transit of 

 persons, that it will, of itself, have a mighty influ- 

 ence in producing an interchange of facts, opinions 

 and intelligence among men. Our towns and 

 wealthy communities and our remote and poorer 

 districts will be as it were brought nearer together 

 by the increased ease and quickness with which 

 distance may be traversed. An exchange of ideas 

 will be thus brought about, by which knowledge 

 will be imparted and errors and prejudices removed 

 and this secondary effect of improved ways will be 

 of greater consequence than its immediate and 

 primary one, as intellectual are preferable to mate- 

 rial riches. It has been well said somewhere, that 

 the application of steam to land and water carriage, 

 has realized the poet's conception of annihilating 

 time and space. 



There is a peculiar political advantage which 

 internal improvement holds forth to the people of 

 North Carolina. At present their only bond of 

 union is that of a common country and common 

 laws; they have, as it has been elsewhere remark- 

 ed, no lusiness in common, and no knowledge of 

 each other. One section of the state has all its 

 trade with Tennessee, another with Georgia, a 

 third w'uh Soutli Carolina and a fourth with Virgi- 

 nia. The projects for improvement, recommend- 

 ed to you by the convention, if carried into effect, 

 will lird< us together by interest and affection as 

 well as by law. 



And now to bring to a conclusion an address, 

 which a desire to advance your welflirehas drawn 

 out to a length far beyond what was intended, 

 permit us to say with frankness, but in the most 

 kindly spirit, that the depression of our industry, 

 and our want of political influence, our misfortunes 



