ADVANTAGES OF TRANSPORT. 



coffee and tobacco, the people of Louisiana have a superfluity 

 of sugar, the people who inhabit the vast valley of the Upper 

 Mississippi and Missouri have a superfluity of corn and cattle, the 

 people of civilised Europe have a superfluity of the products of 

 mechanical labour, those of France have a superfluity of silk 

 goods, those of England of manufactured cotton, pottery, and 

 hardware. Each of these various peoples is able and willing to 

 supply the others with those productions in which themselves 

 abound, and to receive in exchange those of which they stand in 

 need, and which abound elsewhere. 



4. But, to accomplish such interchanges, means of transport must 

 be provided, and this transport must be sufficiently cheap, speedy, 

 safe, and regular, to enable these several productions to reach 

 their consumers, and be delivered on such terms and conditions 

 as will be compatible with the ability to purchase them. 



5. Among the advantages which attend improved means of 

 transport, one of the most prominent is that of lowering the price 

 of all commodities whatever in the market of consumption, and 

 thereby stimulating production. The price paid for an article by 

 its consumer consists of two elements : 1st, the price paid for the 

 article to its producer at the place of its production ; and, 2ndly, 

 the expense of conveying it from that place to the consumer. In 

 this latter element is included the cost of its transport and the 

 commercial expenses connected with such transport. These last 

 include a variety of items which enter largely into the price of the 

 commodity, such as the cost of transport, properly so called, the 

 interest on the price paid to the producer proportionate to the time 

 which elapses before it reaches the consumer, the insurance against 

 damage or loss during the transport. This insurance must be 

 paid directly or indirectly by the consumer. If it be not effected 

 by those who convey the commodity to the consumer, the value of 

 the goods which may be lost or damaged in the transport will neces- 

 sarily be charged in the price of those which arrive safe. In either 

 case the consumer pays the insurance. There are also the charges 

 for storage, packing, transhipment, and a variety of other com- 

 mercial details, the total of which forms a large proportion of the 

 ultimate price. 



In many cases, these expenses incidental to transport amount 

 to considerably more than half the real price of the article ; in 

 some they amount to three-fourths or four-fifths, or even a larger 

 proportion. 



6. Let us take the example of raw cotton produced on the plains 

 of South Carolina or Georgia. This article is packed in bales at 

 the place of production. These are then transported to Charleston 

 or Savannah, whence they are exported to Liverpool. Arriving 



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