90 History of Inland Transport 



used to do, and an hundred times the quantity will be con- 

 sumed." 



Until, again, the advent of better roads, food supplies 

 and provender peas, beans, oats, hay, straw, etc. for 

 London were brought in on the backs of horses. In proportion 

 as the roads improved and were made available for carts 

 and waggons the area of supply widened, and the counties 

 immediately adjoining London even petitioned Parliament 

 against the extension of turnpikes into the remoter counties. 

 These other counties, they alleged, would, from the cheapness 

 of their labour, be able to sell their grass and corn cheaper 

 in the London market than the nearer counties, and would 

 reduce the rents and ruin the cultivation in the latter. Here, 

 of course, the producer wanted protection against competition, 

 and wished to retain the benefit of his geographical advantage. 

 The broader view as to the effect of improved communications 

 on national progress in general was expressed by Adam Smith. 

 In Book L, chapter xi., Part I., of his " Wealth of Nations," 

 he says : 



" Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing 

 the expense of carriage, put the remote parts of the country 

 more nearly upon a level with those in the neighbourhood of 

 the town. They are upon that account the greatest of all 

 improvements. They encourage the cultivation of the remote, 

 which must always be the most extensive circle of the country. 

 They are advantageous to the town, by breaking down the 

 monopoly of the country in its neighbourhood. They are 

 advantageous even to that part of the country. Though they 

 introduce some rival commodities into the old market, they 

 open many new markets to its produce. Monopoly, besides, 

 is a great enemy to good management, which can never be 

 universally established but in consequence of that free and 

 universal competition which forces everybody to have re- 

 source to it for the sake of self-defence." 



The conditions under which the traders of the country in 

 general conducted their business was, naturally, influenced, 

 if not altogether controlled, by the conditions of locomotion. 



Hutton tells us in his " History of Birmingham " that 

 the practice of the Birmingham manufacturer for, perhaps, 

 a hundred generations was to keep within the warmth of 

 his own forge. The foreign customer, therefore, applied to 



