372 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 6 



My first article on this subject, tiioiigh received 

 by the public with Ihr more notice and respect than 

 I had expected, nevertheless was considered by 

 each town as hostile to its interest, and as favor- 

 in<^ what its jealousy dee ned the adverse interest 

 ol'soine other. Such opinions were at least ex- 

 pressed in the papers of Riclimond and Lynch- 

 burg, and were entertained in Farmville. I have 

 seen a letter from one ot the most considerable and 

 intelligent capitalists of that sfiirited and thriving 

 little town, in which, commenting on the argu- 

 ment ol'Il. N., he says that he considers the wri- 

 ter's •' aim is to aggrandize liichmondat the expense 

 of the other towns — ." The number and purport 

 ot these conflicting charges, serve to clear the wri- 

 ter from all ; and, with unprejudiced and impartial 

 minds, may perhaps give him the credit he claims, 

 of laboring to serve no one separate and exclusive 

 interest, at the expense of the general welfare — 

 and he believes, that the adoption of his views 

 would benefit every town on and near the line of 

 improvement, though in unequal proportions; and 

 certainly would injure none. The foregoing re- 

 marks on Richmond and her proposed northern 

 route, though strictly in accordance with the views 

 formerly presented, will probably, by some read- 

 ers, be considered as indica'.ing hostility to the inter- 

 ests of that city. This construction, the writer 

 can only protest against as altogether unfounded, 

 though he is willing to avow enmity to all narrow 

 minded commercial jealousies, whether entertained 

 by Richmond, Lynchburg, Farmville, or Peters- 

 burg. To the last named town, it may be consi- 

 dered that these views are particularly, ifnot exclu- 

 sively, favorable. Nevertheless, an essential fea- 

 ture of the general scheme would be now consider- 

 ed by most inhabitants of that town, if adopted, as 

 operating to remove her trade and her wealth to 

 Richmond, or elsewhere, and absolutely destruc- 

 tive to her prosperity. This feature is the perfect 

 freedom of passage through Petersburg, by con- 

 necting all the difl^erent railways, and thus per- 

 mitting all who may desire it, to seek other mark- 

 ets, with the least possible delay, trouble, and ex- 

 pense, incurred in passing through Petersburg. 

 Of course sinailar measures Avould be approved m 

 Richmond and every other town: but at present 

 the question will be considered only as it regards 

 Petersburg. 



It is an evident consequence of the positions 

 which have been contended for, that the promised 

 public advantages could not be even partially ob- 

 tained, without the freedom of passage to trade 

 and to travel; nor could Petersburg "expect the 

 entrance of this immense and new accession of 

 travellers and commodities, if she opposed the 

 slightest obstacle to the departure of either, when 

 circumstances made such departure desirable. A 

 close or perfect monopoly, though always injurious 

 to the public, may bo a very good thing to those 

 who enjoy the benefit of its restrictions and impo- 

 sitions on others ; but the attempt to impose such 

 restrictions, without the power to make them ef- 

 fectual, serves only to produce irritation and enmi- 

 ty in the class whom the measure injures — 

 and resistance and defeat to the attempt. If a 

 town opposes difTiculties to the passaije of commo- 

 dities to another, it amounts to an admission that 

 she offers a worse market than her neighbor : and 

 whether such is a fact or no*, those persons whose 

 commodities are designed to be stopped, will act 



upon the admission, and determine to surmount all 

 obstacles, and proceed to what they will consider 

 the better market. The prevalence of an op-inion, 

 even if it be false, that a particular town is a bet- 

 ter market, tends to make the o|)inion true, by giv- 

 ing to it increase of trade, and thereby drawing to 

 it accessions of capital and population, all of which 

 produce competition, and at the same tune enable 

 the competing merchants, by increase of business, 

 to buy at dearer, and sell at cheaper rates, than a 

 smaller trade would afford. There are plenty of 

 exisiing difiiculties in the passage from the Appo- 

 mattox basin through Petersburg to deep tide 

 water — and yet in spite of these obstructions, 

 more than half of the tobacco brought down the 

 canal is sent through that town down the Appo- 

 mattox, and up James Riverro Richmond— whence 

 it is to return down James River, to reach foreign 

 markets. Now suppose it were possible to remove 

 every such existing obstacle, both natural and ar- 

 tificial ; would that change cause a greater loss of 

 trade ? On the contrary, it would greatly increase 

 the whole amount of tobacco brought to Peters- 

 burg, from the southern counties that now careful- 

 ly avoid it ; and though the quantity sent away 

 would be greater (at least at first,) so would be the 

 quantity that would find there a market. 



So of commodities received by the southern and 

 vvestern railways. The perfect ease, and small 

 additional cost, of sending them on to other mark- 

 ets, would remove all objection to bringing them 

 first to Petersburg ; and of the new and great sup- 

 ply thus sent, even though all of it might be de- 

 signed to be sent farther, ajiortion would certainly 

 remain — and that portion would increase, as cir- 

 cumstances served to increase the general busi- 

 ness of Petersburg, and of course its value as a 

 market both for purchases and sales. 



With regard to travellers by railways, it is still 

 more absurd to oppose dilTiculties to the transit, 

 which to make, was their sole object in coming, 

 and which no one expects to prevent. But s;ill 

 it is the policy of every town to oppose a little ob- 

 struction, in delaj^, trouble and vexation, more 

 than of actual expense, to every traveller who 

 comes on one railway to pass away upon another. 

 "Compel every traveller to leave a little money in 

 the town, if it is only a quarter of a dollar to a por- 

 ter for carrying his trunk." Such was the jocular 

 remark which I heard from a merchant of witle and 

 liberal views in general; and it accords well with 

 the general opinion as to prohibiting the junction 

 of different railways, or other lines of travel and 

 trade. A traveller, anxious to hasten onward, will 

 scarcely pay less, in detention, trouble and money, 

 than a dollar, in passing from the Petersburg and 

 Roanoke, to the Richmond and Petersburg Rail- 

 way, even though they may approach within half 

 a mile. This fax is his loss, while scarcely the 

 eighth of it is the clear gain of the porter, and still 

 less that of the town. The effect is precisely such 

 as adding a dollar (perhaps more) to the railway 

 fare, and to that extent operates as a discourage- 

 ment to the use of the line of travel, and an in- 

 ducement to prefer any rival line that is as cheap 

 in direct expense, if not accompanied by such indi- 

 rect taxes. 



Suppose that the law had given to the town of 

 Petersburg authority to impose a direct tax of fifty 

 cents on every traveller who passed through by 

 railways, and as much on every bale of cotton or 



