USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1851 > Part 28
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making his own road thereto. First comes the blacksmith, then the wheelwright, then the flouring-mill, then the carding machine, then the store, then the tavern, the church, &c., until its outline is completed ; and there stands the village; and thus grow other vil- lages in other settlements; it is the first circle in the serial law. Then these settlements desire intercourse one with another, so a road is made from village to village ; but one improves faster than the others, some local advantage is the cause; then all the other villages construct their roads to it, and this makes the second circle. But among these villages of larger growth, one better situ- ated than the rest advances with more rapidity, and the city soon stands in the centre of the third circle. Now, I pretend not to say, that this is the process of development always in a new country ; I simply declare it to be the law, always more or less affected by neutralizing or counteracting forces.
Too much space is consumed, perhaps, in these details, but they illustrate a principle ; the commercial, the monetary, and the social systems are controlled by the same law ; they all operate in circles ; and to save further time in elaboration, the reader is trusted, to run out the parallel.
We now come to the great disturbing forces, which have come into use within the past ten years, the railroad and the telegraph. Measuring by time, we are nearer to Boston now than we were to Columbus, in this state, at the latter period ; this is the difference in actual locomotion, measuring by time ; and as to mental communica- 1 ation, it is now instantaneous, whereas at that time, the process con- sumed many days. These are the first great results which strike us- the almost entire annihilation of space by the one, and of time by the other .- In the one case the circle is widened in proportion as the dis- tance from this to Columbus bears to the distance from this to Boston ; while in the other, it is blotted out altogether, and the circle inde- finitely widened or as far as the wires extend. The entire relation- ships of the country-its business, its monetary operations, its social intercourse, its values and productions,-even its fashions and tastes- if not wholly revolutionized, are very greatly changed. A bushel of wheat is worth more to-day, on the land which produces it, in the centre of Ohio, by fifty per cent., than the same article was worth, relatively, at the same point ten years ago. This is the case now- and with reference to social intercourse, thirty years ago an indivi- dual in Boston, designing to visit Cincinnati, arranged his business
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and took leave of his friends, preparatory to making a long and fatiguing journey ; while now he deems it scarcely of sufficient importance to mention such a trip, even to his family.
It is not possible to estimate with entire accuracy the ultimate effects which the new influences we are considering, are to produce on our condition. We can, as I have said, only approximate them. Their introduction into our region is so recent, and the effects so few, that reliable conclusions cannot be drawn therefrom. By applying the law of the circles, we may be much aided in our conclusions. I have shown that with reference to that main element, time, the circle is extended so as to embrace Boston, that reached but to Columbus before.
The railroad is a costly structure, and therefore, unsuited to the Isolated · neighborhood -its true and legitimate use is the ex- tended trunk line between great points, furnishing large amounts of travel and transportation. In the first experiments with this medium of intercommunication, efforts were made to bend and mold it so as to suit existing interests ; but the instincts of capital soon discovered that the advantages of straight lines and easy grades, more than counterbalanced any which could be furnished by the way-side ; so local interests are left at this time to adjust themselves to the new and more important interests. This seriously disturbs and interferes with the neighborhood village interests. The first circles may be said to be almost broken up, and their weight and influence, in business points of view, transferred to the intersection points, or termini of the great lines ; where the railroad is in more extended use than here, this effect is much more apparent. But while this effect is produced on the neighborhood village, another class is found to start into successful and rapid existence, the centralizing tendency of the railroad, which brings large cities into being, carries along with it the suburban town, and the manu- facturing village. It classifies the uses of things. The cheap- ness and rapidity of locomotion brings the homes of people ten, twenty, or thirty miles away from their business, as close as they were, by former modes of locomotion, at one or two,-and the pro- ducts of the workshops at Lowell are as near the sale-room in Boston now, as they formerly were at Chelsea or Cambridge, although the first is forty miles away, and the others but two or three.
The large cities of the east and south have been and are still engaged in a vigorous struggle for the business of the west. The
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utmost ability of each has been, and is, at this moment being exerted in the construction of trunk lines of railroad of the best class reaching toward the western valley. This is being done under the influence of the serial law ; each city is aiming to extend the circle of its business and influence, and each is achieving it. They are competing cities of the same grade of circles. The next circle beyond is a central city-a city which shall have all these cities as satellites or outposts -Where shall that city stand? Will my reader take a map, and trace with me the lines of the great trunk roads, as they will appear upon it? In the first place, if he will trace the coast-line from Boston to New Orleans, he will find that cutting across the Florida peninsula, it forms a crescent or semicircle. The road lying highest north, which touches Buffalo, may be denominated the Boston road, and comes first. This road, which has been some time in operation, has produced important results, although, for the want of competition, not those of speed and cheap transportation, it possesses the ability to yield. Then comes the New York and Erie ; a magnificent work, just about being put into use. These roads con- nect with the Cleveland and Sandusky roads, reaching to Cincinnati by a short lake navigation-soon to be superseded by a direct con- nection along the lake shore. Next south, we have the Philadelphia road, stretching west, and connecting,-about November next,- with the Cleveland, at Gallion, some sixty miles south of Cleveland. Then comes the Baltimore road, to be completed during the ensuing year, to connect with this city, in almost a direct line, and without any water connection, by way of Belpré, in this state.
Let us pause here, and examine the probable effects of these four lines of communication. Here are four trunk roads each terminat- ing at a great commercial point on the Atlantic sea-board. Now, leaving out of view the termini, here are four competitors for busi- ness, lying so far apart, and running through such distant districts of country, that a union of their interests, for the purpose of a monopoly, would seem totally out of the question. The manner of their construction forbids it ; individual, corporate, and state interests are so interwoven, that a union for that purpose seems impossible. But then come in the cities which lie at the eastern termini-these cities have contributed largely in the construction of these works ; their outlays were made-not for the revenues which the roads might yield, but for the purpose of securing business. Is there then, I ask, any possibility of a union, for the purpose of monopoly ?
E. G. MIDDLETON,
DEALER IN
STEEL STATIONERY
ENGRAVINGS &
BOOKS
per plate
--
DRAFTS, BILLS OF EXCHANGE &C.
Odd Fellows Building
SINY BANNATI.
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Then what will be the effect upon transportation and travel ? I confidently predict that within five years-certainly within ten- passengers will be transported from Cincinnati to the Atlantic sea- board, and vice versa, for the sum of five dollars, and merchandise in the same proportion ; and if the business of the road will not jus- tify these reductions, the deficiency will be supplied by the cities at which they terminate. The next effect will be a general reduction on the margin of profit in commercial operations-a system of cut- under, will be pursued between the several eastern cities, until each will find its interest served by going nearer to the market of consump- tion of their wares with branch commercial houses. A new distri- buting point will be established, where their customers can resort, and save a journey to the east.
The next, or a cotemporaneous result, will be a reduction of the margin of profit to the manufacturing interest ; indeed, at this time this effect is being rapidly evolved ; competition does it. Ingenuity is at this time most effectively stimulated in the development of new principles in mechanics and chemistry ;- daily and hourly almost, are new inventions being displayed, throwing out of use old machinery, and old modes of combination-the economies of the workshop -the close working of material-the methodizing of labor-and the perfecting of skill, by assigning to the operative a distinct part of the work-all at this time are operating to cheapen the cost of production down to its lowest possible point. A Yankee clock is now produced for sixty cents, that formerly cost three dollars ; and Collins produces a better axe, to day, for seventy cents, than he previously did for a dollar and a half. When a point is reached, below which the producer cannot go, and live, what is the next move ?- He must seek cheaper food-expenses must be les- sened .- How is this to be done ?- By going where the food is produced, and thus saving the cost of its transportation. The operative must emigrate, and now he can emigrate, for the cost of locomotion has declined as his labor has declined in value. The beginning of this movement shuts up nearly all the workshops of New England ; for a margin of profit here, which leaves none there, will oblige all to emigrate whether willing or not, or give up the business.
The next great effect will be, the general up-rising of the labor class in agriculture-the tenant farmers at the east. The federal government promises cheap land soon ; indeed, its enactments
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already make it cheap ; one hundred dollars now buys as much land as two did formerly, and the prospect is, that it will still be less. What is the difference, intrinsically, between the value of land in this valley, and land of the same quality, east of the Alleghenies ?- I can see none, but the cost of placing its surplus product at the same shipping point with the product of eastern land. Will the population then, not emigrate, if the land costs fifty dollars in the one section, and fifty cents in the other ? cheap food is the great human want and this is the cereal region. Is it extravagant to say that under the influences which soon will conspire to invite settlers to our western lands, that this valley will contain twenty millions of inhabitants at the end of the next decade ?
But let us take up the map again - other railroads from the Atlantic shore, point in this direction, and others again from the Gulf of Mexico. A road from Charleston, already penetrates the interior, until it passes the south-western boundary of South Carolina ; so also does one leading from Savannalı in Georgia; these roads connect and form the Chattanooga ; which at this moment is being finished rapidly in the direction toward Knoxville and Nashville ; both will probably be completed within the ensuing eighteen months. Then there is the road from Mobile to Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and thence to Chicago, to which alter- nate sections of land, three sections deep on each side, have been dedicated by the general government. One section of this road is already contracted to be built, and the probabilities are that the others soon will be. Then there is the New Orleans road, by way of Jackson, Mississippi, and Florence, Alabama, in the direction of Nashville-a donation of land similar to that made to the Mobile and Chicago road, has been asked for this from the general govern- ment, and will be granted, probably, at the next session of Congress, which will undoubtedly secure its construction. Then there is the St. Marks road, leading from Apalachicola in Florida, which crosses the western section of that state, and leads up through western Georgia ; a similar grant of land is asked for this, and will undoubtedly be made. Then there is the road from Memphis, leading in a north-easterly direction through the southern tier of counties in Tennessee, in the direction of Abingdon in Virginia-and points one branch by way of the valley of Shenandoah to Harper's Ferry, and another toward Richmond and Norfolk. A large portion of this line is under contract and progressing with great rapidity
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toward completion. This road crosses all the roads I have enume- rated, which point from the south and south-west in this direction. A road is now in process of construction from this point to Lexing- ton, in Kentucky, and another from the latter point to Danville, in the direct line to Knoxville, leaving, perhaps, one hundred miles to make the connection between those two points ; another line is also in process of construction from Nashville to Louisville, by way of Bowling Green, leaving a hiatus of probably one hundred and twenty miles to connect Bowling Green with Lexington-but say that this connection shall not be made-we still have railroad connection with Louisville by two routes, the one by way of Lexington and Frankfort, the other by way of the Jeffersonville road, running to the Ohio and Mississippi road.
We will pause again, and take another survey. Here are six more great trunk roads ; three leading from the Atlantic sea-board, and three from the Gulf of Mexico, all pointing toward this city, from Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, St. Marks, Mobile, and New Orleans. When these roads are completed, we shall be in connec- tion with each of these points, by two days of travel. It is well known that the sea-board cities of the south and south-west, have not given up the contest for at least a portion of the foreign com- merce. They say, and say truly, that their region furnishes much the largest portion of the export trade of the nation, and that the import trade has been diverted from them by causes which are yet entirely within their control. Ship building has been carried on principally at the north, while the south furnishes the material. The north has been most active in penetrating the interior with thorough- fares, while the south possesses the same facilities for doing so, but has not. The south has been lulled into security by her reliance on natural thoroughfares ; she has now awoke, and is preparing to resume the contest. Already do we hear of lines of ocean steamers, from Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah, to ply between those cities and some of the ports of Europe. While New Orleans now enjoys, and will doubtless continue to enjoy, much the largest portion of the Gulf, the West India, and the South American trade.
The cities of Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah, were they pro- vided with suitable inland connections, would undoubtedly enjoy many advantages over cities situated farther north, in conducting a European commerce. In addition to furnishing the largest propor- tion of our exports, they have the advantage of a milder climate,
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enabling the sea voyager to reach their ports during the inclement winter months in greater safety. Railroad connections through to the cereal region of the free states, at the same charge for fare, as by the northern routes, would undoubtedly, through the inclement months of the year, at least, secure a vast amount of the emigrant travel from Europe. The reason of this, is plain-the tonnage required to transport the cotton, tobacco, etc., from the Atlantic planting states, now comes in, in ballast; whatever, therefore, could be added from this source, would be net gain. Will not, then, these roads from the south and south-west, be pushed through to their legitimate termini, with all possible expedition; and will they not, when so completed, engage at once, in the contest for western business ?
Another inducement, to push with energy these works to com- pletion, is found in the facilities they would afford the south and south-west, in the procurement of the supplies which they now derive by circuitous routes from this region, and the readiness with which they could return us their raw material to be worked up in our manufacturing establishments. The advantages to both sec- tions, that would result, are of an importance difficult to estimate .- Contemplate, for a moment, the new facilities and vast increase of business that must result, from a connection with this great web- work of southern railroads. Ours is a climate in which the human energies can be employed for the longest period of the year, per- haps, with the least exhaustion of any other on the continent ; where the highest average health is enjoyed ; it possesses an almost un- limited amount of natural motive power ; it is the centre of one of the best mineral regions on the globe, with inexhaustible coal-fields; it is the region where subsistence is produced in the greatest abun- dance, perfection, and variety, and where every element of raw material is found in the greatest abundance. Is it too much, then, to say, that for manufacturing purposes of every variety, it has not its superior, if equal, at any point on the face of the globe ? Will the southern region, then, not be greatly benefited by being enabled to procure their implements, their subsistence, and all other neces- sary supplies by these expeditions and economical avenues ? And will not this region, also, find its interests greatly benefited by this new market for the products of its labor, as well as in the cheapened cost at which it can derive that important raw material, cotton ?
But the effect of greatest magnitude, by far,-the one that shall startle both sections of the country, when it shall come
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into use, as in my judgment, it certainly will, remains yet to be considered.
I have undertaken to show, and think I have shown, that the influx of population to engage in agriculture in the western region, owing to the cheap land and cheap locomotion, will be sudden and vast-beyond the ability of the most sagacious to estimate, so soon as the causes which I have enumerated, shall be in full operation. Instead of coming by thousands, as they now do, they will then come by tens of thousands.
The time consumed in seeding, tending, and harvesting the cereal crops, embraces but about half the year; if not in idleness then during the remainder of it, the laborer has to seek other employ- ment than on the land. The grain crop is sown and gathered, during the months of April, May, June, July, August, September, and part of October ; this includes corn. The cotton crop is seeded in the spring, and gathered during the late fall and winter months. Now let the great reduction take place, which I predict in the cost of locomotion ; let the passage between this and the city of Charles- ton come down, as I predict it will, to five dollars, and to interme- diate points in the same proportion ; and let the time consumed in the trip be within my estimate, say thirty-six hours to Charleston, who will gather the cotton crop ? What becomes of slavery and slave labor, when these northern hordes shall descend upon the fair fields of the sunny south ? No conflict, no interference with south- ern institutions need be apprehended ; the unemployed northern laborer will simply underwork the slave during the winter months, and when the crop is gathered, return to his home. It is known that the labor required to gather the cotton crop, as compared with that to plant and tend, is, as about four to one; that is, one man can plant and tend as much as four will pick. Let half a million or a million of men pass over a railroad twice a year for this purpose, even at a cheap rate of fare, what an item of revenue does it fur- nish. The English harvest is generally gathered by Irish laborers, many hundred thousands of whom, cross the channel annually for that purpose.
Let us return once more to the map.
We have yet to show what part the great west and north-west have to perform in this centralizing operation. The first road which claims our attention, is the Ohio and Mississippi, leading from here to St. Louis, and indefinitely beyond. This is the trunk road com-
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mencing at Baltimore, and stretching on the same line of latitude across toward the west through Cincinnati, which I regard as the most important on the continent. I do not anticipate with much confidence, the speedy realization of Mr. Whitney's project, which is to pass the commerce of Asia and Europe across this continent, somewhere about this line of latitude ; but I do expect that some line of communication by railroad, will be gradually constructed toward the Pacific Ocean, by the way of El Paso del Norte; and I quite incline to the opinion, that this will be that road. I think so, for the reason, that El Paso is said to be the only practicable pass of the mountain, and that this appears to be the only practicable road between this and that point. St. Louis thinks so, and has com- menced the work beyond her. But leaving out of view anything beyond St. Louis, it is a vastly important road, the most so, perhaps, of any in the west. It must concentrate an amount of business to pass over it-and for a time, probably, through this city, of astonishing magnitude. Beside the through business, it must tap the river travel at Cairo, and pass it entire almost over this line. This single item, according to the estimate of good judges, will pay ten per cent., upon the entire cost of the work. Fifteen hours, will be the probable time between St. Louis and Cincinnati. In the direction of the north-west from this city, we have three lines pointing ; two .of which, are already far advanced toward completion, to wit: the one by way of Lawrenceburgh to Indianapolis; the other, by way of Hamilton, Eaton, and Richmond. From Indianapolis, branch roads radiate to the west, north, and north-west, so as to pass to and over almost every important region in those directions, upon many of which, the work of construction is rapidly progressing. One points to Michigan City, lying on the south-eastern bend of Lake Michigan, and another to Chicago, on the south-western, while others reach west in the direction of Alton and Rock Island, on the Mississippi. From Chicago, a road is far advanced toward completion, in the direction of Galena and Dubuque, the greatest lead region of the world, perhaps, and another to Milwaukie, on the western shore of Lake Michigan. That this latter road will be made, I regard as certain ; because it is absolutely necessary, and its further extension in the direction of the north-west, until it shall strike the copper region on the southern shore of Lake Superior, I regard as equally certain, for the same sufficient reason. In the first place, it will be observed, that this great section of our country,
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is situated in a high northern latitude, and that having no mode of communicating other than by water, it is ice-bound for a large por- tion of the year, and navigation necessarily suspended. The people west of Lake Michigan, of Upper Michigan, of Wisconsin, of Iowa, and Northern Illinois, embracing one of the finest grain and mineral regions on the continent, are isolated-totally cut off from all com- munication with other portions of the country, for at least five months of the year, owing to this cause; and the only practicable connection which can be made, either with the east or south, is by passing around the southern bend of Lake Michigan. Lakes cannot be crossed by railroads ; you must go round them. The people of the eastern cities have long had their eyes on this very important fact, and hence their efforts to reach Chicago, by way of the Erie lake shore, and across the peninsula of Michigan, with their rail- roads. But we are as nearly ready to connect with Chicago as they ; and when these connections are made, what direction will business take ? In the first place, we are in the enjoyment of a clear margin, of at least, half a cent per pound, over our eastern neighbors, on all necessaries of southern production, such as sugar, molasses, coffee, etc., which are required in the region we are con- sidering. The cost of placing those articles on our landing, by way of the river, when we shall have the impediment removed from the navigation at the Falls of the Ohio, which will allow a suitable class of boats to navigate our southern waters, will not exceed fifteen cents per hundred, and the cost, hence, to the lake, by canal or railroad, will not exceed twenty cents. Now the cost on the same articles for transportation, delivered at the city of New York, coast- wise, will be fully that sum ; say thirty-five cents per hundred, and the transportation to the shore of Erie and Michigan, are yet to be provided for, which cannot certainly be less than fifty cents per hun- dred. These articles are the leaders, as they are called, in com- mercial transactions, with the west. Then there is our iron, glass, machinery implements, utensils, etc., all furnished at this point, cheaper than from the east, with an extensive market for the pro- ducts of this north-western region. I ask, then, where will the trade go ?
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