135 ‘Communications.

crease in charges over present prices, will prevent their being reduced 3,
low as_ they otherwise would be.

That the railway will carry merchandize to a very considerable extent,
when the restrictions alluded to are removed, is obvious from the experi-
ence on the lakes, where the steamboats take most ofthe freightof this de.

scription at much higher rates than sail vessels, principally on account of the ‘

saving in time by that mode ofconveyance.

Rapiclity and certainty of conveyanceiare. very importantto the merchant
located in the distant interior. It gives him a more speetly return on capi.
tal invested, and with the convenience which a winter conveyance upon a
railway will afford, he will not be obliged to purchase so largely when
procuring his fall supplies, and thus derive a double advantage in the con-
stant receipt of fresh supplies, according as his necessities may require, and
in the less amount of capital needful for the transaction of his business.

That the transportation of mcrcliandize upon the railway will take place,
to a very great extent is obvious for another reason. If but a single mer-
chant in a village or city in the interior should obtain his supplies by the
more speedy conveyance of the railway, others will be compelled to do the
same, and that such will he the natural course which business will take, ap-
pears to us to be too obvious to need further comment.

As to the effect of a reduction in the charges of transportation uponthe
canal in drawing to it a greater amount of business by ])L1Sl]lt'lg further to
the south and west the dividing line which separates the portions of the
valley of the St. Lawrence and upper Mississippi doing business respective-
ly with New York and the cities south, we cannot but believe the anticipa-
tions of the friends of the enlargement have been too sanguine. The tide
of emigration to the States and Te‘rt'it0I'ir.'S west, is Ytrt strong and will un-
doubtedly so continue for many years to come, the consequence of which
is a consumption within their own borders, of their surplus products, leav-
ing comparatively little for the Atlantic marts.

That the influence of a reduction of tolls in inviting business to the ca-
nal from the sections of country mentioned, must for some time be limited,
appears probable from the fact that the business of" the canal thus hit has
been mainly from within the limits of’ N. York, notwithstanding in the last
six or seven years there has been a general reduction of 25 per ct. upon the
tolls and a further reduction offull 30 per ct, arrising out of the extraordi-
nary advance in prices, which for the last five years has taken place under
the benign influence of the credit system. The country having began to
realize the bitter fruits of making that which is a. mere (H.-irlcitce of debt a
sla,nrZm'r1 of value, or in other words, of giving to paper which possesses
no intrinsic value, the properties of coin, there is every reason to believe
that prices will rec«:»cle until they..shall reach a’ point at which they can be
permanently maintained. The tolls of the canal being based not upon the
value but upon the weight or dimensions of the several rrommorlitins, this
reduction in prices is practically equivalent to an inc;-arise in tolls.