(2) The fact, that with but short distances between the producer and the consumer, any of the most remunerative articles can be produced, which, however, will not bear long transportation, and their production becomes impracticable when the people are scattered thinly over a large territory.

(3) I will add one more. The manure which is needed to keep the land from getting worn out, is produced at the place of consumption.

In any village it is produced in abundance, and sold by tons, to be carried back to the farm and garden. But the commodity is so bulky, in proportion to its value, that it cannot be carried far.

If, therefore, the consumer and producer are far apart, the land of the producer must ultimately become impoverished—his machinery of reproduction is worn out.

The value of this element may be shown by the fact that in 1850, the annual value of the manure applied to the soil in Great Britain, was $516,845,698, a sum far exceeding all its foreign trade.

Of course this must have been mostly lost if, like some of our southern and western States, the English had confined themselves to the raising of the raw material only, and exported it for manufacture and consumption elsewhere.

171. Articles should be manufactured at the place of production.

It is a very important deduction from the foregoing discussion, that all commodities should be carried to the highest practicable form of intrinsic value before transportation; that is, they should be finished as nearly as may be, and so put in their form for final consumption, as near to the place of production as possible, before transportation. Since in this case, the cost of transportation is a less per cent. of their value at the place of consumption, and the price will be lower by just that amount.

Thus it costs about ten per cent. of its value, to carry a bale of cotton from Tennessee to Lowell, or Manchester. It does not cost a tenth of one per cent. of its value to bring it back as manufactured muslins, etc. Hence, if it must be carried at all, (and it must be carried, since the cotton will not grow either in England or New England) it would be vastly better, for both the aggregate and the distributive wealth of the world, to manufacture it in Tennessee, and transport it both ways after its manufacture, rather than carry it in the form of raw material in either direction.

172. Difference in facility for manufacture and

production.

It has sometimes been claimed that one nation may have special facilities for one kind of industry not possessed by others, that should be a controlling consideration.

If the "special facilities" are intended to include cheapness of labor, I will postpone the consideration of that element for a moment.

It is admitted that for the production of agricultural and mineral commodities, there are facilities of climate and location that are controlling, because they cannot be overcome. Tropical fruits must be raised in the tropics, and minerals must be dug out of the earth where the Creator has placed them.

And we may as well admit, in regard to manufactures of the higher grade,

(1) That the warmer and more tropical parts of the earth's surface are not so well adapted to them. as the temperate zones, while these zones are better adapted to the production of the greater agricultural staples.

(2) That the hilly and less productive portions of the temperate zones, where water-power and fuel are usually abundant, are better fitted for manufactures than those portions that are better adapted to the production of the raw material, so that in all

probability, the greater proportion of the manufacturing of those articles, whose manufacture requires the most labor and the most machine force, will always be done in the less productive districts of the temperate zone. And every dollar that is wisely expended in building railroads, or improving the facilities for ship transportation, is giving to these elements, or "natural facilities," increased power by reduction of the cost of transportation.

Nor is this all; there is many a region in which there is good water-power, healthy and invigorating climate, favorable to manufactures—particularly so—which are, nevertheless, so unfavorable to agriculture, from poverty of the soil, etc., as to afford an advantage for manufactures that will overcome a large amount of cost of transportation.

173.

The great wealth of commercial centres.

Now as we have the two results,

(1) The producer bears the expense of transportation to the commercial centre.

(2) The consumer bears it from the centre to the places of consumption.

We have the following deduction: producers living far from such centres, will, as a general thing, be correspondingly and in the average, poorer, for(1) As producers, they pay more cost of trans

portation on what they produce, than those who live nearer to the centre; and

(2) As consumers, they pay more cost of transportation on what they have occasion to buy.

Hence in general, in all places remote from commercial centres, agricultural products-the products of the labor done there—are cheaper, while manufactured articles-the product of labor not done there —are high, since the people have the double transportation to pay, or rather, because the amount they have to pay, under both these heads, is greater, the farther from the market.

The only counteracting influence to this rule, arises from the fact, that as we approach such a centre, land rises in value, and rents become higher. This goes far towards equalizing the condition of the inhabitants in reference to the acquisition of wealth, for all those who occupy lands that are used for agricultural purposes, since their rent is always in proportion to their productive value, the cost of transportation being taken into account.

But always, as we approach any commercial centre, there is a point at which the intrinsic value of land is greater for building purposes than for agricultural, and then it passes under the influence of another law, any increase of rent for such purposes, becomes an addition to the cost of living in another way; this cost must be added by the mer