Teas, silks, Japanese and East India goods may be transported by way of the ship canal and the Mississippi river, and delivered at St. Louis at one-third or one-fourth the cost of transportation of the same articles by the Pacific railroad. While the Pacific railroad is a great national highway, bringing into political and commercial union two great sections of the country, building up cities, opening mines, bringing under cultivation a vast extent of arable land along its route, the proposed canal across the American Isthmus must be the sole dispenser of the bulkier products of China and the Indies.
The question may be asked how far the railroads constructed and to be constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific, especially within the limits of the United States of America, may supersede the commercial advantages which would result from the canalization of the Isthmus?
Trade has always increased in proportion to the facilities for transportation; and it is evident that, even in the most populous country, the reciprocal relation of production and consumption may be increased by a better organization and a more judicious application of labor. In all cases of competition between railroads with canal, lake, or coast trade, the result has been the reduction of rates and the increase in the quantity of material transported. Two railroads, American and Canadian, skirt the shores of the Northern Lakes, making, with the line of lake steamers, three competing lines. The consequence of this rivalry has been a reduction upon freight during the summer months, to enable the two roads to compete with the lake route and canal.
To exhibit the relative cost of different methods of transportation, a statement is subjoined. The following table, compiled from different sources, exhibits the cost per ton per mile of transportation of freight upon the ocean, lakes, rivers, canals, and railroads:
| TRANSPORTATION BY | PER TON PER MILE. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CENTS | MILES. | ||||
| Ocean—long voyage | 1 | ||||
| Ocean—short “ | 2 to 4 | ||||
| Lakes—long “ |  | U. S. | 2 | ||
| Lakes—short “ | 3 to 4 | ||||
| St. Lawrence River | 3 | ||||
| Hudson River | 2½ | ||||
| Ohio River—long voyage | 1 | 1.54 | |||
| Ohio River—short “ | 1 | 3.6 | |||
| Missouri River—long voyage | 8.37 | ||||
| Missouri River—short “ | 2 | 0.1 | |||
| Mississippi River—long voyage | 5.07 | ||||
| Mississippi River—short “ | 8.50 | ||||
| Erie Canal enlargement | 4 | ||||
| Railways transporting coal | 1 to | 6 | |||
| Reading Railroad transporting coal | 9.71 | ||||
| Reading Railroad transporting merchandise | 4.468 | ||||
| Railways—ordinary grades | 1 | 2½ | |||
| Pacific Railroad |  | for transporting different | | 3 | 2.8 |
| kinds of freight. | 6 | 0.6 | |||
| Suez Canal—$2 per ton, transit of 100 miles | 2 | 00 | |||
| Proposed Panama Canal—$1 per ton, transit of 50 miles | 1 | 00 | |||
The railroad rates above given have been established upon thoroughfares favorable for the attainment of a minimum. But upon all roads to be constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific, much higher rates must prevail for many years. Hurried construction, through a wilderness deficient in material and obstructed by hostile savages, must increase the cost of construction. For the same reason, the execution of the work is likely to be defective and the location of the route imperfect. The expense of alteration and repair must be proportionately increased. The cost of stations, machine shops, depots of fuel, and supply of water must far exceed the disbursements for the same objects in a settled country, possessing the advantages of skilled labor and convenient transportation.
To meet the additional expense, the rates for passengers and freights will have to be increased to probably six or eight times the value assigned for ordinary grades.
On the other hand, ocean transportation by way of the Isthmean Canal, collecting by tolls enough to pay the cost of repair—say one dollar per ton transit, or one cent per ton per mile for fifty miles—would be but one-fourth the average rate per ton per mile for the three thousand miles of transportation on the Pacific Railroad.
Passengers will always take the quickest route. Valuable packages of goods, gold, and silver, and even teas and small packages of costly silks, will be transported by the railroad. The Pacific coast and the interior country lying between the head of navigation of the tributaries of the Mississippi, will receive the commodities of the East chiefly through the port of San Francisco.
The following table shows the relative distances of San Francisco and London from Oriental ports: