I am well aware that the self-illusions of inventors have become proverbial, but I have, nevertheless, the most complete certainty of having discovered an infallible means of bringing produce from all parts of the world into the United States, and reciprocally to transport ours, with a very important reduction of price.
Infallible! and yet this is but a single one of the advantages of my astonishing invention, which requires neither plans nor devices, neither preparatory studies, [82] nor engineers, nor machinists, nor capital, nor stockholders, nor governmental assistance! There is no danger of shipwrecks9, of explosions, of shocks of fire, nor of displacement10 of rails! It can be put into practice without preparation almost any day we think proper!
Finally: and this will, no doubt, recommend it to the public, it will not increase the Budget one cent; but the contrary. It will not augment11 the number of office-holders, nor the exigencies12 of State; but the contrary. It will put in hazard the liberty of no one; but on the contrary, it will secure to each a greater freedom.
I have been led to this discovery, not from accident, but from observation, and I will tell you how.
I had this question to determine:
"Why does any article made, for instance, at Montreal, bear an increased price on its arrival at New York?"
It was immediately evident to me that this was the result of obstacles of various kinds existing between Montreal and New York. First, there is distance, which cannot be overcome without trouble and loss of time; and either we must submit to these troubles and losses in our own person, or pay another for bearing them for us. Then come rivers, hills, accidents, heavy and muddy roads. These are so many difficulties to be overcome; in order to do which, causeways are constructed, bridges built, roads cut and paved, railroads established, &c. But all this is costly13, and the article transported must bear its portion of the expense. There are robbers, too, on the roads, sometimes, and this necessitates14 railway guards, a police force, &c.
Now, among these obstacles, there is one which we [83] ourselves have lately placed, and that at no little expense, between Montreal and New York. This consists of men planted along the frontier, armed to the teeth, whose business it is to place difficulties in the way of the transportation of goods from one country to another. These men are called custom-house officers, and their effect is precisely15 similar to that of rutted and boggy16 roads. They retard17 and put obstacles in the way of transportation, thus contributing to the difference which we have remarked between the price of production and that of consumption; to diminish which difference, as much as possible, is the problem which we are seeking to resolve.
Here, then, we have found its solution. Let our tariff18 be diminished: we will thus have constructed a Northern railway which will cost us nothing. Nay19, more, we will be saved great expenses, and will begin, from the first day, to save capital.
Really, I cannot but ask myself, in surprise, how our brains could have admitted so whimsical a piece of folly20 as to induce us to pay many millions to destroy the natural obstacles interposed between the United States and other nations, only at the same time to pay so many millions more in order to replace them by artificial obstacles, which have exactly the same effect; so that the obstacle removed and the obstacle created, neutralize21 each other, things go on as before, and the only result of our trouble is a double expense.
An article of Canadian production is worth, at Montreal, twenty dollars, and, from the expenses of transportation, thirty dollars at New York. A similar [84] article of New York manufacture costs forty dollars. What is our course under these circumstances?
First, we impose a duty of at least ten dollars on the Canadian article, so as to raise its price to a level with that of the New York one—the government, withal, paying numerous officials to attend to the levying22 of this duty. The article thus pays ten dollars for transportation, and ten for the tax.
This done, we say to ourselves: Transportation between Montreal and New York is very dear; let us spend two or three millions in railways, and we will reduce it one-half. Evidently the result of such a course will be to get the Canadian article at New York for thirty-five dollars, viz.:
20 dollars—price at Montreal.
10 " duty.
5 " transportation by railway.
—
35 dollars—total, or market price at New York.
Could we not have attained23 the same end by lowering the tariff to five dollars? We would then have—
20 dollars—price at Montreal.
5 " duty.
10 " transportation on the common road.
—
35 dollars—total, or market price at New York.
And this arrangement would have saved us the $2,000,000 spent upon the railway, besides the expense saved in custom-house surveillance, which would of course diminish in proportion as the temptation to smuggling24 would become less.
But it is answered: The duty is necessary to protect [85] New York industry. So be it; but do not then destroy the effect of it by your railway. For if you persist in your determination to keep the Canadian article on a par8 with the New York one at forty dollars, you must raise the duty to fifteen dollars, in order to have:—
20 dollars—price at Montreal.
15 " protective duty.
5 " transportation by railway.
—
40 dollars—total, at equalized prices.
And I now ask, of what benefit, under these circumstances, is the railway?
Frankly25, is it not humiliating to the nineteenth century, that it should be destined26 to transmit to future ages the example of such puerilities seriously and gravely practised? To be the dupe of another, is bad enough; but to employ all the forms and ceremonies of representation in order to cheat oneself—to doubly cheat oneself, and that too in a mere27 numerical account—truly this is calculated to lower a little the pride of this enlightened age.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
traction
|
|
| n.牵引；附着摩擦力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
atmospheric
|
|
| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
hydraulic
|
|
| adj.水力的；水压的，液压的；水力学的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sincerity
|
|
| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
ardor
|
|
| n.热情，狂热 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
culpable
|
|
| adj.有罪的，该受谴责的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
par
|
|
| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
shipwrecks
|
|
| 海难，船只失事( shipwreck的名词复数 )； 沉船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
displacement
|
|
| n.移置，取代，位移，排水量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
augment
|
|
| vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
exigencies
|
|
| n.急切需要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
costly
|
|
| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
necessitates
|
|
| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
boggy
|
|
| adj.沼泽多的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
retard
|
|
| n.阻止，延迟；vt.妨碍，延迟，使减速 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
tariff
|
|
| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
folly
|
|
| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
neutralize
|
|
| v.使失效、抵消，使中和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
levying
|
|
| 征（兵）( levy的现在分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
attained
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
smuggling
|
|
| n.走私 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
destined
|
|
| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |