Hence, whatever reduces
the price of transportation, reduces the price of the commodity
transported. Whatever reduces the traveller's time, reduces his claim
for compensation, and (competition being always at work) he is content
with a smaller profit upon his merchandise. If a scarcity of any article
occurs at one point of the kingdom, the monopolist there cannot continue
his increased price for any duration of time. Commerce may, in this
respect, be resembled to water, for, if not obstructed, it will always
circulate till it finds its level. An opening or channel being
furnished, an equalised supply will make its way wherever required.
Thus we see that the strength, wealth, and happiness of a nation, depend
very much upon facility of communication. The ill-defended spot in the
empire is alive to the reality, that subsidies having bad roads or a
tedious navigation to pass may arrive too late to present an effectual
resistance to a plundering enemy. The hard-working emigrant of a remote
settlement, distant from a market, feels the difficulty and loss he
sustains in bringing produce to the spot where merchants and dealers
meet for the purposes of exchange.
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