Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/695

 THE COAL QUESTION 673 bring no return. Meanwhile railway rates, dock dues, water and gas rates, and all the other charges, would be maintained at the maximum, and probably in some cases these rates would be ad- vanced to meet the loss of traffic. This would put the nation in a still worse plight, and loss of capital and collapse of credit, followed by insufficient employment for the labouting classes, must ensue. This would be coupled with the extremely onerous nature of the taxes of all kinds, especially the poor rates, and must end in the result before mentioned, although various circum- stances may retard the operation, and the result will be associated, the writer thinkS, with fundamental social changes of a serious and destructive character. Axe we justified as a nation in heaping up capital outlay in such works as railways, docks, water and drainage, and lighting and in municipal and county charges, which outlay has only been rendered necessary for the accommodation of the numerous popu- lation and extensive manufacturing industries made possible by the rapid development of our national resources of cheap and good fuel, without making any substantial provision for the repayment of the capital within the period in which this wonderful gold mine to the nation of cheap fuel will last ? It is clear, that, if we possessed o valuable coal fields, and were simply a pastoral country, the great bulk of the capital in railways, docks, &c., would never have been required or created. The argument may be carried further, if we as a nation, had corn- menced first to work the thinnest and most expensive of our coal seams instead of commencing with the best and thickest, it can hardly be denied that only a tithe of the capital outlay now in- vested in their present works would have been required or expended, and it seems clear to the writer that the enormous out- lay already incurred, and to which additions will yet have to be made during the next quarter of a century, has only been rendered necessary and possible because. the .nation has ve.ry rapidly de- veloped by working the very best of ts coal resources. And notwithstanding that, these best resources are, so far as the life of a nation is concerned, of the most limited duration, we are nationally, that is all classes, from the working classes to the highest in the land, pocketing all the comfort and wealth and enjoyment due to the very large annual national profits which accrue from the industrial work of the nation, and are actually leaving to future generations the repayment of the capital outlay created for the purpose of enabling the nation to utilize those passing and exceptional advantages. No. 4.---VOL. I X X