ABSTRACT
As the entire transit system of Great Britain - with all its railroads, turnpike roads, canals, and navigable rivers - converges on London, I propose to make it the subject of the following letter, by way of introduction to my inquiry into the condition of the metropolitan labourer connected therewith:-
"There is a very great amount of labour employed," says Mr. Stewart Mill, "not only in bringing a product into existence, but in rendering it, when in existence, accessible to those for whose use it is intended. Many important classes of labourers fmd their sole employment in some function of this kind. There is the whole class of carriers, by land or water - waggoners, bargemen, sailors, wharfmen, porters, railway establishments, and the like.'' ''Good roads,'' continues the same eminent authority, ''are equivalent to good tools, and railways and canals are virtually a diminution of the cost of production of all things sent to market by them.''
