And you were asked what this had to do with trade in 1860.
Are you going to explain that or just babble on?
You never asked what my example had to do with 1860 and the discussion was, in any case, about international trade and how transportation costs affected it. What I was attempting to do was to show that international trade BEGAN entirely limited to luxury items or at least items with very high prices relative to size and weight.
Anyone who has ever studied International Economics knows this as basic stuff.
By 1860 transportation costs, thanks to the steam engine, had declined to the point that low value products: cotton, wheat etc., could be more profitably transported but luxury items were still a big part of international trade. Imposition of tariffs skewed trade even more in the direction of luxuries since the additional tariff priced lower price items out of world trade.