The Arkansas banner., 1845-05-07


 have had too mnch done for them-lar from il; but do complain that the Valley States have had too little It is manifest. As said, 1t Is seen in little things as well as in great. dc not call your attention to the posts and castles, to the ships anoat and on the stocks, to the thousands of guns that bris- tie in s'common defencen along the seashore. They speak for themselves. But call your attention to other things, such as are not like ly to meet your eye, to show that States, when they have the power, are quite as apt as individuals 10 go for number ONE.
 Where do vou suppose the seacost is best provided with lighthouses? Where the navi- gaton is most dangerous, you will say. Far from 1t. The most dangerous navigation IS along the coast of Florida, the turning-pomt of all your commerce. So dangerous is the navigation here, on account of the uncertain currents, unmarked shoals and reefs, that there is a large fleet of vessels called Hwreckers,o , whose occupation is to entrap, as they pass these straits, the vessels laden with your pro- duce into danger, and then to plunder and clnim salvage for what is left They latten and grow rich upon yoHl losses. The sal wage awarded to these Wleckefs since 1851, has amounted 10 more than million of dol Iarsl This is exclusive of the total losses and other expenses. The losses are of life a well as of money. Most of them would have been prevented by few properly-placed Lighthouses. Now, along this frightlul coast, from Key West to Cape Ganaveral, a dis lance of near three hundred miles, there is but one light amidst all it's dangers, and that is a miserable floating affair, better calculated io deeoy than to warn3 for its oGejat post tion Is in error. Now turn your eye to the coast of Massachusetts There you find light-house with it's weIl-trmmed lanterns, at the average distance of every six miles. You see none of those cormorants called .'wreckcrso there.
 Bat this million and more of hard dollars that you have paid to the '!wreckers2' does not, with all your losses by shipwreck, make hal. the damages you sustain. In couse- quenee of the dangers of these unlighed straits, von not only sabsidze swreekers,n ,n and pay tribute To the winds and waves, but you are taxed for higher rates of insurance, and, consequently, pay more freight. The yearly tribute levied by Wreckers and insu- rance offices. on the produce of the NIissis- sippi Valley lorpassng these ualighted straits, would, if collected in one sum, be enough to pHild up lane of lighthouses on both sidcs1thc channel from Key West to Bermin I said you pay tribute, and pay it yon do, to purchase those exemptions and privileges which are already yours by solemn compact. Il is not the less tribute, because you do not see the tribate-money when its paid.
 A savage in the Pacific, an undiscovered shoal ill some distant sea, interrupts the voy- age of an American ship; instantly (and pro- peylY enough, too, a man-ot-war is sent to punish the offence, or to examine and re- move the danger.
 But the Mississippi if filled with dangers; our own vessels arc lost, and our people pc rish by the hundreds in your very midst But practically ii s less conducive to the ge- neral welfare 10 remove these Instructions at home than those abroad. What is the amount of the tributc-money which you pay to insurance offices on account of Mississip- pi snags ! ou can tell better than l can.
 That voa have not received at the hands of the Goycrnncnt that degree Of considcra- ton which the general welfare requires. is seen every where and i'll every thing, and lri- bu;e k the consequence.
 take mp the newspaper before me. There l find the Navy advertising for proposals to furnish it with sugar and bread, moIasses, Whiskey, and tobacco, etc. Where do you think lhesa wQnls are made known k HAINGl Sugar and tobacco, bread and mo- lasscs, to spare i'll New EngIand is am a Western man, lot a paper in Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, nor any where beyond the mountains, where these things are produced, Is allowed the poor patronage even of the copy some of the items, with ..about the quantities wanted :o Flour 5l6,000 pounds, biscuit 2,5l8,000 pounds, sugar 364000 pounds, butter 0,000 pounds, dried apples 100000 pounds, pickles 20S,- GOO pounds, tobacco 100000 pounds, beans 10000 bushels, whiskey G5,009 gallons, me- lasses 2i,000 gallons, vinegar 26,000 gallons. The advertisement is ordered to be published once week by one newspaper in Mame, oae ia New Hampshire. two in Massachu- sets one in Rhode Island, one in Connecti- cut, two in New ! ork, three in Pennsvlva- nia, one in Maryland, two in Virginia, and one in South Carolina. But in not one on your side of the mountain. Most of these articles are 10 be supplied by you; but ten 10 one il will be done through the intermediate agency of an Eastern factor. What's the tri- bute for him3 Straws show which way the wind blows. This case is mentioned not to attach blame to any one. Tine advertise m2nts of the Navy Department have been so puplished from tune immemoral.
 It thus appears you do pay tribute in va rious ways. How shall il be avoided? T. answer, by adopting the system of defences now proposed.
 The collateral advantages of this ship canal will be worth more to you, than would the whole revenue of the Government dispersed in patronage among you. With Ship Canal to the Lakes, he Missouri planter might em- bark al St, Louis with his tobacco, either for Buffalo or New Orleans, Cuba or Canada; the trips to the two great cities of New ork or New Orleans would be equal as to time The business relations between Missouri, New Yark and Boston. would feel as deeply interested in thc safety of Mississippi navi- gation as Cincinnati snd Louisville now-do and your river bills would cease to be Hes tern measures.
 This canal and these means of defence v-,,,,ll .r;,., ,-l,,, ,f, >f .l,