The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-07-29
From the Christian Citizen.
An Iron Highway for the West.

ana THAT pOfuOn OF III WHICH Woulu Opch
communication between the Mississippi and
the Atlantic seaboard at New York, Baltl-
more or Boston, Immediately. The farmers
of the GREAT West will never realize more
than so per cent of the just rewards or their
industry until they have secured such me-
dunn of conveyance for their produce to the
ureat shipping-ports, above mentioned. I'm
til they shall have such railway, they VIII
be compelled to beat the bush, whilst spccha-
tors shall catch the bird. Why should they
DO compelled to receive the lowest wages OF
their labor, whilst the obbcrs ofthe sea-board
run away with all the profits OF it ? Surely
the people of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and the
Young states farther west, cannot fail to see
that the proceeds of their crops are lost to
them, in a great degree, by their lack OF Il
medium of communication with the eastern
sea-board which shall be open through the
siqter. Whenever there is great demand
for bread-stufs from the Old World, 1t will
find the West h0rS du combat; entirely pre-
vented from furnishing supply until the
pressure of the emergency is over and gone
When the hungry millions Of Europe bring
their sacks for corn to the granary-doors OF
the corn-growing states, behold they find
them frozen up,and thus they remain to with
in Il month ofanother harvest. Take the pres
ent condition Of things as an Illustration. 1t
is thought that nearly two millions Of human
beings will have persisted or disappeared from
Ireland, before another haryest,in consequence
of famine. Ii money could have saved them
they would not have persisted; but they could
not cat gold or silver, and SO they died by
thousands. Twenty seas, though all their
sands were pearl and their rocks pure gold"
could not have produced food, and these bag
gard myriads pinned away and died, because
the West could not come to their rescue with
its garncred abundance. When the Inflated
Lexington was burnt on Long Island Sound,
there were vessels along the shores almost
within the glare Of the conllagration and hear
ing OF the agonzing shricks Of the perishin9
but they could not move an inch to the res
cue they were frozen fast i'll the ice. just
so with Ohio Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin,
during the dreadful catastrophe which has
overwhelmed, with worse destruction than
t lat of shpwrecll, two millions Of the human
family, and pinched fifty millions more with
the sharp necessities ofhun9er and restitution.
Not single human being in Europe would
have persisted for want OF bread, could the
Western States have brought the distressed
regions of the Old World within the range of
their granaries; no more than the passengers
on the Lexington would have persisted, could !
the vessels that witnessed the burning have
got out Of the ice in which they were imbed- |
ded. What an aggravatlon OF the terrible
dcstitution that has wasted so long at MONDAY
in Ireland to hear what vast amounts of
bread-strfIs are stored in depots along Il c
Lakes, rating for tie opening Of nogigoti9a
They mi ght as well have been stored in Ne
Va Zembla, and waiting for the sun to melt
the iccbergs Of the North Pole, so far as eX-
tending any relief to the famished and dying
was concerned.
Let us glance at some Of the circumstances
of this unfortunate condition of things. Ru
lnors Of great failure Of the crops in Europe
or even in the New England States reach the
West about the first of October. Rumors are
always vague, and, although they are some
times the shadows which great events cast be-
fore them, people will not believe until they
have more palpable evidence Of the fact thus
shadowcd forth. About the middle of Noyem-
Der the fact of famine in foreign land is
established, by the clearest evidence, in the
agricultural states of the West; and now, we
can fancy, the farmers are all alive with ac-
tiyity, in getting their corn and wheat to the
Lake ports, hoping to reap the advantage Of
the great demand for grain on the sca.board. |
Ships of every nation are moored in Eastern |
harbors waiting for freights, and every bush
el of corn or wheat will bring an unprecedent- !
ed price if it can be got to market What a
prospect for the farmers Of the West what a
prospect for the furnishing in Ireland, if they !
could be gifted with the sight of the abund-
ance pouring into the ports on the Western |
Lakes for them! But "pale, concluding win
ter comes and shuts the scene," The prcea-
rious ditch between Lake Erie and the Hud !
son is frozen up, as tight as granite, in one
;obt and tho yait, of oil !
Western commerce is throtted for the next !
six months Not vein for the transmission
of sustenance from the granarcs of Illinois,
Ohio and Indiana to New or Old England |
remains Enclosed, and both might perish with
hunger for all that those regions Of plenty
could do to prevent it, when once that vital
ditch congeals beneath the first wintry frost
into cold, dead serpent of ice. Then the
SHOWS come, and all the winds and wants OF
winter; and cries for bread bread come in .
agonizing earncstness from the Oh World .
The Farmers and corn factors OF the West
have now plenty of time to read the newspa-
pers, which are filled with the opportunities ,
of foreign and famished millions. We are
now in the dead Of winter and in the extrem-
iy Of the food pressure; when the starving
in Ireland are treated to the tantalizing COM
fort of table Of American agricultural sta
ts.ics, describing the quantities Of grain
stored at the different ports on the Western
Lakes, ,oaiting torMe opening ofnacigation,or
for the re-appcarruce Of animation in that
frozen snake, the Eric Canal. Well, some
time in the early part of May, that sluggish
ditch is unbound, and now begins to swarm
with boats laden with grain. About the first
of June the first fruits of the opened naviga-
ton have reached New York, and in ten or
twelve day5arc on their way across the ocean,
If the win Is be favorable they reach ireland
or England fortnight before the usual har-
vest time almost when the hungry popula-
ton are going into the fields with their sick
Les In their lanls Mhat an anomaly tLis in