The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1849-12-01

taken at 100 days; with the railroad five DAYS would suf
nee Ana thus the road would save 70 the nation the
days In the year Let US suppose the value Of each ones
labor to be ~ per day. obtain saving and therefore
ann de n ~ o. yea, The
among its items OF national pre6t Government will build
the road but tits not expected that government will
up the workshops and furnish il with cars and engines
No person entertains any such idea. The road will be
left open to competition and all who viii pay the tolls and
Conform to the regulations that may be established may be
used to drive wagons the national road AS the coun
try becomes settled the general government will no doubt
esds this road she dd the old national road Inc
We have already become the second and in few years
VIII become the greatest maritime nation OF the earth
we have an extent Of seacoast to defend greater By
lar than any other nation Excluding the Gulf
the extent OF our coast the Pacific is equal to
that on the Atlantic. The number Of miles which
these e the as sndes 6s
earth, and the voyage requires five six months com
plete it. And, in providing for the national defences Of
there navy separate and distinct and quite equal to that
whose place OF rendezvous is now along the Atlantic
ports.
lions OF dollars have been expended from first to last
And 1t now requires an annual appropriation of
millions to maintain it.
Build the railroad and ship canal across the Isthmus,
and then instead OF doubling our navy appropriations we
should make our navy, with small increase, answer TOR
both shores and thus save to the treasury itself five
or six millions year. We duty and in honor bound
to provide as strongly and eectuay for the protection
Of our Pacific as for Atlantic seabeard And it is no
difficult matter to show that as work Of national de-
fence as well matter of dollars and cents, it is
cheaper and better build the railroad to the Pacific than
to line that coast with forts and castles as have been
doing on the Atlantic for the last hreequarters Of
tury and have not yet sufficiently provided it with the
works OF defence
This railroad should be great national work. worthy
whose poserity il is to be constructed am therefore,
in favor OF road with double track track to 20 and
track 70 come. is an iron band BY which California
10 to be bound to and by which all the parts of the
great Union are 10 be held together and preserved If
the Mississippi cannot be brdged that this bond Of
union may cross it, let it be tunnelled let the shacke
bolts which TO bind the remote States together be
driven the east bank of that river, that Califor
MIA do fall of il may drag with not only the Mississippi
and is whole valley but every one Of the original 'od
gether enjoy the rich promises Of the glorious future
There Is another point Of view in which this work be-
Ss turned o al il continue
to supply that precious metal according the ratio that
has already done, the proportion OF gold to silver in the
the respective value of the two metals may be expected
Gold is sixteen times more valuable Than silver, be-
cause silver 10 sixteen times more abundant than gold in
other words. the earth has hitherto yielded to the labor
OF the miner sixteen ounces of silver to of gold.
Should the amount OF gold from the California mines
sensbly change these proportions as to give for
ample, OF gold 70 ten Of silver, gold then will
be only ten times more valuable than silver As we
lessen the value Of gold shall in the proportion,
lessen mines, ana BuBtaln QOu-
Bile loss loss with the rest Of the world in the depre
cation OF gold coin, and which loss will be proper
tonae to the amount OF gold circulation, and loss
in the depreciation in the value of the gold mines in Cali
fonia To prevent such calamity il becomes object
OF great national TO stimulate the working of the
silver mines, and preserve the relative proportions
is obvious that II the mines Of California shall continue
TO furnish yearly fifteen twenty millions to the gold
circulation OF the world without corresponding increase
in the supplies OF silver the gold coinage of the world
will become pethoc, and the whole Of the gold
depreciation, the largest portion OF it, will be sustained
by us. The Pacific railway will serve in manner to
The silver mines Of Mexico are inexhaustble and ex-
ceedngy rich but they have ceased to be worked with
activity, partly from the scarcity and consequently high
price oil quicksilver and partly from the want of proper
engines for pumping and working the mines. These had
be transported from Vera Cruz other Mexican ports
across the mountains on the backs Of mules and there
fore at enormous expense II needsno argument to
show that very powerful engines cannot be moved on
the backs OF asses and that many mines which now
the want Of proper machinery. and the expenses alluded
to- would, ii the expense OF transporting the quicksilver
and machinery to the mines and the silver the were
lessened, be worked with great profit ip
II so happens that simultaneous with the discovery Of
gold in California, quicksilver mines of immense value
were also discovered there. Here them is new source
Now, the Pacific railroad, should take the southern
route, (and this, supposing the southern route to be
as practicable the more northern one should be
mining and mineral districts OF Northern Mexico Private
enterprise will shoot out branches in that direction from
the main STEM quicksilver in abundance and machinery
OF ample power and capacity then be delivered in the
vicinity OF the mines cheaply and without difficulty over
the railway, and thus life and vigor will be given 10
the working OF the silver mines there, while are at
the same time providing for the common defence
Nor would the beneficial effects OF this road upon these
mines end here II would turn their products from the
ports OF Mexico and bring them 10 this country, in
change for the manufactures Of New England and other
I" Yankee notions" ft'ff 4
southern route would bring the road near the north
en provinces OF Mexico which Tor minerals are ne richest
and most desirable portions OF that country and all the peo
pie there who could be supplied with articles OF foreign
merchandise more cheapy through our own country and
this road than they through the ports OF Vera Cruz
and Tampico and over the mountains the backs OF
mules, would naturally depend on the railroad for their
supplies. -.
bale OF merchandise dragged by the iron horse Of the
north can meet with equal charges similar bale brought
on the backs oil mules from the seaports OF southern
Mexico. Below this line the people OF Mexico would
continue to receive their supplies on the backs OF mules
as heretoore above il their commerce would take the
new and the cheaper channel that this railroad would
open 9st
This dividing line between the locomotive and the
mule cannot be distinctly drawn until the railroad shall
that the portion Of Mexico which viii then become trbu-
tary TO the Pacific road and 10 the workshops OF New
England, will include less than three millions OF
people. A national monopoly in commerce with three
millions OF people who manufacture nothing, want every
thing and who have nothing TO give in exchange but
uncoined silver and the precious metals wa ever
commercial people offered such temptation There are
people in the world who buy Of foreign merchandise
more freely than the Spanish Americans There are
twenty millions OF people in the United States. We i'm