The republic., 1851-07-15
From the Neio Yorker.
Our Coal and Iron.

or all the minerals and gems that enrich the
bosom OF the earth, coal and iron are the most val
liable To mankind. The thirst and search of ad-
ycntufers have been for gold silver, and pre-
rates, robbers, murderers, and thieves, and pro
duced more individual and national 'desolation
than all other causes put together. Whatever
country has been rich in these has been poor in
every thing else. They sparkled to the eye but
they cursed the heart. Iron and coal have been,
and ever will be, among the greatest blessings con-
ferred upon our race, the best missionaries of hu-
manity. While gold and silver have stimulated
the plunderer, created armies and naves, and ex-
peditons to rayage the face of the earth, giving the
few tyrannous power over the many, iron and
coal have been the servants OF all, the benefactors
of all.
There is not nation in existence which has had
the mscaed precious metals in abundance within
its grasp but has become degraded, enslaved, and
in measure, ruined by that gaudy, fictitious
wealth Spain and Portugal, Mexico, South Ame-
rica and the nations of the East, sad spec
tacle OF the corruptng and destructive influence of
such possessions With all these ingots for which
chivairy fought and tyrants oppressed, they have
become insignificant and pitiul In the scale Of
tions. And no nation has had an abundance of
coal and iron but has prospered and risen TO wealth
and strength England's coal and iron beds have
been worth more to her than all the mines OF Mex
leo and Brazil or all the diamonds of India The
iron OF Sweden is better wealth than the gold Of
Ural.
five cexamine the purposes to which iron and
vice they perform-their sphere growing wider
and greater every day-and contrast their measure
of usefulness with that of gold, silver and gems,
what mean place do the latter fill. Look at the
steamers ploughing river lake and ocean; the rail-
roads cross barring the earth, their engines tramp
ing over "valeys exalted and hills brought low, -
with sound like thunder the teegraphs, the
foundrios, the factories and iorges, that groan and
roar with the glorious music OF labor, giving soul
to commerce, vigor and facility to every branch OF
industry, and Transforming the face OF nature and
civilization into more exceeding Brightness"
and we have faint picture of what iron and coal
are doing on this round earth.
And there is no spot on the globe so rich and in
exhaustibic in these, as in all the truly precious
metals, the continent Of North America, of
which the United States is the heart. Our noun
tains and valleys are full OF them;' they are our
wealth, unpurchasabe and imperishable, enduring
as the earth itself. We would not exchange them
for all the gold of Peru or the diamonds of Col
conda. They are wealth accessible TO all, indis
pensable to all. We have scarcely opened the
veins where they lie, but the treasure glimmers up
from thence with surprising lustre. Do we grow
poetical in our picture? Has not poetry been Law
ished upon the glow of gold and the sparkle of the
diamond, and may we not speak with enthusiasm
of the black diamonds, of the purest water, that
underlie half our country, making our CRATES glow
in winter, and our forges, locomotives, and steam
engines the conquerors OF sea and laad? May we
not exult over our treasures Of iron, which, dug
from the bosom Of the earth, spreads civilization
over its surface? They the grandest elements
of our nation al wealth.
We need not enter into statistics to show it. We
cannot open eyes without beholding it. Penn
sylvania alone, from fregmentof her soil, poured
forth Of coal, in $780, to the value of tlDenty
millions Of dollars, than fifteen times the coin
age (scttiDg California aside) OF our own gold and
silver within that period. Take all our coal, add
1t to our iron, our copper, our lead, and the sum of
wealth swells into vastness, and the future multi
plies it by tens. Let US be true to wealth,
lying in and on our own soil, and we shall, hum
dred years hence, exceed all that the poets in past
ages saw in their golden visions of India.