Hannibal journal. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853, 1852-03-18
JOURNAL. AND 7UNION--HANN1BAI4 MO- MARCH IsT=is52

grows cleapiy, in u goUi climate for inSnufae
[ ture --wher0ihere is good water-power. ana a,
: active and thrifty population uliimatel,
0 Will be the seat Of The wooden manafactory..
: VIII Pennsylvania always furnish the iron foi
2 all o. the United StntesP shink that Penn.
I sylyaifa has something else TO apprehend thar
! lmportaliois from The oter side of the Allan.
tic.
The region Ground Lake Superior has better
! IRON ore than most Of that Of Pennsylvania, and
, a great abundance Of Il. have here before me
the calculation Of a single deposit of IRON ORC
there-a mountain Of iron orc, three quarters of
a mile in length, and half mile wide, and from
Slty to two hundred and fifty feet deep-to be
within bounds, l choose to take evenly five
feet only, asithe average depth Take those di-
mensions, and you lave l450OO,o0O OF tons of
ore, reckoning five tons 10 the cubic yard. That
single spur OF iron-7O per cent. iron to the
lore, of l45,000,000 of tons of orc, is less than
one thrtoth part Of the deposit upon the shore
OF Lake Supefior--yuu have there 1900, 0OO.-
200 Of tons of iron in a single deposit, reckon
ing two tons Of ore 10 one ION Of blooms. Well
at million Of tons year, it will last you 2 200
years. And this is what Lake Superior alone
las OF The finest iron in the world. You can
manufacture it already cheaper than you can
make it anywhere in Pennsylvania. Will the
Northwest be supplied from Pennsylvania, when
she has the iron there within her own limits
Mr.. ROBBINS. Has she coal in the same
proportion
Mr.. RANTOUL. Not precisely. If it
were worth the while, would argue the ques-
ton out, and think | could give my friend an
answer TO his very pertinent question,
which would be satisfactory. But, within the
limits now left TO me, have not the time TO go
into the details Of The question. Is ST. Louis to
be the seat of the great iron nanufactory Of The
centre Of the Mississippi valley, Or is it not p
Is Missouri 10 bring iron from PENNSYLVANIA p
Has she not ore enough to supply the whole civ
iiized world, thousands Of wears, and coal, too
not very far off? A very short railroad runs
down TO a bed Of coal that is suitable for the
working her metals.
In East Tennessee there is a quantity, mex
haustible, which makes good, strong, mallcobe
tenacious iron, very different from the largest
part OF the iron manufactured upon the Atlantic
slope. But is the West to look forever East
Tor its supply? Most assurcdly it will not. IT.
seems 10 me the man is mad who imagines il
can be so. Here, then, for the purpose of illus
trating my idea, / have taken three branches Of
m0nuIacturc-thc iron, the wooden, and cotton
Sooner or later, the three, each Of them, will
depart from their present locations in New Eng
land, New York, and Pennsylvania. And when
it Is for the interests Of the people Of the Uni
nIted States for them to so do, in God's name let
them go. You cannot expect, against the inter-
ests OF great people, TO hold any branch Of in.
dustry in any particular location. II must fol-
low It's own laws It must go where it can
thrive best. Il must go where ii is best suited,
and leave others TO whom it is not suited by ma
lure, TO seek out new modes OF industry, and to
hpi inf in, nj bor
own part, believe that the people of New Eng
land and New York will find out ether ways in
which they can exert their enterprise and in
dustry to quite as great advantage and say to
the people Of the Northeast, cotton, woocn, and
iron must some day or other be gcnSrally manu-
featured great many hundred niles west Of
where they are now. When Will that happen?
The answer is an easy one. You cannot give
the precise year, bat the West will cease to buy
these things from the Northeast, and they will
produce these articles themselves, inst when it
ceases to be more profitable 10 the West TO pro-
ducc agricultural products.
The only safety for the manufacturing States
to continue such, is to do all they can-nature
has done the greater part, but they can help a
lttle-to make agriculture highly profitable in
the West and the southwest. Ii man make
better wages by raising corn or pork, he will
/
or cotton cloth when he cannot make so much
by raising corn or pork, he will make iron, and
you cannot prevent him. All the legislation in
the world cannot say to the West, You shall not
manufacture: but legislation may do great deal
( 10 say TO die West, Here is something more
/ profitable for YOU than manufacturing; and the
seats Of manufacturing may remain for great
many years longer than they otherwise would,
/ in the Northeast. What, then, can the North
cast do? Favor in all ways possible the de-
velopmcnt Of the western agriculture. First by
opening the roads TO the Northeast, TO the East,
and TO The Southeast, and 10 the whole Atlantic
slope, by connecting them with the valley Of the
| Mississippi in the cheapest and most practica-
bic manner. And next by developing, as far
as possible, the foreign commerce; for that, by
taking Off the surplus of agricultural products,
tends TO keep up the prices.
! Now, because desire to see the commerce OF
this Union nourish-its foreign as well as do
nestle commerce--I wish TO see every possible
avenue open that will bring down the wealth Of
the West to freight the shipping of The East
1 I soy there is a common interest between them,
and he is an enemy to his country who seeks to
divide that common interest. The only way in
which tho Fast can prosper, is blythe prosNeri-
~ Of the West for it is that which has swellcd
our navigation at a rate beyond parallel in the
history OF the human race, There is NOTHING
like it, Talk of the progress Of that Of England
} it is not to be compared with ours. In 1880
!, You had l,l9l,776 tons of Shipping; in 1861
) yoa had 3,772,439. You have trebled your
tonnage and navigation in twenty-one years. -
Has England done anything like that? Not at
all. In 1916 the tonnage OF Great Britain & hel
colonies exceeded ours by l,200,000 tons. How