Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-08-02

since that period has shaped its plan of fortii
cation very much with reference 10 these facll
ties of transportation. 1t is a consideratio
which no prudent statesman will underrate.
Complete the leading lines of railroad in th
Northwest, aud the military resources of sL
States could be concentrated at one point wit
almost lightning speed. Then let Detroit b
menaced as once it was, and with all the IN
creased power of England, with whatever allie
she may come, none need fear disaster like tha
of 1912. No second page Of history shall b'
written to make an American hang his head fO
shame. In thirty six hours an army could b,
there collected larger than was met by the Allie:
at Inkermann. Or if threatened ON the South
ofwhich there are eforeshadowings in the delicate
and feverish state of our foreign relations in tha
quarter-the Railroads of the Southern and
Western States, If finished, would enable the
Government, with like dispatch, to throw upOr
New Orleans, Hobse, or Charleston, military
force adequate TO any possible emergency.
1t is no sufficient answer to deprecate the ex
cess of the railroad mania, or To say that too
many railroads have been undertaken. In New
England this is true and i'm other sections many
works of mere local importance, not in the direc-
tion of general traffic, have been unwisely com
menced. Overwrought enterprise is characters
tic of the American people. But it by no means
follows that there not yet remaining unfin-
ished in the new States leading thOroughGares
essential 10 our necessary commercial intercourse
TO the due transmission of the mails, and TO the
integrity and strength ofthe Union. With not
a mile of finished railroad in Iowa, Arkansas,
Florida or California, to say nothing of the Ter
rtories, and but limited extent in Wisconsin,
Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mis-
sissippi or Louisiana-with no railway connec-
tion between New Orleans and other sections OF
the Union, nor any between Charleston aud the
Mississippi or the Ohio, let it not be said that
railway construction is to cease, or that their
further progress is not matter of highest inter
est to the country. They have become public
necessity. The people are everywhere forming
their plans of social and commercial intercourse,
and adapting their habits of business, to the
certainty and time-saving movement of the
steam car.
Then there is the Pacific coast, with its rising
commercial cities and its magnificent harbors
looking out upon Asia. How are our interest
ing commercial aud political relations, there SO
rapidly maturing, 10 be nurtured and strength
ened as is due to region SO important To the
Union in every aspect? Without giving too
much consequence to the mutterngs of discon-
tent. based upon alledged neglect, already reach
ing us from that quarter, it is well to consider,
with deep earnestness the great question OF
unity of interests. The States of the Pacific,
counting either by time or cost of reaching them,
are twice as far from the seat of the National
Government and from our commercial enpori-
um, as are the Canadas from London. Limited
as is the direct action of the General Govern
ment upon the business interests of the citi-
zen, and restricted as are its political powers,
yet this barrier TO social intercourse and TO the
transmission of intelligence cannot fail TO pro
duce difficulties, jealousies and arrangements,
i'll the practical workings of the Federal sys-
TEN. Ii was the inherent difficulty of the case,
Inc HonHf tbaf in.lu Il anf.,,
nent statesmen and citizens, in the earlier dis
cussions arizing out of these distant possessions.
to advance the idea of separate Republic for
the Pacific slope. Before the suggestion of a
Pacific Railroad, and independent of that bond
this dimness of faith i'm the practicabilty of en-
bracing both coasts in one government may
well be excused With the intervening belt, a
thousand miles i'm width, of uninhabited and
partly uninhabitable country, stretching from
the 32d to the 49th parallel, as a barrier to in
tercourse, it is not surprising that these doubts
should have been entertained. The very idea
of such expansion is due 10 the boldness and
far-reaching enterprise of the American char
acter. In any previous age and with any Other
people, the crest of the Rocky Mountains
would have been regarded as a fitting national
boundary, established by natures decree.
To hold these isolated and distant shores Ia
cordial and beneficial union, facilities for inter
illuSl Dt lIOiu oCtdi
to ocean. AS the massive monument now rising
at the National Capital IN memory of Washing
ton is made enduring by the bond between th,
stones forming its opposite sides, so must the
steam car and electric telegraph bind together
with the ties of social and business intercourse
the States which fringe the Atlantic coast ano
those that are hereafter TO adorn our Pacific bor
der The heightened deliberations in Congress:
and the liberal appropriation for preliminary
hot
strongly felt. To devise plan for the speedy
; construction of the Pacific Road, which shall
prove financially practicable, is the great pro
blcm of the tunes.
But the Pacific Road, so far as embraced il
the plans and surveys of the Government be
! gins at the remotest boundary of the frontie
States Intermediate between its proposed ter
minus and the finished roads of the States,
yet to be constructed, 10y individual means,
thousand or two thousand miles of railway, be
fore the Pacific Road, so called, if now finishes
could be reached from New Orleans, Memphis
! ST. Louis and Chicago Its construction cannt
, even be commenced, efficiently and economical
: = ly, until these intervening branches are mad
= Whence shall come the means to construct thes
. essential eastern extensions, or rather beglI
nings of the Pacific Railroad, through the fror
y tier States? Europe takes sparingly of ou
bonds. and the Government grants no land
: though the largest proprietor. VIII Congre'
superadd the burthen of 81 200 per mile I'M IN
II way of duties? Under the circumstances, and J
view of the great national interests involved,
d IL too much that we ask the Government. q
c with one voice from Maine to Texas. to with
J, draw for a time from these important interPrise
$ the pressure of its heavy handY
y The tax on imported iron originates in III
|, policy of encouraging the manufacture IN tn
u limited States. The iron and coal underlyin
0 the mountains of Pennsylvania arc 10 her a
: element of strength and solid prosperity, and
the country sure basis of national wealth.
{ is an interest demanding the highest considers
y ton of Government. Protection to the ire
manufacturer, within reasonable limits will
: necessary so long as labor, the main element
its production, is SO abundan and cheap in r
rope, and while there are in this country, u
wide spreading prairies to invite and draw aw;
I from the forge the labor requisII for its oper
:, tion.
With this Just acknowledgement OF the CLAIM
of the iron interest, il is stIII difficult To perceI
e any sufficient ground for the PertinacIty wi
n which Pennsylvania reslsis, even To The bit,
!. ond every measure of this kind for the relief
\ railroads Mr.. Edgerton's proI Iosiiion referr'
4 only TO rails, of which her production has be-
% insignificant in comparison with the great aggl
ir gate of her iron manufactures. and the makii
10 of which, from its small profit, she takes 60
ID care to suspend as prices drop toward reason
w bic standard. Of her six or eight rail mills, !
n two or three have continued in operation duri
l. the recent period of depression, and these tc
limited extevt. The common descriptions
m iron, entering into the general and multiply
-, =, uses of society, and of railroad companies is
~ chief interest of the iron districts. No poll
- could so largely extend the consumption OF CO
20 mon iron a. that which | am advocating. Or
!; g railroad in any interior portion of the n
~ ~ States, conf Getting with either of the west,
'e rivers or lakes. and among the first and heavI
articles of freight finding its way TO mark
oil heretofore unknown, will be seen the lron' ma
on castings a, d other products OF the iorges
i'll iron manufactures of Pennsylvania
ed II is singular enough that the great IRON p
ew ducine State should set herself, as she has d.
lot in Congress with entire unanimIty, agar
to- the nroposed reasonable encouragement oil I
ca snecies of internal improvement, which not
lily Iv seeks ou immense Interior and unexpio
ar districts to purchase her iron, but :, which
IN itself to be, so long as the trains shall be
= in motion, the gre1s consumer of iron Not
ose v is its efficient machinery of iron, but also
Ich yar,, track unon which its many wheels are