The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-01-16

Wereceiye annually a large quantity
of arms from the General Government,
and with suitable encouragement, there
woald be organized q line of uniformed
~volunteer companies that would inspire
our young men with a laudable spirits OF
chivalry, and in the hour of necessity
and peril, reflect honor on the State.
In closing the present communication
to the General Assembly, I may be al.
lowed to advert, with some little feel
ing of pride and congratulation, to the
high position which our State has ac-
quired, and the brilliant future that is
before US. The public debt, under the
policy that has been recently pursued, is
rapidly administering. Cur credit is un-
questioned on either side of the Atlantic.
There has never been a period in the
history of the State, when industry and
enterprise were more adequately and
literally rewarded.
The geographical position of Ohio,
being encircled by an Inland Sea and
River, which bear upon their bosoms a
commerce sufficient to enrich an empire,
is not surpassed by hat of any State in
the Union. She has 600 miles of navi-
gable rivers, and 500 miles of canals /;
26O0 of completed railroad, and more
than that number of miles projected and
in course of construction. These na:u-
raj and artificial channels of commerce
form the great arteries of communication
between the Atlantic States and the ra-
pidly growing West. The soil and eli
mate admit of as great an extent and yari-
ETY. of production as any similar area on
the face of the globe. Her supply of
the most useful minerals is inexhausti-
BILE, and she has all the facilities to rem
der her one of the first manufacturing
States in the Union. She contains q
population that, under q broad and en-
lightened policy, has increased, since
the commencement Of the century from
forty-fYe thousand to at least two and a
quarter millions.
Her Benevolent Institutions are mon
uments of the enlightened humanity of
her people, and her educational system,
which is as free and equal as the bless
ings of Heaven, is ample for the solid
instruction of all her youth.
The wheat crop of Ohio for the past
year has been estimated by the Secre-
tary of State, at thirty millions of bush
els, and the corr crop at eighty millions.
The State of Ohio yielded full one
of all the corn that was produced
in the United States and our wheat crop
was more than one fifth of the aggregate
of the Union. The value of the cereal
or bread products of the State for 1855,
in the ~granaries and upon the premises
where grown, will probably exceed one
millions of dollars ; of which,
more than one half finds a market be-
yond the limits of the state. BY the
Of the Auditor, it will be seen
that the aggregate valuation of horses,
mules, sheep and swine, is nearly
sixty millions of dollars; and this valua-
ton being for the purpose of a taxable
basis, is presumed to be within reasona-
bic bounds. While the wheat and corn
are the principal staples of our ag-
riculture they form but a small proper
lion of the immense u of that
great interest in Ohio.
The returns of the Federal Census
IF 1850, which embraced the farm pro-
ducts of l849, do US great injustice.
That year was one of unusual disaster to
he farmers of Ohio, their wheat crop
been almost destroyed by tAe
1t may therefore be safely as
that Ohio occupies the position Of
he first agricultural State in the Union.
The mineral resources of the State
Ire but partially developed. There are
10 means by which to form an accurate
of their extent, but sufficient is
to authorize the belief that when
.apital and science shall have ascertain
d the full amount of mineral deposits
which underlie a large portion of the
o |, the State will occupy no secondary
ank in this respect.
Notwithstanding the drain which en-
grafton to Wcstean States and Terrific
les was supposed by some to have made
pom this State, it will be seen by the
eturDs sof the enumerations of persons
yer the age of twenty-one years, that
he average annual increase of that class
f our population during the last fifteen
r twenty years, has not been diminished
For u progress and prosperity SO emil
ent OIio owes much to the great natu-
al advantages already enumerated, but
lore to that generous policy which toll
rates no illiberal tests Of birth or creed
nd to institutions which embody the
ital principles of popular sovereign
y. Loyal TO the Union, and prompt
observe every obligation of the Ma
ional compact, her citizens cannot fail
D recognize, in the broadcast sense, the
1st and salutary principle that to the
of every organized State and
'erritory belongs the right and prerog-
tive of regulating for themselves their
wn domestic and local affairs, within
be limits of the Constitution. Our
rief annals as a State are emphatic in
Indication of such a policy. The Con-
.itution of 1902 was welcomed by the
eople as a relief from Territorial mis-
overnment, and because it secured to
le inhabitants the election of their Off
ers and the. uncontrolled regulation of
heir domestic affairs.
Indeed, all experience demonstrates
nat the harmony ofxhe Union, and the
:ccess of the great Republican expert
lent in progress among as require the
application of the doctrine of
tate Rights and popular Sovereignty,
the interference by federal au-
lority to those few objects of National
interest which arc specifically enume-
tied il the Constitution. Ceutraliza-
ion is the gaeatest danger of Repub-
cs; aud against such a tendency, wheth-
: the motive be the advancement of
oecial interest or the qualification OF
animosity. the American peo- {,