The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-03-29


Louis, to point now comparatively un-
important. Commerce builds up cities
and. demolishes them at will. Babylon
and Niineveh. once as proud as sthe proud
est of earth's cities, are now in desola-
tion. aud she plaeesof their former mag
ai6eeees are i.saeust.
The eoaamerce of St. Louis is gather
ed. not from Missouri alone, but from
the whole of the Upper Mississippi and
its tributaries, as well as the Upper Mis-
souri. Western Illinois and Wisconsin.
Eastern Iowa and Minnesota, are bound
ed ON the Father of Waters. st. Louis
has been the commercial emporium, for
many years. of this vast region of coun-
try. Would it not be an easy matter for
the people in those free States to build
up point within their own domain
place which would not be blighted by
the miidew of slayerye Such a point
has already grown up on the Lakes, and
showed population of $4,000 in 1853,
twenty-five years only from the time of
its first settlement.
Until. the great lines of railroads are
completed from the East to Western
Iowa, Nebraska. and Kansas, the COM
neree of this region must necessarily
be carried on through the Missouri river.
1t is public highway. and open to the
commerce Of the world The few pirates
inhabiting its banks are net sufficiently
numerous to hold complete control Of the
river for any very great length of time.
As soon as the Administration at Wash
ington shall be changed, measures will
be taken to put a quietus on further rob-
berries, by declaring offences of the char
seter lately perpesrated there, piracy, and
offenders under United States laws, will
be punished with death. That done, the
heavy commerce of the Unbounded West
will continue uninterrupted. forcenturies,
! uPsthe Missouri fixer.-
Shall Nebraska, Kansas, Western
Iowa, .nd all that large number of free
States yet to be carved out of that unin-
hahited region lying east of the Rocky
Mountains, and also these lying on the
Upper Mississippi and its branches, an
nually pour tribute into St. Louis. the
Hap ofthe Western slave trader? or shall
a new point, better situated as CONNER
cial emporium, more convenient in every
respect, be built up with our own capital
These questions are of gigantic import
ance, and demand the consideration oil
every friend of Freedom.
| The reader is requested to cast his eye
upon any good map of the United States
at the confluence of the Missouri with
the Mississippi He will observe that five
Imiles above the junction is Alton, while
twenty miles below the mouth is St. Louis.
The former is in Illinois; the latter in
Missouri By observing the lines Of
railroad, and other communications to the
great West, through the Missouri river,
he will see that every pioneer vending
his way to all this vast region lying
West of the Missouri, and now being
tpeOpled with such unparalleled rapidity,
who come by public conveyance, passes
through Alton, goes down to St. Louis,
a distance of twenty-five miles-in direc,
course, trenty miles out ofhis acoy-pay-
ing for his passage down on one day, and
returning the next within FIVE cliles oil
Alton, making an aggregate of forty
miles of waste travel, consuming one
days time, besides an expense of al
least five dollars, for which no one is in
the least benefited. save the proprietors
of steamboats, on the river, and the hotels
in st. Louis.
In addition to the trdvel, the entire
freight from the East and North, which
comes by way of the lakes OF the rail-
roads, on its way to any of the region
drained by the Missouri-now peopled
with freemen, and with such glorious
future before them-either passes from
Chicago to the nearest point, by railroad
or canal to the Mississippi; thence down
that river past Alton to St. Louis, else
down the Chicago and Mississippi rail-
road, through Alton. The travel and
freight from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
and middle Ohio and Indiana. provided
it is not forwarded by way of the Ohio
river. will pass direct to Alton over the
road, By way of indianapolis and Terre
Haute, and do,0n the Mississippi to st.
Louis, to be returned again the next day,
by steamer. up the Mississippi river, to
the mouth of the Missouri.
| We propose that Eastern capital be
united with the capital and efforts OF
1 Free State men in the West, and establish
3 line of steamers to ply from Alton to
Kansas City, LeayenMorth or Lawrence.
as the demands of trade and the state
/ of the water will hermit and soc if soma.