Weekly Trinity journal., 1857-04-04
Cincinnati-Its Past, Present and Future.
By GENERAL LESLIE cooMBs.

oN"' CSiiiOS fAOPO9SN " StiN1h hi iNe vi kiuClu-
natl. as it was when he first saw it forty-four
years ago-that was in 1912. And that his open
ing might be model, he would make it in the
style Of a celebrated novelist
Upon blustry evening. in the year 1912, a
solitary traveller might have been seen vending
his way down the valley of the Licking river
( (Laughter). In his holsters were a pair of pis-
tolls of the old fashioned kind with holes big e.
nough for you to put your fist in them. and by
his side an old sword that had been used in kill
ing 1Iessans. his long tailed, bald-face, sorrel
horse sometimes walking and sometimes trotting,
according to the circumstances Of the case
(Cheers and Laughler.)
Thus he came to Cincinnati then little mud
dy town of 1000 inhabitants in the year Of 1912.
Covington, that now almost cmulatcs Philadel-
pha was then an Indifferent corn field, with a
single log house that had stone chimney at one
end and a cat and clay one at the other. that was
on fire half the time : and Newport had one tav-
ern, with pillows in some Of the windows and
glass in others.
The merchants of Cincinnati then went to
Lexington to lay in their stock of goods for re-
failing. and when the Lexington merchants star
ted to Philadelphia, they packed their silver on
horseback and made their wills for fear they
should never return.
The whole frontier (from Cincinnati North
and West) was then filled with Indians. Tecum-
sch and other formidable chiefs that we now read
of in history, were born in Ohio There was not
then a civilized inhabtant from Lake Erie to the
Mississippi River. Hull had surrendered Detroit
Fort Meiggs had been burnt its site was marked
only by few standing chimnics, and the whole
country was full Of hostile savagcs.
Look at me (said the speaker with my own
black hair-nO wig no dye-so fashionable now
days-with my own teeth very firm. still upright
before God and man have seen all these chan
gcs. Forty four years ago all your merchandise
was brought down the Ohio river in broad horn
boats. There were then no steamboats,, no rail
roads and not a turnpike road west of the Alle-
ghcny mountains. A short turnpike road from
Philadelphia towards Lancaster was the only sol
itary one then in America. Goods were not even
carted over the mountains, but carried on pack
horses across the Alleghenics to Pittsburg-
What changes have taken place in forty four
years. How many Of you. my hearers Of the
Young MEMS Mercantile Library Association
are forty-four years old Not many. | think.
and Of the ladies present am sure not one Laugh-
ter0
Calico was then ify cents yard and four
yards was considered a pattern for dress for
small lady and six yards for a large one. A man
had to be particular then not to marry too large
a woman, for fear it would break him up. but
now the ladies dress in all the gorgeousncss of
military cxaggeration. Why it takes me five
minutes to walk around my wife, daughter and
cheers) and she's perfect model OF the human
form-about the height of Powers Greek slave.
(Chccrs.)
Such was Cincinnati in 1912. What is she
now? The arrivals and departures Of steamboats,
at her wharf for the last year were over six thou
sand. She has thirty-two foundries, employing
two thousand laborers, and producing three
millions aud eight hundred thousand dollars
worth Of manufactured iron ten rolling mills,
producing iour millions annually a hundred
blast furnaces around Cincinnati furnish one
hundred and twenty million tons ofiron annually
fer manufacture and market in this city Last
year there were brought to this city eleven mil
lion bushels of coal but notwithstanding this
great quantity, coal is worth 1Orty-fve cents a
bushel here to day--showng that the import has
not kept pace with the demand. Oaughtcr.)-
And as to my friends from Kcntuciy-thc hogs
-Qanghter0 yon have slaughtered them awful
ly. Kentucky blood has flowed freely. In 1910
you killed $4,000. Last year you killed 4Oj 900.
Backbones and spareribs were scarce forty-four
years ago, but they are plcnticr now. OLaugh-
tcr)
The population of Cincinnati had incrcscd 10
times in # years. Its growth furnished an apt
illustration Of the difference between Old Europe
aad Dung America. There society was u frozen
seattle masses stationary and impotcnt; here
every human being was II free globule Of water,
sparkling on the surface and rising wherever it
would
TIE Future OF CINCINNATI.
4 distinguished speaker had declared recently
that the most magnificent city Of modern times
was to grow up in the valley Of the Mississippi
London was not on the sca-shorc. Rome was on
a stream not larger than the Licking river, and
Mexico the greatest city Of North America, was
inland MD way between the Atlantic and Paci- |
nc Where over the face of the habitable earth |
was valley like this to be found? The valley
of the Nile was but ribbon-a string compared
with it, The Mississippi was the only Iipe river
the lecturer had ever seen. 1t could not be dam
med. or locked, Or bridged at least, not above
the mouth Of the Ohio. Standing with her feet
on the Gull of Mexico, she washed her face every
morning in the Northern Lakes, and reached out
her arms East and West till she embraced both
the Alleghcnics and the Rocky Mountains. Was
it surprising that in this valley Containing one
third the area of this Northcrn cOnincnO the
greatest city Of the continent was expected to
grow up.
The lecturer then considered the prospects of
PttSburg. Chicago. st. Louis and Cincinnati
Emporium and Lexington, to become this great
city. and decided that the competition was limi-
tied to two places, TO wit Lexington and Cincin-
natl.
Lexington was improving wonderfully. They
had built an Odd Fellows Hall there this sum
ncr, and the lecturer had built an addition TO his
house. True, their mechanics were taken from
Cincinnati, bat as soon Lexington had work for
them it was expected that all the Cincinnati, me-
chanics would move over there. Uaughter)
The lecturer then alluded to the advantages
Cincinnati enjoyed from her position for rccciy-
ing the trade OF both the North and the SOUTH
lie alluded happily to the threats OF disunion,
made during the late Presidential contest. but he
had no such apprchensons. lie believed God
inspired our fathers to form their government,
that i would never be destroyed. but that it
would endure for all time, and by its prosperity
and increasing greatness, promote the growth Of
Cincinnati The future of America would equal
the anticipation Of the poet
Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise.
The queen Of the world aud the child of the
skies.
The CHrLDRENs REmKE.-We had quarreled
with n friend harsh words were snokcn cach one