The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-02-23
FIRST PAGE:-The Tobacco Inspection Act
Llr. Smiths Lecture,

the general principles of commercial and in n
dustrial prosperity from the facts OF history, n
the lecturer applied them with great aptness
and force to the peculiar advantages Of our re-
siou of country. After considering the rela- ]
tive power Of commerce and manufactures to
create wealth and increase population, he ex- {
hibited the resources We possessed Of becom-
ing the great industrial empire of the world;
and estimated from our past progress, our
future wealth and population. The wants
supplied by agriculture were limited to natu-
raj wants, and could not be extended; those
supplied by the artizan and artists were arti-
fetal tastes and were capable Of indefinite ex
tension. With the future Improvements Of
machinery in cultivating the land, the number !,
engaged in agriculture to supply the natural
wants Of man, could not be more than one
third Of tho whole population. The arts, !
manufactures, and trade must occupy the 9TH /
or two-thirds. The points that possessed
attractions for this class Of industry, must be
the great future centres of population and
wealth. AS the country multiplied her natu-
raj and artificial productions and the more
completely supplied all her own wants within
herself, the less need she had of foreign COM
merce; and the greater, in relative Importance,
would become her internal trade. Within the
bounds of our vast country we had the means
of supplying almost all human wants; with
the exception Of few inter-tropical produc-
wa ha1 ,l- luta Of
commerce to supply our own desires. As for
eign commerce became Of les- relative impor
lance, and our internal trade our chief inter
est, the sea board cities would lose their rela
tive rank and consequence, and some great
interior cities would become the great marts
in which to produce, collect, assert and dis
tribute the innumerable productions Of
mechanical industry.
The manufactures would gather around the
seats Of cheap power and cheap material,
near the coal and iron beds; the riarts would
be at the great intersections of the lines OF
travels and transportation, and where these
two attractions could be made co-incident-
where the workshops and the foci OF railroads
and the confluence of rivers were at q common
centre, there population must be gathered and
some great city-a hive of busy humanity
must be formed. In surveying the map Of
the country, where does the eye rest but
upon the Lower Ohio valley, as the natural
centre Of the industry and commerce Of the
continent; and what element does this favored
region lack, to support every branch OF me-
chanical industry? Where is there a more
favorable point for manufactures than Evans
vile, or more eligible point for great mar.
Of internal commerce?
In the internal commerce of country, pro-
ducts of manufactures must precede trade
You must have something to sell before you
invite customers. The products Of agricul-
ture being similar, throughout, in the temper
ate zones, the exchanges in those must be
very limited in our internal commerce. The
growth ofour interior cities must depend upon
the variety and extent Of our mechanical pro-
auctions and exchangeablcs. The Lower
Valley must become the seat OF cotton manu-.
features; no place had moro advantages for i;
than Evansville. One or two large cottor
factories would do more for the city than al
the railroads she could build-they would re
pay in the enhanced value Of property, twice
their cost; and if they never paid dividend
they wouli be good Investments for the city
But they were sure to pay. The difference in
the cost of manufacturing at CanueIton and
Lowell, had been found, by actual comparison
and Investigation, to be equal to ten per cent
upon the whole capital invested in the factory
in favor Of the West;-so while the Eastern
manufacturers might, by low prices, be obliged
to stop, ours could make their ten per cent
Most communities were frightened at thG
magnitude Of the undertaking. to build larg,
cotton mills The means required were no
so great as was supposed. We embark with
out hesitation in building railroad requirin,
an expenditure sufficient to build up manu-
featuring city. The new States of Indiana
Illinois and those to the MOI thwest Of then
had expended more, in few years past, thar
all the capital invested in cotton factories il
Great Britain, the source Of all her prosperit,
and power. The railroads have changed tn
aspect Of the country and will deyeope meal
culable wealth; but il we could super add t
their benefits, a business equal in extent, ant
As powerful in its influences, as the cotton
manufactures of Great Britain, can any or
doubt that the effects would be ten time
greater, than we have derived from the rail
roads, magnificent as the results of the Nv
ing down Of the iron rails already arr? W
have built the railroads; by the increase,
wealth they have brought Us, we certainl
can build the factories. The lecture was writ
ten in aterse and elegant style, and was dc
livered in an easy and unaffected manner tina
made is very attractive and interesting. TIL