St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-09-23
St. Charles City, Iowa, Sept. %, 1858.
I" Honor TO Whom Honor is Due

When the first National Horse Show
in America was held at Springfield,
Mass, in 1858, the awards of premi-
inns showed that nearly every horse
of superior merit was the product Of
Vermont. Great preparations had been
made to render the exhibition a sue
cess. Prominent men from different
parts of the Union were invited and
among those who were present and
made speeches at the banquet on that
occasion we recollect Ex-Governor
Floyd of Virginia, Mr.. Holbrook of
Delaware, Anthony Colby of New
Hampshire, Abbott Lawrence of Mas
s~achusetts, Gov. Seymour Of New
York, j. NJ. Bolts of Virginia, &c.
The banquet passed off, the toasts and
speeches were made, and yet Vermont
was not represented, nor did a toast
or a speech make a single allusion TO
that State which had produced all
that was meritorious in the exhibition,
and had won nearly all the laurels.
Vermont may be a small State geo
graphically considered, but every third
man in the State could have made a
better speech and impaired more in
formation about horses than most Of
the dignitarics whose presence was
so much sought.
When the New York Crystal Pal.
ace was christened, President Pierce
was invited, and he and a long train
of statesmen, politicians, o~ffice-holders
and hangers-on were in attendance.
The progress of the age-the growth,
prosperity, greatness-the refinement,
luxury, &c, of the times in which we
livc-were all eulogized and dwelt
upon with great delight-but the arti-
zan and mechanic-the painter, sculp-
tor, weaver, %refner, &c, had no rep
re~sentative upon that platform OF
great men. 1t was erected, not for
greasy mechanics" but as a place
whence demagogue politicians could
make a splurge, and affect to talk upon
subjects of which they knew as little
rs the Hottentots do of the gospel
plan of salvation. No artizan or me-
chanic who had lent his hand, his
skill, and his practical mind in aid Of
the erection of the Palace and in fur
nishing it with nearly everything that
art and science could produce, was
permitted to speak for himself or in
behalf of his humble craftsmen.
We could multiply instances like
the above, but these will suffice for
our purpose. We have been led into
this train of thought by reading the
following extract from the New York
in reference to the crew of the steam
ship Niagara. They performed the
labor of laying the Atlantic Gable,
and without them the work could not
60 on and yet in all the celebrations
and rejoicings over the success of
this greatest work Of modern times,
poor Jack has been almost entirely
overlooked and forgotten. Alas ! when
will the world learn to appreciate and
honor its real bencfactors
Most of the crew Of the Niagara have re-
shipped and left our port. But q more dissat-
isiicd set of men you never saw. They COM
plain of bad faith and broken pledges, from
the time they left England to the time they
sailed from this city the other day. The
amount of work done for the company who
own the cable was very great and while in
England, as well as on the ship as they were
paying out the cable, they were promised a
handsome remuneration if the cable was sue
c~essfully laid ; and under this stimulus they
did what the regulations of the service did
not ~demand-and worked like heroes. And l
heard Mr.. c. W. Field say to the crew of the
Niagara that, without their aid and vigilance
the work would have failed. Yet once on
shore, and all care for Jack was at an end. II
10 tlldN "a INtIi Va IA SiS" "up Y IL
the Peter Cooper Institute but this was Who'll.
" got up by a few friends of the sailor, who
had no interest i'm the cable, and who paid all
the expenses. For even the hall had to be
paid for, even on such AN occasion as that.
On the day of the Gable demonstration the
crew of the Niagara was one of the marked
features Of the procession, and the cheering
the tars received as they passed along, indica-
ted the popular interest in them. But they
were most shabby treated. Tn crew num-
bered one hundred aud seyenty-six men. The
music they had was paid for by those who
acted as marshals, the city refusing to pay for
it and the liberal sum for a collation. granted
one hundred and ~seventy-fve men of wars
men was S25, and which distributed among
them amounted to fourteen cents per man
They were mustered at 9 o'clock A. NJ. and
did not leave the line until Z 7. NJ, and after
n fast of eleven hours the crew were marched
down to their collation.. 1t was "a Metropoli-
tan feast to the gallant crew! It consisted of
a small bit OF water-mcllon, q sandwich the
size OF a lady 5 note envclop, about as thick
and quite as delicate, and a small glass of
weak beer. One Of the noticeable things on
the hoard was a huge melon with a flag on it.
One sailor made a dive for it. seized it and
bore it off in triumph, and soon it disappeared,
rind and all. So much for the treatment OF
poor Jack. The crew were invited to Jersey
City, and went over i'm a body. But the ferry
company compelled them To pay their own
fare across the water. The dinner to the city +,
officials and those of the Niagara cost ten dol
lars u plate, and it cost as much to feed two
and a half city officials as it did to provide the
collation. for the whole crew of the ship. This
is the ground of complaint that the crew Of
the Niagara have made in regard to the cable
company and the city corporation and those
who have gone away state that the next cable
laid will not be by them.