The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1858-08-19
The Atlantic Telegraph aud Minnesota.


1t is shame that Minnesota almost alone
Of all the States in the Union, should have
tc sit aloof mere spectator, without being
able to participate in the great event Of the
century. Not for US the electric band
binds the nations together as in q sheaf--
nor for us the two worlds lock hands under
the ocean, which, like father. confessor, re-
ceives their secrets, while it consecrates
their union. All the kingdoms and princi
palities and powers are gathered together
at the marriage feast, but we, alas Of all,
condemned to sit here alone outside the mag.
netic circle ofAngloSaxon brotherhood have
not our wedding garment. To be outside
the sphere informed by the Telegraph and
Railroad is to be outside Of civilization
For the Railroad and Telegraph respective
ly form the muscular and nervous fibre Of
modern civilization. The social status Of
succeeding periods Of history exhibit con-
stantly advancing order of physical agencies,
analogous to the ascending series Of animal
races which science exhibits in the ascending
strata of rocks.
The packhorse and courier, the coach and
mail, the railroad and telegraph, represent
better than anything else these different
stages OF material advancement. The intro
ductiOn of steam and electricity as utilitari-
an agencies, mark the last evolution of the
organic development of civilization, of
which they may be said to distinguish the
period of the vertebrate from that of the
invertebrate order. Communities like ours
which eS:?: gi,.ls.. ~ ;:iisserspa.. dife pre-
cisely twenty-one years behind the time
AS our railroads are in progress, and as we
enjoy an uninterrupted steam connection
with the rest of the world during the sum-
mer months, we may Aatter ourselves that
we are partially civilized in summer, related
at least to the muscular side OF civilization.
But the worldwide fash of the Atlantic
Telegraph reveals the gulf which separates
us from the grand unity of which it is the
sublime ners. We are not part of the
age We belong to an era which it has
passed over and forgotten-a fossil-the
diyeda men,brd Of an extinct social con-
dition.
The Atlantic Telegraph has organized
the intelligence and the sympathies of Chris
tendon, and if we are left out Of the circle
of its catholic afiinities, it is by our own indo-
ence. We are farther from Prairie du Chen
than Prairie du Chen is from London or
Constantnople. 1t would cost so little of
time or money to engraft ourselves on the
magnetic tree that its Importance escapes US
in the cheapness Of the achievement. 1t
is time the matter was attended 10. II will
be strange indeed if the populous route from
Prairie du Chen to ST. Paul cannot afford
the luxury of Telegraph line. 1t has been
shown that such line can readily be built
for $4,000, or at $50 per mile
A company, we believe, has been chartered
to carry out the enterprise. But not only
has nothing been done, but nothing has been
attempted. Surely, the small amount Of
capital necessary for its consummation can
be no obstacle to it. What is it, then :
The enterprise rests upon conditions Of pop
ulation and business which must make it
very profitable to stockholders. And if all
these considerations were wanting, proper
public spirit-a proper local pride, ought to
stimulate the enterprise of the community
to build the line, even at a pecuniary loss.
And let it be remembered, too, that tele-
graph line from to Prairie du Chen
to st. Paul would cost no more now than
before Europe was brought within its cur
rent