The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-09-10

more Markets for the past week, neatly printed
on letter sheet, may be obtained at our counting
room.
Iron and coal underlie all the magnificent tri-
nmphs of modern manufacturing industry. They
have made cheap necessaries of life of what were
formerly Injuries; they have opened up new fields
to commercial enterprise have developed new
wonders of science, and have aided instead of pa
ralyzing the workmans hand. WmTNEY's Cotton
Gin, ARKwRIGHTs Spinning Jenny, and the i'm
provements made by WATT on the Steam Engine
have revolutionized the commerce of the world
The rustic spinning wheel and the distaff; the
hand-loom and the shuttle, have been superseded
by intricate combinations of cogs and levers. so
nicely adjusted as to move with the utmost pre-
ciSion, and so artfully constructed as to perform
with superior accuracy the work which could only
be previously accomplished by skilled handicrafts-
men. Ours is the age of Steam and Iron, and the
astonishing advance which has been made in ma
tonal prosperity by commercial nations, is due
almost solely to the adaptation of those two agents
to mechanical fabors. Scientific men. by follow
ing up discovery after discovery and by combining
results, have added 10 the muscular force of the
world any amount of power which it may be ne
cesSary at any time TO call into requisiton. They
hold even the very elements in thralI. and exact
from them tribute. They have realized the dream
OF the old RosTCRUcIANs they can hold instant COM
munication with friends at the anpodes, and. even
now they are preparing TO span with gigantic
ocean steamers the crests of the turbulent waves
and to make that foam f1ecked pathway as smooth
and as easy, and as free from danger to the rom
ageuT as the railway is TO the traveller on land
The progress of practical ideas has also accomna-
med step by step the progress Of scientific dis
coVery. Of visionary schemes we have had of
late years but very few The Protector. once
looked upon craci-braned enthusiast. is now
very generally regarded as the incarnation ofsound
common sense Men demonstrate now where once
they were content TO theorize; and by combinino
Capital with Science and skilled Labor. achieve
results that approximate in their nature to mir
acles. 1t is from these causes and by this devo-
ton to the practical that those nations which have
applied themselves most closely to the DEVELOPMENT
OF their manufacturing industry, have become,
within the last three-quarters of a century. tbe
rapid increase of the commerce of Great Britain
since ITO, is to be found in the extraordinary i'm
provenent of her manufactures as a consequence
OF her being the first TO appreciate the advantages
to be derived from the substitution of machinery
IN the place of manual labor. The inventions ard
discoveries of HARGREAvEs, ARKwRIGHT. and Coup
TON applied to the manufacture of cotton poods
have impaired powerful stimulus to every other
branch of industry, and have exercised a beneficial
influence even upon remote nations. The increased
demand for the fabrics of Manchester called for an
increased production of the raw material and
year by year extended the area of cultivation in
the cotton region of our own Southern States -
Cotton speedily became, in the language of Astrol
ogy: Lord Of the Ascendant" and stimulated
genius to invent new appliances to cheapen the
cost OF production After machines had been in
vented Tor spinning and weaving cottons and
steam engines had been made to operate with nc
delicate touch as ladys finger, or with the
ponderous strength of a thousand sledge hammers
every thing seemed possible. Exuberant wealth
was the reward OF so much well directed skill and
forecast, and new aspirants appeared to realize by
increasing efforts equally astonishing results in
other branches of industry Facility of prodnc-
ton demanded rapidly of transportation to mar
ket. The old wooden tramway of the coal mines
was speedily superseded by the iron rail, and the
unlettered STEPHENSON set himself to work 10 per-
feet the locomotive. Long before this, however,
The fiat-boat had given place to the steamboat upon
our inland waters, but it was reserved for n later
Gay 10 carry out the same principle upon grander
scale, IN ocean navigation. What moral then can
we dra% from these facts, but that people who
address themselves manufacturing industry must
necessarily become populous, and wealthy, and
powerful, and that such as have superior facilities
Tor obtaining coal and iron, provided they possess
The requisite skill to use them, must at all times.
nave decided advantage over those who derive |
these crude elements of manufacturing in
dustry from distant and perhaps foreion
sources. The progress of Philadelphia dur
ing the past thirty years, affords striking
Illustration OF the incalculable benefit which ac-
crues TO city that is within easy distance of in
exhaushble deposits of coal and iron. Previously
to the opening of the Reading Railway, her for
eign commerce was in languishng condition
whilst her coasting trade was altogether insienif
can't. Bat since the magnificent coal fields of
pennsylvania have been penetrated, her iron
orges in the mountains have resounded with tho
busy hum of industry; the foreign commerce Of
Philadelphia has been trebled in extent, whilst
he number of vessels employed in the coastino
,rade has increased from twenty-five hundred and
eventy-three, in 1888, TO upwards of forty thou
and. The population of Philadelphia has in
reased in a similar ratio, owing to the constant
Extension of all the various branches of manufac,
ure within the limits of the municipality, and
very year adds largely to her foreign and domes-
ic commerce, and to the wealth and numerica,
Increase of her citizens. As port of entry.
Jew York will doubtless maintain her
prominence; but the MANN
lcturing industry of Philadelphia, estab-
ishes the material prosperity of that city upon
securer basis, and will enable her to keen
lmost even pace with her greater Commercial
ival Now, when We compare the advantages
assessed by Baltimore with those which have so
argely influenced the progress of PHILADELPHIA.
Te shall find that we wanting in none of those
lemens of success, of which the latter has already
1ade such good use. We can never expect to RI
al New I ork IN the extent of our foreign Com
'erce, out we have at least the ability to compete
nth Philadelphia in manufacturing industry. and
the development of a lucrative coastino trade
We too have coal and iron in abundance and
1hile we obtain the anthracite coal with eouaI
heapness, and facility of transportation to mar
et, we possess the superior advantage of being
carer to our fields of bituminous coal, than Phia-
elphia is to those from which she draws her sup-
lies What greater inducements then could /
ossibly be held out to skill and Capital to make OF
altimore what, by position and by the possession
f the crude material, she is SO well calculated to
ecome-an essentially manufacturing city,
IT oal, 1,af tla 10 |