The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-01-27
THE WEEKLY PIONEER AND DEMOCRAT.

The people of Maine, especially of the
city of Portland, take another view of this
subject. In regard to the Atlantic and St.
Lawrence Railway, which is an extension of
the Canadian Grand Trunk to the city and
harbor of Portland, Gov. MORRILL, holds the
following language in his late message:
The importance of this enterprise is already
seen in Che rapid growth of our chief CONNER
cial city, the facilities opened to our interior
towns for direct trade westward, and the
amount Of transportation that already finds its
way from the remote interior, without trans.
shipment to the Atlantic. Its prospective I'M
portance is incalculable, an approximate esti-
mate of which can only be made in connection
with the prospective and probable develop
ment OF the resources, settlement and growth
of the vast regions of Canada West; of the
great lakes and the valley of the Upper Missis-
sippi, the great producing region of the nation
and whose capacities are sufficient for the hab
ltatlon and sustenance of one hundred million
people, whose outward market must be sought
at the Atlantic seabOard, and who, following
the natural channels of the st. Lawrence river,
would thence over this line of railway find their
shortest practicable route to their ultimate
destination.
The competing railway lines Of New
York and Pennsylvania must conform their
tables of freights to the necessity of the
case. The northwest cannot consent to any re-
trograde from the provisions of the Recipro.
city Treaty. On the contrary the Governor
and Legislature of Minnesota ask for its
enlargement and extension. The Toronto
Globe, in recent article thus represents the
unanimity of the Northwestern States
The Chicago Press and Tribune pronounces
strongly in favor of reciprocal free trade be-
tween the States and the Provinces. In this
regard the spirited Chicago journal does but
reflect the prevalent western feeling on the
subject. Whatever objections eastern manu-.
facturers take to the Reciprocity Treaty
whatever objects southern politicians have in
disturbing the commercial arrangements now
existing between the two cOuntries-the west,
we may be sure, will not only steadily support
the present relations, but will heartily encour.
age their reciprocal extension. The tone of the
Detroit and Milwaukee as well as the Chicago
papers, irrespective of party, leaves little
ground for apprehension upon this head. At
st. Paul. where the question is invested with
peculiar interest by proximity to the Red River
country, soon to be opened for settlement, we
notice that expositi0ns have been made by Mr..
j. W. Taylor and others with as much earnest.
ness and success as the strongest friends of the
movement could desire.
We reproduce single paragraph from
the article of our Chicago contemporary:
In relation to reciprocal free trade with
Canada, there are some for abolishing so much
of it as we already enjoy, while others are re-
solved upon extending it indefinitely, making
trade between the two countries as free as it
now is between the different States of the
Union, abolishing custom houses and custom
house officers now required on both sides of
the line, and rendering the commercial union,
IN every respect, complete. In this latter
class are embraced all Western men who have
given the subject any serious consideration.
Such unequivocally is the tendency of
public opinion in this locality, and it will
doubtless be expressed more promptly and
effectively, on account of the monopoly
views proclaimed by some of the New York
press.
We notice with pleasure that the New
York Evening Post, true to its traditional
policy of free trade, urges the extension of
the Reciprocity Treaty over the Districts of
British America northwest of Minnesota.