The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-10-18

LAS pennsylvania ls Hn0erla!d Win coai,
iron, and zinc your land teens with coal
iron aud lead, and the river that bounds
your city carries to the gulf the waters OF
fifty odd thousand miles Of water course
and power, more than twenty thousand
miles of which have been subjected to
navigation by steam. Those oceans, now
distant. are, trust, under the admiDis
tration Of Abraham Lincoln, and By the
vote Of Francis B Blair (appTsuseG, to be
com nercially united by the highway OF
the future commerce OF the world. the Pa
cifc Railroad. But to what use do you
put your vast resources Of what avail
is your iron nountanl 1t is true that
you export few tons of it to Cincinnati
annually, to be wrought into edge tools,
for nothing else. believe, but to brsg a.
bout it. (Laughtor.) And we'll may you
boast of it, for it is Natures's uneqoalled
gift to your city and her sons. And in
the vide world there is not city that
should grow more rapidly, or be more
prosperous than ST. Louis, or render her
laboriug population more prosperous and
happy, would she but assert her right to
avail herself of the wealth with which
heaven has endowed her. But your city
is not now prosperous; your iron works
stand idle, or furnish but little employ
ment; money among the people is scarce,
wages low, interest high, and thousands
of your people unemployed. Why does
not free trade, if the assertions of its
friends be true, work out its bene6cent
results in your midsti Under the tariff
of 1912, stagnation, such as you now eu,
dure, was unknowni all interests prosper
ed. have already shown you how rap
idly the product OF iron and the consuup-
ton of cotton BY American manufactures
increased. The farmer found ready N ar
kets and good prices-commerce sprang
up-we built steamers and clipper ships,
and seemed to be realizing, under pro-
tective tariff, those blessings which the
free trade so falsely and delusiVely prom
ised us. Owing 20 the potato rot, and
the discovery of California gold, we did
not feel the disastrous effects of the change
until few years after it was made. Let
as look at our condition in 1851. Eng
land in that year invited the industry and
genius of the world to exhibit their best
products in honorable competition. The
men of America entered cbeerfuliy into
the contest. They carried to the Crystal
Palace not works of high art-the Off
spring of old national ezisteUce-or such
costly jewels as deck the royal or iuperi-
al brow; but they filed their apartment
with machinery, and the products Of the
industry and genius of young people
Aud. though Pinch cracked many joke
at their expense, and even the dignifed
Times sneered at the speoimens-speak
ing of them as things peculiar to Ameri-
ca-being of the half-horSe, half alligator
and swapping turtle speeches. laugh
many trials of skill took place about
that time. Colts revolgers established
themselves 10 the favor of the world
Hobbs picked the locks of ell nations, but
no nan of any nation could pick the locks
of Hobbs. The annual race of the Roy
al Yacht Club of England came off and +,
acting in the spirit of the broadest hospi-
tality, the club permitted an American
boat to enter the list. The race, in view
of the com mercal and naval character of
England, was matter of national solici
tude The Queen herself bestowed upon
it her patronage and presence. The tel
egraph was brought into special requisi.
tiou to announce to all England, at the
earliest moment, the Victor's name. The
wind is fair, and the boats are away; her
Majesty, anxious to know the result, in-
quires who is ahead, and gets for answer,
1.-THE America" who next :" says she,
Nobody I" says the telegraph. Laugh-
ter aud cheers) Our little. slow black
schooner" bad distanced the feet. Short
ly after this event, the agricultural iuple-
meuts were tested-those of France. Ger
many. and England With our own. And
the result was announced by the distin-
guished noblemsn who presided over the
repast that followed the trial of skill, a
warding to our genius the palm. saying
that henceforth "the mind of America
must reap the fields of England" At
that time every sea vas whitened by the
sails of our clipper ships, and our trans
atlantic steamers rivaled the best of the
world. The Shipping Gazette, of Liver
pool, admonisbed iwplored, coujured the
merchants of England to copy our models,
telling them that American Clippers were
carrying goods from Canton to London
at advanced rates. and America was dis
putting Sitb them the com mercal suprem-
acy Of the world.
Where now are our steamers and clip
| per .shipsi Alas. that Free Trade which
was to have built up our commerce has
blasted it. The sbip-builders of the At
lantio coast have been idle for years
No American steamers sail nov to Eu-
rope, and our clipper-sbips have been sold
to foreign merchants. While our manu-
factures arc paralyzed, as is our com
merce, how is it With the farmer Un
der the tariff of 40 grain was in demand
and prices steady; but, as your price cur
J rent for the last day of the last year tells
me, there was no foreign demand ioI
T grain In 1859. Free Trade has done lt'