The Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1861-1862, 1862-01-11

partments in which this is most conspicuous
are the mining of coal and iron, and the man.
ufacturc of salt, iron, wood, and distilled Ii
quors. A comprisoR of the deeennial GEN.
suses of the United States and the State sta
tistics of the last four years presents very
gratifying results.
The following is a comparison of the pro-
duction of iron, coal and salt, in 1910 and
1860:
OF IRON.
Furnaces Pig Iron. Value.
In 1910, 10 25,959 5 649,975
In 1860, SO 105,5O0 3,171,000
OF COAL.
Bushels. Men. Value.
In 1910, 3,513,4O0 439 S29G,O00
In 1862 5O,0OOO00 1000 100000
OF SALT.
Bushels. Value.
In 1910, 297,310 S89,205
In 1860, .... 100000 100000
The facts show that the production of pig
iron has increased in the last twenty years
fourloId that of coal fiftcenfold, and that of
salt skiold. This is far greater ratio of
growth than that of population or of agricul-
tural production, and shows that the greatest
relative increase in industry, at the present
time, is in the departments of mining and
manufactures.
Last year the report Of the Commissioners
of Statistics contained a summary of the en-
tire industry Of the Safe, complied from the
returns of the United States census. The
aggregate value of industry (not agricultural)
was 1922, ,867, 800, showing an increase from
1910 to 1850 of one hundred per cent, and
from 1850 to 1860 ofnihcty-e per cent
the whole increase, in twenty years, being Just
fou&old. Several particular branches of in
| dustry and the arts, such as the products of
coal and salt, and the mahufacture Of clothing
and of distilled liquors, have increased in a
much greater ratio. . .........
In viewing these pleasing results, Of Fro
ductivc industry, exhibiting the active and re-
muneratcd employment of labor, which con-
fers at once independence upon the men and
wealth upon the Safe, We should recognize
the great Importance of machinery, and the
new and multiplied facilities Of commerce,
furnished by the modern arts of locomotion.
! Of both these, Ohio has largely avai!ed Itself.
| The machines for facilitating agriculture have
not only been usel but made in great num-
bors within the State. The new arts of dis
tllaton, of expressing oils, and of sewing by
machinery, with others of minor importance,
have all been employed with great success.
The art, however, which has aided Ohio more
than any other, is the improvement in locomo-
ton. This applies more especially to COM
mcrce. ,...
The first want Of State, so largely engaged
in agriculture, is sufficient markets for its
products: and the next is cheap and facile
modes of transporting those products. Mar
kets we have in the increasing wants of cities
and manufacturing towns on the Atlantic, and
the increasing and now ceaseless demand Of
Europe for food. In the early periods of the
| State, these markets were almost inaccessible
and agriculture was discouraged by the heavy
burthen imposed by the cost of transportation
But in no department has the State shown
greater energy and intelligence than in supply.
ing the improved means Of locomotion, anc
thus, giving greatly enhanced value to it:
products. Wise Legislation invited capital tc
our public works, and the people promptly anc
patriotically met the taxes required, and have
been repaid for all their sacrifices. No State
of the same age can produce such an exen
of public Improvements, constructed for the
purposes of commerce and the development
of agriculture. Some have been constructed
by the State, some by corporations, and SOM
by private associations; but all contributing t.
! the public wealth, and bring commercial facil
tiles within the reach of nearly every inhabit
ant .e .g
The aggregate of roads, railroads and ca
nails, is very nearly as follows:
Canals 900 miles
Railroads 5000 d"
Turnpikes 3,4O0 " H
Common Roads $1,000
These make scventy-four thousand fv
hundred miles of transit lines, independent Q
the coast lines of Lake Erie and the Ohit
4 River, all of which are accessible to vessels il
navigabe waters. B se ~.
The land surface of the State is 1000
square miles, so that there is one mile Of rail
road to every thirteen square miles, and
mile and half of common road to each squar
miles of surface The farmers are within ca
sy reach Of road, while the great CONNER
cial arteries, canals and railroads, pass throug
or near the commercial towns. r.....=r.s
Situated between the lakes on the north
and the mountains on the south which com
down to the Ohio this State had admirabt
advantages for internal trade. The grea
streams of trade and migration which pas
between the east and the west must SO throug
1 heriteritory or along her bordesrs. The con
sequence is, that the surface of our State i
Il covered with network of railroads and ca
nails, which are Of the greatest service, nc
4 only to commerce, but to agriculture, and i
time of war, to military movements. Whe
the internal trade with the South was cut of
the immediate effect was to turn much of th
. produce which had before descended the Mis-
E ssippi, to the railroads Of the northwest i
: its transit to the, cities of the Atlantic. Ad
: the freights derived from abundant harvest
: and the great value Of these roads to all tn
Q interests in the country will be appreciated
{ Nor were they. Of less value to the Govern
f metit. While war ragged on the Souther
fl bordnr, and immense armies were gathered