, 1862-02-14

CsntSg. -. ---..----...--.---..-.. 54.tl0ss6 g.
The report Of the New York Canal Comrnis-
sloner, Samuel B. Ruggles, in 1858, concurred
in By Canal Commissioner Charles Il. Sheriff.,
IN. y. ASS. Doc, 1859, on page 20,) says that
in 1858 the western commerce passing through
the Erie Canal was S156, $50, ,7S4 On page Il
the same same report says: The proportion
lof forest products) already contrib buted By
Canada and the West is more than one-third
Of the whole amount Of the products of the
forest (excludiDg Ordinary fire woody carried
on all the Canals, including even the Cham
plain, and the rlt1o is constantly and rapidly
Increasing in favor OF the W-est-'' On page =,
Ct the same report, NJ: Rugsles says: The
West IS among Us and upon us in full yigor,
defying all the power Of party politicians,
however perseEering, to shut out the truth
that within the next twenty years the property
10 be carried through this State to aud from
the West, will amount at least to tueuty-5fre
Aundred millions Of dollars, if not q much
larger sunl."
Col Grlham unqualifedly asserts that our
lake commerce exceeds in value our ocean
comnercci
The following extracts from Hunts .4{er~
chants -Vd5dz1ne, eontessedly one Of the most
reuaoic statistical journals, may BIZ Interesting:
WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF THE CENTER OF rorr-
In NORTH AMERICA.
In The rapidly developing greatness Of North
America it is Interesting to look to the future and
speculate on the most probable points Of centTaIi-
ding with our nation, as forming an important
pars Of it's commercial community, the Canadus.
and an: c9n:isuo9s Provinces, the center Of popula-
lion white and back. is little west OF Pittsburgh
situated at the head Of navigation on the ohio Xiv
cy. The movement Of this center is north Of west
about N the direction Of Chicago The center OF
degree Of precision. We know il must be i
considerable distance east and north Of the centre
OF population. That centre, too, is on the grand
march westward. Both, in their regular PROGRESS,
will reach Lake Michigan. Is it not tbct, as Ger.
tain as anything in the future be, that the cen
fral power Of the contiu ent will move to and be-
Afosha these pure waters viii gather the denscst
popua.1ons, and on their borders vii. grow up the
best towns and cities
1t can scarcely admit Of doubt that tho doues-
tic commerce Of North America bears proportion
q large as twenty to one Of its foreign Commerce
Has Internal commerce tendency to concentrate
III few points, like FOREIGN commerce:
At the present rute Of increase the United States
and the Caradas, fifty years from this tine, will
contain over one hundred aud twenty millions of
i've millions and that these shall be diatri5nted
20 thai tue Pacific Suites shall have ten millions
md the Atlantic border twent five millions there
VIII be left for the great interior plain seventy
millions These seventy millions will have twenty
times ss much commercial intercourse with each
other as with ali the world besides 1t is obvious.
ahen that there must be built ny in their midst
the great city Of the continent; and not only So
hut that they will sustain several cities greater
than those Which can be sustained on the ocean
border
The commerce Of the lakes during the past
year las, in consequence of the blockade Of
tic Mississippi, bccn far greater than in .uy
previous year. The trade and commerce Of
the lakes has been measured by the means Of
transportation. Every railway was pressed
10 It's utmost capacity, and there WAS not
single vessel On the EAkcs but what WAS in SER
vice, carrying forward the products OF the
Northwest to 1hc sea-b0artl- The receipts Of
grain ut Chicago alone amount to the enor-
NOUS quantity Of s, 093:; ,219 bushels il, 1860
the receipts were Sc, 5044 IT. bushels. The in
crease at milwaukee, and other ports is III the
same ratio.
Accurate statistics of the present commerce
Of the various lake towns are not at COM
mand. but the growth of Buffalo, Rochester,
Eric, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Milwaukee,
and Chicago, are all indiccs OF the rapid ad-
vance OF Lake Commerce and tile agriculture
Of the West, and III the aggregate reach III II
nltudc which is entitled to the most favorable
consideration of Congress.
Your Committee lrlye given but very i'm
perfect sketch Of its wonderfully rapid growth
and present Importance Of the Northwest It
ahounds IN all the elements Of L great and
prosperous country. It has thus far been the
/ great agricultural section. But with its inex-
hau5table supplies Of coal, 1umberand metals,
twill erelong become great manufacturing {
county The iron and copper Of Lake Sups-
nor art attracting tue attention of tie world
The Northwest las grown by the energy aud
Industry Of its own hardy, free people, receir-
ing less aid from the Federal treasury than a1.y
other section. Its harbors, though filled with
4 commerce in comparison with which that OF
the now rebel, and lately petted and favored
eeaboard section, sinks into insjgnificauce .
yet these harbors have been neglected because
/ the water on which that commerce tloated
| arus fresh. Its defcnses have been abandoned
and have fallen into decay.
As compared with TIC South the Northwest
has received literally nothing from the Ma.
| tioEal Treasury. The South has had navy
yards, fortiGcations, custom houses, and har. al:
bors, costing millions of dollars There has
been expended on the Gulf Mexico and the
| Florida coasts more millions OF dollars than
the Northern frontier received thousands.
l. The East, too, has had Notifications, armor
| les, forts, navy yards, depots, arscnals, ant
ships. The Northwest asks simply Justice
but rot even that at this time. In tile mids
of this war, she asks only that some Of he
most Important 1eadings md exposed point
be fortified and placed in q condition Of dc
Tense; that an armory and foundry be cst:.b
1ishcd On the lakes, 10 enable her to have tht
means Of aruipg her citizen soldiers, and tLa
navy yards be established, so that naval stosel
may be collected.
Tie Committee urge these defenscs as no
less important to New England and the grca
/ A44AA4L Gl1lEs III 1NEh 1NIh Guu IE1uS5 lfInh
titan to the Northwest itself.
| The vast agricultural products Of TIC Wes
| t;Dd their way to the Atlantic along tho grca
canals and railways running through thest
Statcs.7
New York possessing the Hudson Rive
{ncxtto the Mississippi perhaps the most im
portant river in the Union}, has expcpd
cd to connect this river with the Lakes oycl
| E40,0G0,0GO- Tie Hudson, the New Yorb
canals and the Great Lakes have made the Cit,
| Of New York the commercial metropolis o
the nation. It has thus been brought into watc1
communication with all tie lakes By means o
the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and the Hi
nois River thus has brought to her wiaaryc:
and warehouses the agricultural product;
not only Of the vast territories lying
around the lakes, but also those of the valley:
Of the Mississippi and Missouri. So that tht
fguratiye orator Of New ENGLAND CIR. Choate.
was scarcely extrasagant when he described
her rs "lolding in one hand the vast com
metce Of the West, while with the other
Vcnicc-likc, she welded the everlasting sea-
PENNSYLVANIA also has By her canals anG
railways connected her great city Of Philadel
phia with these inland seas. The security o
these waters, and our national supremacy or
these lakes, the protection of our northern
frontier, arc quite az important, therefore
to tie East as the West And it is time thai
the tact was recognized by the Government
that the shore line of the lakes, $3.50 miles
the Atlantic coast. We trust that our friend:
at the East will recognize the fact that tllt
West has attained its majority, and that it:
provincial history Terminated with the censu:
Of 1850. Our brethren Of the East will mo-
forget when asked to yote for defenscs tt
these lakes, that the waters now bearing tt
the ocean such vast products, have been tht
scene Of some Of the most brilliant naval trl
umphs which adorn OUT history.
Fully onc-half Of the soldiers now in thu
held in defense OF the fng, and our nationality
have been drawn from the Northwest How
gallant1y the soldiers Of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio
Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa are
Tic Republic has naturally three great sys
TENS Of nayigable waters. The Atlantic OF
the East, the likes on the North, and tht
Mississippi On the West. By means Of tht
New York can1ls and tie Illinois and Mlchl
gan Canal, these are now Ill united By watc'
Communication.
It may not be ont Of place in this connec
tion, and at this crisis in our national affairs
to recall the provisions Of the ordinance O.
11s7, which declares ssthat The ..asigabe ,ratess
Of the Mississippi and the st. LaWrence, and
the carrying places between them, shall bt
common highways, and toTetxT FREE .fToH. ans
to1, duty or innpost Thereon. This guarantee O.
a free outlet East and South, the Northwest
| Will, under all circumstances, and 1t any cost
insist upon. The value and importance O.
| these water communications, the most mag
nifcent on the globe, has been enormously
increased by the great network Of railways
which extend from the lakes South and West
all over the vast inland, bringing to tht
| waters the agricultural products ef more thar
half the continent. Chicago alone has no les les:
than thirteen long trunk railways radiatins
from her as 4 common center, and bringing tt
| her docks the products Of every farm between
the Likes asd the Rock mountains.