, 1863-01-21

Az \Hk YEA @SAs
Hon. Samuel 3. Rugg1es in very able me-
mortal to Congress, presented BY himself aud
others as q Committee Of the New York Cham
ber Of Commerce in favor Of cnlarging the
Erie and the Illinois and Michigan Canals
makes the following statements III regard TO
the Northwest. It has long since been admit
ted that Mr., Rugg1es far better than any other
man at the East understands and appreciates
the extent, the resources, the growth, and the
commercial necessities Of the Northwest:
Tie fundamental fact, to which all the 9th
c1s are subordinates, Is the extent Of the sur
face covered by these eight food-pro1uciug
States. 1t embraces the enormous area Of
22G2 54', ,000 Of acres, nearly all Of it much e1-
ceeding in fertility the average Of Europe, and
dom, with the single exception, perhaps, Of
Belgium. It's sul1ace il more than double
that Of France, and at least seven fold greater
than that Of England, fthis enormous field
for future American effort, up to the year 1850
only &c, ,6so, $40 acres, little exceeding 1.-THE,
had been brought into cultivation. In the
single decade from 1850 to 1850, brief tr,nsl-
tion period from infancy to early youth, no
less than 25,146 ,S41 additional acres were
taken from forest and prairie, and turned into
farms. That mere addition alone would near,
y cover all the arabic and pasture land Of
culture, but estimated By Eugllsh statistical
writers, at only e, ,o00, eco Of acres.
1flike causes produce like effects. it surely
viii be philosophical and safe to assume, that
the actual results Of the decade thus exhibited
will furnish reliable rule Of progress, BY
which, in the absence Of any known disturb
ing causes, our rulers may estimate, nt leaSt
approximately, the future advance Of the in
1nense interior region committed by Prori-
dence to their care. The actual conrcraion
into farms Of the q. LAG 81 acres Of forest and
prairie in the brief perioLof ten years, was ef-
fectcd by population numbering at the close
but S, ,05i, go inhabitants E7ho bad gradually,
bat steadily, grown fronD $, ,404, ,G65 in 1850
not q poetic dream or idle fancy, loosely float
ing in any conjectured, imaginary future, but.
Solid, immo7ablc fact, firmly imbedded in
the immutablc arithmetic of the past. It is
|. emphatically one fol- the whole American PEG
| pie profoundly to cousider, and especially in
the present hour of national tSial, requiring
all their courage and all their Intelligence. In
estimating the future they may close their
eyes, If they can, on that inexorable, Ccomet-
rical ratio, under which the morally certain
| arrested by any earthly power, will afford an
increased basis equally certain foragricultural
| results cozrespondingly increased but they
never can exclude the simple arithmetical
| truth, that with only the actual rate Of past
| progress, many Of Us may live to sec the tinal
| and erownirg result Of the few remaining pro-
cesses Of only ten years each, by which the
magnificent remnant Of this broad. domain,
embracing the 210, ~, lis acres slumbering In
their virgin state in 1850, will be wholly Yield
ed up to the yiyifying embrace Of mau, and
lie highest arts Of civilization and peace.
| The enormous increase Of agricultural pro-
I ducts, and also of pecuniarJ wealth, furnish
ing like measure Of genesative power for
! each Of these decades, stands wildly recorded
| in the recent census The yearly product Of
wheat and Indian corn, In these eight interior
States, which amounted to o68, $50, ,030 bushels
in 1862 (more than dye-fo1d the quantity
needed to ICED their human tnhabitants,) in
creased, in 1860, to 4s5, ISL, COO bushels, actu:
ally exceeding in amount the whole cereal
product Of the United Kingdom Of Great Bzi-
tain and Ireland, with q population Of twenty
nine millions, and falling but little, if any.
short Of that Of France, with population Of
thirty-six millions. The comparison is i'm.
pertEnt, not only In showing the Inherent
Superiority Of our soil and its unequaled facili-
ties for easy culture, hut the serious, political
hazard incurred by foreign nations In attract
ing too many Of their people to commerce and
Manufactures, and thereby diverting an IN.
due proportion from agricultural Industry
/ tho most permanent and untailiug hssts Of .
: nation's strength. The fact certainly sheds
flood Of light on our own fast coming future
as the dominant, feeding nntion Of Tho world
Come wlat may OF will ofa political change