The weekly union record., 1864-12-31
The West the Seat Of Empire.


tiaues to grow for the next twenty years in tAe
same ratio that it has grown during the Is:
ten. or in bat little over halt ihe ratio thasiii
grew between lS40 and ! $50, it viii in tAe
year 1854 contain over two millions OF inhAtst
ants il viii moreover be then larger city
than New \ lork for. while The Increase 81
New York was but g. per cent from ls4o 20
1850, and bu, sc per cent. from lS50 10 l>ta
that Of Chica-o mas. daring the FIRST Of thec
decades 30 per ceut.. ard during ihe last. 2e3.
No city in the world Qi We except Bagdsd,
which was called into existence ~ few wears
by the absolute power Of Hsroun Al Raschsd)
has grown with ANYTHING Ike the rapdiiy oi
Chicago Bat its RAPID growth : scarcely
equa 10 is solidity. wealth snl business. A And
in ali respects the CITY Itself is hardly equal TO
the vast eou3tgy whose metropolis il aspi-es
10 become
Fifteen Years age, a writer for I've thiukl
the Edip6arg Review, giving his opinion Of
America and The future fortunes Of Western
cities, was bold enough to prophesy that Chi
cago woald some time become the empire city
Of the continent. He was then secuted by the
friends oi CiucinnAu, New Orleass and ST.
Louis, and treated as insane by the knicker-
oockers. But since then new lights have
dawDed upon the vision Of these men, and now
/ the truth Of this bold prophecy IS not so bard
10 reailze. Fifteen Years ago, there were foEty
/ cities in the United States each containing
greater population than Chicago. Now shs is
the sixth in population, the third in business,
the second in tonnage. the FIRST in domestic
commerce and as q first buyer and seller Of
grain, the foremost place 10 all The world ncr
future Is secure; Tor. besides being the queen
city of the Great Lakes, who send 10 her 10
Stir- fhp5- linn b+sv coal Fsit tsf.r
she is the centre Of The greatest railway system
in the country, which shoots out fsom her il
all directions like rays Of light from the sun.
drawing into Chicago the agricultural resources
Of all the western world.
So far, Chicago has grown from the copiri-
buttons of bat three or four Siales-lllilois
+ (herself an Empire). part O: Indiana. Wisconsin.
Iowa, and part Of Michigan. True. she Is
connected by one railway with southern Min
neSota, and by two with Missouri but as vet
there is no railway west Of the Mississippi that
contributes much to her prosperity. N6r j.
there likely 10 be much done in the way OF
railway extensions until after the civil var.
when the country. especially the Great Vast.
will take a fresh start and distance the pas, in
every element Of prosperity. Chicago Hiil
/ have no rival: but illinois, Iowa. Minnesota
and Missouri will. There IS now a continuous
chain of settlements along the eastern slope of
/ the Rocky Mountains from the southern line
/ OF New Mexico TO the uotihern line o. Dakot ah.
distance of two thousand miles. They are
permanent prosperous, aud in very few YEARS
will be wealthy They have native resources
IN gold and silver mines, IN iron, copper, lead,
quicksilver all the precious aud all the useal
minerals: in timber. rich lands nayigable
streams, water power. and pastures of illmitable
extent. Between this chain Of settlements and
that line which, UP to the year S60 was called
/ the Western Frontier, inierveues an agricultu-
raj region oue thousand miles in breadth, IA
I richly favored in all desirable natural elements
as the State of Illinois, but as yet rude, uuin
habited wilderness. 1t embraces half Of New
/ Mexico, two thirds Of Kansas, half of Colorado,
all of Nebraska, oil of Dakoiah, and nearly
half of Montana. The country West Of the
Rocky Mountains is nearly equal in extent bot
not so diversified in resources. Yet even west
of the Rocky Mountains q new State has been
created cat of the raw wilderness in less than
five years, her Senators now holding IN their
hands the commissions which make Neyada "a
potent in the highest legislative branch OF the
Government as New York or Peunsylvsnis.
There is room in these two great central
regions for thirty States as large as Penusyiva-
the next FIVE years as many as six or eight new
States will be erected out Of the Territories Of
New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Ne
braska Idaho. Washington and Dakoiah. At
present. population is flowing into these Terri.
tories both from the East aud West. In three
years after the war, there is every reason to
believe, as many as half & million emigranii
from Europe and the Eastern States will seek
and find homes in this central mineral and sg-
ricultural region. where the climate is healthy,
and where labor will, for quarter Of q century
to come, be in demand at the highest rates.
The creation OF eight or ten or dozen ncw
States between the Sierra Nevada and he
Mississippi will 90 a great way toward cons0l.
idating the nationality Of the United States.
1t will transfer the balance Of political power
from the maritime to the States Of the interior.
from the lords Of commerce to the farmers. from
the marts Of foreign merchandise where patri-
otism is always held subordinate to the interests
of trade to the grain region where men lock TO
their native soil for their daily bread and
swear by their country. 10 all this vast inte-
rior region OF which we speak, and for which
Chicago is and will remain the metropolis, the
people will have a hOm7geueitv Of interest and
pursuit and this viii gradually mould them
into political homogeuelty. The Common
School system OF New Eng Slaudi Nuich IS sure
to reach every nook and craDuy where there il
soil to invite a settlement viii lay down the
basis Of their social philosophy and religious
liberation When these uew States come into
the Union, Pennsylvania aud New York will
have lost their power Of deciding With the
South who shall or who shall not be President.
1t will be New England and the Great West
who will make Presidents. and who will, 6
they ought to, rule the future destiny OF tbs
Republic. We say "ought to- because the
States and communities Of the Great " est are
the children Of New England They Cory her .
political IDEAS, her free schools, her free
churches; they are fostered By her enterprise,
her money, her arts. industry and comprehensive
charity: and to all those things ere opposed
those who dislike New England, who affect
aristocracy, who hatter foreign manners, eaFess
foreign mobiles, and would overthrow American
nationality in order to build up on its ruins
social and political system copied after Europe
- I. -. \ a. 90