Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1866-01-17

indusl rial interests Of the North Phila-
delphia and Pittsburg ore the great Man
ufacturing centres OF this country, and
this enterprise would strike at the vitals
Of both. 1t would not only isolate them
but it must cripple them far beyond any
present calculation. Philadelphia has in.
vested some fourteen millions of dollars
IN the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia and
Erie Railroads. These investments we're
made not with the view of direct profits
on the stock, but mainly for the purpose
OF bringing to our great commercial and
manufacturing centres fair share of the
wealth Of the West. PittsburS az a
great manufacturing city, gathers wealth
from East and West, aud after compe ersa.
tins her vast industry and capital, difiu.es
1t again 10 home markets on every hand /;
bpt here CONES TIE gian: foe of both our
comnieFolal and industrial prosperity and
proposes 10 sweep the wealth of both and
take 1t, without tribute or any compensa.
;iou. 10 foreign markets, thus using our
own domain to compass our destruction
But there Is another aud a graver oh.
Jection to this enterprise that has not as
yet entered into the discussion on the sub
Ject so far as we have observed 1t. 1t is
of course carefully concealed by the
friends OF the measure, and perhaps many
of Its opponents with most neutrals do not
at all appreciate the magnitude of the
peril this movement will eventually inau-
gurate to our industry. While commerce
and local development appear on the sur
face to be the great aim Of the English
movement through the heart oc the North,
1t is evident, upon careful examination
of the enterprise from its inception until
now, that its chief aim, in English esti-
nation, Is to create a power in our own
midst that can be made almost totally de-
structive Of our industry in any depress.
ion of our industrial pursuits. Let it
not be forgotten that from the dag the
great Trunk line was originated until the
completion of the Atlantic and Great
Western, the English investments in Rail.
roads have not been made 20 pay dividends
on stock, They have been made by the
English capitalists, who are the English
manufacturers, for the purpose of control
ing ultimately the industry of both En-
gland aud our continent; aud they need
but the completion of the through route
in Pennsylvania to place the manufactur-
ing interests of our State and of the
North almost entirely at their mercy
Just now this danger is not apparent
Our industry is prosperous and well re-
Quilted; but the time will come, in the
mutations OF trade, when English coal
will blacken our wharfs as of old, and En-
glish fabrics and manufactured articles of
of all kinds will be able to compete sue
cesstuly with our own. Then would the
death bow be struck by this gigantic En-
giish artery o. trade. Then would the
fabrics of the English looms and the han
di-work of the English manufacturers
crowd our stores, aud they could be scatt-
cred through the very heart Of our own
enterprise, at nominal cost of Transports
tion, and :hus would the English cheap
labor bring its work in competition with
us at our very doors from the Sea board
to the Mississippi. In such a contest,
We would have 40 remedy to rescue US
from the remorseless grasp of English
enterprise withou; degrading our labor
to the English standard. 1t would be
the great artery of death, and we cannot
but regard its success as the crushing blow
to be felt in but few years, to all our
present high hopes of industrial progress.
het US be wise in time. If it is the in
terest of England to develop our own
State, it is ten fold more our own interest
to do il; and the fact that the Atlantic
and Great Western proposes to develop
where the people themselves do not pre-
tend to say that capital can be compensat.
ing in doing 80 is the very best evidence
that the enterprise mus. have Interior pur-
poses and interests which caunot be in har-
mony with our own prosperity. We ask the
calm, honest, earnest attention of the leg
islature to this question, and entreat for
it an intelligent judgment that will not
lose sight of the thousand sinews of in.
dustry on which our greatness and wealth
depend. Let it not be jeopalded, and
above all let it not be placed at the mercy
Of English capital, whose only hope of
success is in our own destruction.
lin Rere,;s9yy.