The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-08-29
Railrona Meeting.
REMARKS BY HON 1EknTTT SMITH OF NE"
a YORK AND OTHERS.

,,ot;ce rs time permitted was given. About |
sxty gentlemen assembled at the reading room
at the hour named, among them Hon. John
Lynch, Jonas II. Perley, J. b. Brown, John A.
Poor, @. i. Jose, Rensselaer, Cram, Mayor
Stevens, Eben Steele, Gen. S. j. Anderson, s.
L. Spring, Edward Waite, I. H. Weston, John
Neal A. K. Shurtleff, James n. Winslow, Ed
ward Hamblen, VIM. Deering, and others OF
our leading business men. .,-- 5fs,.. ii
. Mr.. Smith was introduced to the gentlemen
present by Collector Washbhrn, with whom ne
formerly served in Congress. The meetins
was called to order by the Hon. John Lynch
at whose suggestion Mayor Stevens was caieu
To the chair. Gov. Washburn was then caiied
upon TO announce the object OF the meeting.
We have with us said Mr.. Washburn gen.
tleman known to us all as statesman, pat
riot. an orator, a man of varied culture, and
more than all, as q pbilanthropist. In either OF
these characters he would be welcome, but lac
is here also as an earnest and intelligent friend
of our great enterprise, which contemplates
the connection of Portland and Oswego by rail.
And with reason. He is largely interested in
the prosperity of Oswego; he is understood to
be the proprietor of much of the valuable wa
ter power there and of nearly all the water front
of the city. On his way to the White Mountains
he stops to learn our facilities for the transac-
ton of the business which the new route will
bring us, to see what We are doing, and to tell
us perhaps what the people of New York are
doing and what they expect us to do. This
road will save to US the trade of northwestern
Maine, which will otherwise be diverted to the
Conway road; it will bring to us the product
of the rich iron mines Of Jackson, in New
Hampshire; it will furnish us with lumber for
twenty years from the virgin forests of central
New Hampshire, which cannot be reached in
any other way; it will restore to us the trade
Of Northern Vermont, which came here before
it was drawn away by other railroads. For
these reasons alone it should be built; but
when We consider that it will strike the great
lakes at Og,le nsburg and Osweso and form the
shortest, speediest and cheapest line of trans
portation between the Great Westand Europe,
there is no longer the least shadow or vestige
of doubt as to the necessity of completing this
undertaking. The convenience of our harbor,
the cheapness with which business can be done,
the moderate port charges, the ease of tran
shipment, are SO many additional advantages.
| Within ten years we shall see semi-weekly
| line of steamers to Liverpool. and have agents
for this line established at Chicago and through
| out the West. We want an independent line
| to the West and we want also a ship canal
| around the Niagara Falls to bring the conf
rnerce of the lakes to our terminus on Lake
| Ontario. Gov. Washburn said he was gratfied
| to have found Senator Fessenden in hearty
nd 30
cate the construction of the Niagara Ship Can
al, whenever it could be undertaken by the
Government, as it should be. He had properly
opposed the project to entrust so important a
work to a private corporation, but was ready
| to support it as national undertaking. Mr..
| Washburn hoped the chairman would intro
! duce to the meeting the Hon. Gerritt Smith,
Of Oswego, New York. 30 B3.'N t93be 10 obs
| Mr.. Smith began by saying that he counted
| himself happy in enjoying an interview so I'M
| expected. When he left home for the White
| Mountains he learned that the route through
| Portland was as convenient as any and he had
resolved to see the birthplace of Longfellow.
| the city where Payson preached, and the home
of John Neal, of whom he had heard for fifty
| years. Old General Fessenden had been his
| fellow soldier for many a year in the army of
| freedom, and he had been glad to meet his son,
| the distinguished Senator. Gen. Neal Dow
| was absent, but he had seen the home of man
| whom he SO much admired and loved. Mr..
Smith spoke 5refy OF the calamity OF last
| year and of the work of rebuilding and passed
to the topic which had been introduced by
Governor Washburn. OF the harbor of Port
| land and the cOmmodious arrangements for
transhipments, he could only say that it sur
passed all his anticipations. You need, he
continued, a more direct communication with
the West. The Grand Trunk has done much
fer you, but here is line hundred miles
shorter and lying entirely within your own
country. Our Canadian ncishbors arc very
well in Their way, bui it is not our way. They
have more system perhaps than Yankees, but
less speed. You will have numerous store
houses and elevators in Ogdensburg. Storage
will be cheaper there. When this road is fin
ished, you will telegraph to Ogdensburg for
whole cargoes to load the ships lying at your
wharves. The greatest commercial prize the
world ever saw, is the surplus annually pro-
duced in the West. Great already, it will be
immense hereafter; many now living will see
the annual production OF the West quadrupled.
The competition for such prize is keen
Portland and Boston, New York, Philadel-I
phia, Baltimore, all are after it, Even Norfolk
is waking up, hoping perhaps to realize Jeffer-
sons prediction that Norfolk would become the
largest city in the United States, as undoubt-
eddy she would had it not been for the incubus
of slavery. You want therefore to get through
to the West, and so do we. OswegO is thriv-
ing, pretty city, with immense water power,
but no thoroughfare. We want a through
route. You have $50 miles to build to the Yer
mont junction; we have 100 miles more to
build from Oswego to the Niagara river, along
the Ontario shore, where natural bed lies all
ready for the sleepers. We want too the Mag
ara Ship Canal. Mr.. Smith was gratified to
read in the papers a few weeks the resolution
adopted here, that we must have that canal.
The cargoes which are carried through the
Welland canal, across British territory, range
from 1900 to $1,000 bushels; the cargoes which
arrive at Buffalo on LAKE Erie average 10000
or 20, 900 bushels This hindrance must be
overcome Mr.. Smith sympathzed with Sem
ator Fessenden in his opposition to the project
as presented to Congress, but was glad to hear
that there was fair prospect for its favorable
consideration if properly presented at the next
session. The most serious obstacle to this
great work had been found in the illiberal poll
icy of the State of New York. The influence
of Buffalo and Of the officials at Albany
charged wsth the interests Of the Erie canal
had always been thrown against the Niagara
canal. 1t was an illiberal and unsisterly p l.
icy. 1t had i'm it the spirit of secession and
disunion. Amy State which says to its neigh
bors, "You must not cross us there, but you
may here where We can make most money
out of YOU" n is so far out of the Union.-
In Oswego they were just now interested
in a new route to New York. 1t was not
needed; they had two already, and New
York could build the third when it is want
ed; but year ago the citizens Of Oswego
voted 100000 to build that needless road. Mr.
Smith had had several interviews with lead
ing gentlemen and endeavored to persuade
them to interest themselves in the Portland
project. 1t was found that the vote was, by
the statutes, permissive not obligatory. and he
yet hoped and had reason to believe that the
City Council would not act upon it; that the
city would bond herself instead for 100000
and raise 100000 by private subscription Tor
the construction of the Ontario Lake Shore
road. .-.-.. ~
o Hon. j. B. Brown followed with some re-