The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-09-12

aUu DeTe let NE point OUT du -eHecJ OF the |
Pacific Railroad upon future immigration. |
believe the force of Chinese aborers who
are now constructing the Pacific end of that
road are but the advance guard of mighty
host whe will establish a new central flow
cry kingdom" upon the dry plains between
the Sierra Nevada ard the Rocky Mountains
These can only be cultivated by irrigation, IN
which method the Chinese are the most ex-
pert people in the world. But still further
and more important yet. While the white
can and the black does cultivate cotton, be.
lieve the Chinese will perform the work more
cheaply, and that they will settle upon the
rich cotton fields Of Arkansas and Texas,
now cultivated to the extent OF only half of
one per cent. OF their area.
To the cotton climate and to the method
of cultivation the Chinaman is perfectly
adapted. He Is temperate and frugal, and his
persistent industry is exactly fitted to the
light but continuous labor required In the
production OF cotton. i
I'd. Here let me again quote the language
of Mr.. " ellis, as have his high authority for
the statement:
Since the termination OF the war more
iron furnaces have been erected: more pig
iron smelted; more bars rolled; more steel
made; more coal mined; more lumber saw
ed ana heWed; more vessels built upon our
inland waters: mole houses constructed;
more MANUFACTURES of different kinds start
ed; more cotton spun and woven; more pc
troleum collected, refined and exported-tlan
IN any equal period in the history of the
country, either before, since or during the
war;"
Sd. We may say that during the war, or
soon alter its commencement, the railroad
system of the North was made unit by the
completion of various connections, and it
will never be known how much this added to
our war power. But l will again quote Mr..
Wells. He says: "Since the termination of
the war over 5000 miles of new railroad have
been constructed and opened for use in the
United States, to say nothing of the lines in
the Southern States which have been restor-
ed and reOpened."
Gentlemen, when you hear us who are
business men complaining OF dizziness ard
stagnation, please refer to the tables of the
comparative receipts of several OF the great
railroads, which are given week by week in
the Financial Chronicle, and when you see
how they increase year by year, although
rates are lower, ask who exchanges all these
commodities on which the freight is paid, and
then consider whether the use of paper mon
ey may not have induced too many men to
engage in exchange, or to become traders
rather than producers.
4th. The agricultural products of the
in quantity and value, since the termination
OF the war, and the product of agriculture
increased in quantity all through the war.
we are rapidly restoring the number of ami
mails, both horses and cattle, to their normal
proportion. 1t may be that this year the
crop oil grain will be in full proportion to
what it would have been had there been no
unnatural or forced stimulus to manutac-
lures, by which labor has been diverted from
agriculture.
9th. Let us glance at the condition of the
South. 1t is alleged that the reconstruction
plan of Congress has been a failure. Let us
test it by economic results 1t is alleged that
the South has been ground down under
military despotism, that there has been no
LABOR that could be Ieed upon, and lastly
that they have had no capital. The last al
legation we will admit, because we know that
the tendency OF Northern capital to the
South has been checked by its insecurity
The crops OF this year are, Therefore, free
from mortgage, Tor no one would trust a
planter this last spring.:
Now let us see wha5 is the result. II the
South has neither labor nor capital, their
crops must be the spontaneous prOductien of
nature, and hey have
First An ample supply of food for the
consumption OF the whole population, say ten
to twelve million.
Second. A crop of cotton which promises
to ebual or to exceed that Of last year, which
has been proved by the investigation of our
cotton manufacturers ASSOCIATION to have
been nearly or quite 100000 bales, or much
more than the cOmpers of the commercial
tables will admit and more than thlee-ftths
the largest crop ever raised before. tilE
Third. A crop of rice which the Charles
ton Daily News asserts will prove sufficient
IN drive all innorta1 rio ont nf no
market during the coming year.
Fourth. Fifty to 100000 tierces of sugar
Filth. crop Of tobacco so large as to
make it one of our main dependencies as an
article to be taxed.
In short the south has salable surplus of
the aggregate value OF 400 to $500 OO0.0 900 and
all this with their harvest of food is, if we can
trust the evidence of their Democratic lead
ers, the spontaneous product OF nature!
What may not be the result when General
Grant is elected, peace assured, labor render
ed effective and capital safe?
Let me express my profound conviction that,
as purely economic question, the war will
pay Tor itself, since the increased production
OF the Southern States, which will follow the
abolition OF slavery, will in the next twenty
years more than pay the entire cost OF the
war by which slavery was ended. The ques-
tion of taxation is therefore mere question
OF distribution of the burthen, add we must
see to it that the late rebel States do not
throw off all the burden and reap the benefit
by allowing them to aid the Democratic par
ty in repudiating the debC.
Like the Titan of old, this nation has been
bound 10 a rock and scathed with the light
ming of JOve, but the Prometheus is unbound,
and to us may be applied the closing words
OF that noble poem OF Shelleys. In the past
years we could have said that ii was our fate
To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite:
10 foIg We VIZ ngs darker than death or night;
To DEFY pc" Ell which reems omnipoten:
To love ana bear: to hope ill hope creates
From its own wreck the thing 1t con ZEN plates;
Mel her to change, nor falte nor repenS.
This, like thy glory, titan! is to be
q cd. great and joyous, bsant,ful and free:
This is one Lit, Joy, Empire and Victory.