Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-01-30
aelaware Tribnite
Thursdsy, january 40. 1858.
THE GRO WITH OF CITXES-MAN,
AND NOT NATURE MAKES
THEM GREAT

In the general development OF the country. |
Referring to the commerce, foreign and |
internal, which Boston possessed thirty
years ago, and to the opportunities she had |
of increasing her control over the trade of
the country, by means Of grand railway |
system, Mr.. Adams concludes that the great |
deficiency of his psople has been the lack
of comprehensive system; the failure to
comprehend precisely the one thing which
needs to be done. in order that all other fa-
vorable results may follow.
The lessons which tho writer enforces in |
this article will apply equally as well to
other cities In the country no to Boston,
while the statements of fact are in many
Instances so similar to those which can be |
truthfully made of other places, that their
likeness is very striking. Let us first
name some of TIE latter.
Bostons commerce has not grown, but
declined. From 1886 to 1866 the annual
number of foreign entrances and clearances
had about doubled. But since then 1t has
stood still, and in ls62-es, the aggregate
tonnage was ten per cent, less than in 1866 !;
the value Of the imports had fallen off fifty
per cent. !; and of exports, dn ten years.,
onc~half
The Cunard line of steamers was first
established with the hither end at Boston.
The proximity of the Canadas, the shorter
voyage to Liverpool, the excellent harbor
and wharves, made the selection natural.
1t was influenced, too, by the promise which
Boston seemed then to hold ont that her
capitalists we're about TO construct grand
system of railways, tapping and feeding
great interior section, and therefore acting
in conjunction with the new line of steam
ers. But this promise was never realized.
The Bostonians did indeed s'build great
railroads through the West, and managed
''thenf with Incompatible skill, but these
roads did not lead to Boston" This mistake
was most fatal of all. New York built
railroad upon railroad, enlarged canals,
opened many channels of trade from the
ly-devcloped West directly to her city,
while Boston, after building one railroad,
which her merchants were bold enough to
conceive. as long ago as 1897, became para
ly2ed. As a consequence it is provincial,
New York cosmopolitan. The one is fully
developed, the other but imperfect and one
sided. So, with the growth of her great
internal communications, New York at
tracted the trade of the country. As early
as 1876, the movement of wholesale bust
ness from Boston to New York began.
First the houses in the latter city were but
agencies; now they are the main establish
ments and the Bostcn firm has little more
than the name. So, says Mr.. Adams, ''the
steamships followed the business, and the
shipping followed the steamships, and the
s'wharves would have followed both, had
they not fortunately for Boston, been firm
''ly planted in the rapidly rising mud of the
''harbor." How complete the transit of the
steam ocean commerce from Boston to New
York has been,is sufficiently evident. New
York clears often, in single day fifteen
steamers; Boston had till last year only her
old line of two Cunarders month, and
though new line was established by her
own capitalists in 1867. it promises but fee
bly,, and, worse and worse, the Cunarders
themselves, the mainstay for so long, haze
deen withdrawn.
Pointing 1t out, by means of the compar;-
son which Chicago particularly, and othel
cities in general, afford, the great material
secret of success which Boston failed tc
comprehend or to use, was the construction
of railway system. She stopped short a
the outset of her work. For though gool
natural position is great advantage for
city to begin with, it is not a sure guaranty
OF future success Buckles theory i
adopted by Mr.. Adams, and 1t may be stated
as law, that: -
ut is only In semi-barharous countrie
'(say Asia) that the course and extent o
trade are regulated by the original feature
"of the country" And as alternative,
Among advanced nations, its determin
ing course is the skill and energy Of man.
Look at the examples sf this. New Oh
leans seemed to have been given by nature
place second to none. Yet, before the wal
the railroad system to New York had tappe
her trade at Its source, and on its way, an
while the war held her foul, the injury ws
completed. So, says Mr.. Adams, mo-
truly: "If natural advantages were eve
'lavished on any geographical point on cart
they were lavished on Norfolk, Virgini
4 should have been the heart of the cont
"nent. Her chief city, lying at the moui
''of a broader and more navigable river ths
''the Hudson, with Albemarle Sound, a.
chesapeake Bay and the Potomac COZ
''tributing TO her, enjoying the finest ha
"bor, equidistant from the North and Sout
should have been oil, and more than a
"that New York is. But man did not sc
"ond nature, and Norfolk is as much stran
led, as high and dry away from the cha
"nels of trade, as are the more thrivil
towns of Newport or Salem" Chiea
had naturally, as it would seem, less adva
tages than Cairo, yet how different is tht
situation to-day. The secret ofthese com
tions is found in Parton's statement &C
cerning Chicago, as indeed it has alrea
been indicatedin the comparison betwe
Boston and New York. Listen then to th
sin 1853, the truth took possession of
whole mind of Chicago, and became
liked idea, that every acre with which
could put itself in easy communcat
must pay tribute to 1t, forever. From Il
time there has been no pause and no h,
"tation; but all the surplus force and re
"nue of Chicago have been expended
making itself the centre of great syst
"of railroads and canals. The railroad 6
TEN of which Chicago is centre, now
"cludes eight thousand miles of track
the railroadsystem of which Chicago is
centre embraces nearly five thousand m
"of track"
SO much, then, for this one exemplit
uon Of the theory that Natural adyant'
VIII not do everything for a city. v
ihem, II there be no proper System,
plan with an end, and concentratio
energies to that end," Boston may 81