The Portland daily press., 1868-10-07


t, gentleman ipthis city, has been banded %
us for publication.
AUGUSTA, Me, Oct. 2 1903.
Nh Dear SRI have watched your raiiread
movemant in Portland with all the interest,"
which m opts;der is permitted to feel 10 an en-
,ernrise which is +, be promoted, primarily ana
,so,,.;aur bv the labor and the money of 9TH
ar naonle. But While this projected line of
,,;i ia nsculiarly Portland undertaking, ii is
on. in wbicb as a citizen of Maine feel espe-
cial,v and absorbngly interested; for know
th,t whatever contributes to the growth and
development Of our chief commercial city is
matter of important concern to the remotest-
hamlet of the State .saas't ssltslas 81
1t seems to me that no one of the speakers
at the public meetings in aid of the enterprise
has overstated its magnificent and assured adj
vantages to your city, PortlanS's growth Is
arrested, or rather retarded to-day, for laek OF
connection with the producing regions OF the
West. Your commercial facilities as you loes
seaward are uDrivalled. Yours IS the nearest
American port to Europe. Your harbor is I'M
surpassed for its depth Of water, for its grand
extent, for its singuarly complete protection
against all elements of danger, and for its adj
mirable facilities tor all forms OF shipment and
trans-sh pment. But landward you are cut
off, to large extent, IRON the trade and COM
merce and wealth that wait your bidding
Your completed connections with the Nesl
carry you southwark through Boston or north
ward through Montreal. These roads are Ct
course valuable to Portland-nay, they are i'm
dlspensable--but they are already secnred, and
your next step is TO be the browning oneliif
your growth and progress. You cannot afford
to depend on SOU hwestern1 or a northwest
ern connection with the grain fields of the
Mississippi valley. Your course of empire
assuredly lies ,cestWdrd, andswhat you need to-
day is the straightest line that can be bull
from Portland TO the most eligible connection
wifh the navigation of the Great Lakes. That
once accomplished, your growth keens pacs /
with the Development of that vast and fertile I
area which is devoted to the production Of &C.
reals for two co ailments. .1arsH93 is'a Hra FL
1t was the suggestion many years ago Of one
of the most,acute of American statesmen that
the settlement and cultivation Of the interioI
OF the continent would in the end build up
great commercial city at each mean interva
of one hundred miles ON the Atlantic coast,1
IT nght be too much to say that we have al
ready realized this prophecy, but / think VT
can with reasonable certainty indicate, all TIN
points where it's 'fulfmentcis to be Wrought
out Boston, New, York, Philadelphis
and Baltimore have achieved their positions
and their future prosperity is no longer matte
of doubt or speculation To The southwark
these we have Norfolk or Richmond, Whining
ton, Charleston and Savannah, and to tie
northwaid we have Portland and Bangor. o
all thaSa aitiac Nav York alamo stand N
immediate front OF that great depression in
the Appalachian chain OF mountains where the
waters of the Atlantic are susceptible of con
nection with the waters OF the Great Lakes:
The wise forecast ana statesmS1nshlp OF -
Witt Clinton, recognizing this unparalleled
itural advantage, we to New YORK her early
prestige and prominence ana assured nef DIES
tiny as the greatest city of America, and mos
PROBABLY before the lapse of another cen ury
the gre atest city fthe world u p
But after New York, pray tell me what city
of our entire Atlantic seaboard has create
natural advantages than Portland, or indeed |
eoual advantages? No other city can connec' |
the navigation of the Lakes with thernaviga
ton of the Atlantic by so short line of r.i1
No other city stands at once as a great Quite,
to a vast western trade and at the same time 4
vast northern trade--for the peculiar aconfs
uration of our coast, with its relations to tn
interior. renders Portland the admitted entire.
not of the British Provinces that lie north q
NJ. as she NAV well be TO a large extent of the
States that lie west of MS The connection
that sacuras the Provincial trade has already
been made. and the great advantage accruins
therefrom to Portland is seen.admitted and
felt by every one. The road necessary 10 Sc
cure a large share of the Western trade is the
link vet % be suppiied-a link of inmeasura-
b)y greater magnitude and consequence than
any vet made in the entire chain of Portland
commercial connections. ss.-as 1.s,5I5s bs
Without this connection Portland NAV, in.
deed grow within moderate limits: I'M. SIN
..-Aaf destiny. that seem
rigbtfully hers; nor can she maintain success
full competition with other Atlantic seapors.
See what prodigous efforts Boston is maxim
to increase the number and shorten the dis
lance of her Western conneetionsl5 Philadel
phia, not content with her direct connection
with the West over the treble tracked Penn
syvania Central Road, has at great expenst |
tapped Lake Erie by diagonal road runnin.
f'om the extreme southeast to the. extreme
northwest of the State! Baltimore. with her
original great enterprise of the Ohio road full
completed and diyerging on the western sid
of the AIleghanies SO as to control as wide an
area as possible, is still unsatisfed, and is to-
day, at an enormous outlay, building a roa|
through the mountains of southwestern Penn
sylvania in order that she may compete with
PHILADELPHIA for the imn snse trade that radi-
ates from Pittsburgh aaas ~ draa staA "a
These examples should stimulate Portland
to an appreciation of the value of the
prize and to the means and measure,
necessary to- secure it. That prize is not
shadowy. unsubstantial or imaginary.
ia susceptible of demonstration. think
that all cereals grown north of til,
forty-second parallel, can with proper railroa(
connections be shipped to Portland more expe
ditiously and more cheaply than to any othei
Atlantic port; and from Portland they can as
suredly be shipped to Europe in less time am
at less cost than from any other point on the
American coast. If any one viii take the mar
aid the agricultural statistics and see the i'm
m ,nse proportion of breadstuffs already grown
north of latitude forty-two, and the unlimited
amount vet to be grown there as the country
is settled and cultivated he cal, form .oms
concention of the extent of the trada tba,
w,,ts on tho anternr;sa of por+,and TIL; aro
;ncndes not onlv M;cbigan yvisoons; ~
M;nnasoto Init aIso 10 roo ,,ort;o,, ,f I,I;,o:s
iowa and Nebraska and bevond tben, oil tbat