Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-10-06
Programme for the Week.


Commercial Convention assembled thi
morning at 10 o'clock, in Pixies Hall
. The Hall has been tastefully adorne
with festoons of eve,greens, hung on tn
front of the galleries, as well as arOuu,
the entrance, and through the stairway
The United States coat of arms, with tn,
name Of State on each, are placed il
front of the galleries. About one hun
dred and fifty delegates were present a
the opening.
The Convention was called to order b.
r. NJ. Bishop, Vice President for Ohio o
the Louisville Convention, and prayer wa
= Offered by Rev. J. L. Robertson. Theo
dore Cook, Chairman of the Committe,
of Arrangements then introduced Geo. L
Davis, who welcomed the delegates to thu
city.
Hon. George Ii. Pendleton was ther
introduced and made the reception ad
dress. He said:
Gentlemen of the Convention: Ny
fellOw-citizens have done me infiEitt
honor to-day. The civic authorities, tho
commercial authorities, the Chamber OF
Commerce, the Board of Trade, the PEG
pie generally have commissioned me &c
speak to YOU in their behalf. They have
commanded me to give you a most fra
tcrDsl greeting. They have commanded
me 10 sar, with sincerity and warmth
for which find no fitting words, thai
you are their hOnOTed and most welcome
guests They have commanded me tc
say ingJ hey appreciate and honor YOU
presence here, and that they desire, and
that they recognize, by every act
of courteous attention and affection,
ale spit atty, these annually recurring
meetings. This cOncouTse of Tepresen-
tstive men; these delegations from every
STAG, city, chamber of commerce, and
combination Of business men from the
Hudson to the Rio Grande; these earnest,
though fol, learned debates by the friends
of ever industrial interest, and advocates
of every growing enterprise, from the
Alleghauics TO the Rocky Mountains, at
test the dignity of this convention and
magnitude of the questions committed TO
lis consideration. Your predecessors,
who mat at Norfolk in 1868, were few in
numbers, and the chief subject of their
consideration was the ocean trade of the
Atlantic cities with Europe. Your num-
bers already reach many hundreds, and
your debates will touch every project
of material development; every phase
Of intelligent industry; every facility
of commercial intercourse; every plan
Of finance and taxation; every enCOur-
agemgnt to immigration; every question
of governmental economy. 1t must be
SO. This Convention meets to consider
AID advance the interests Of the great
Mississippi Valley. l say this in no selfish
or sectional sense. say it in no narrow
spirit. would limit your duties aud
your influence - no local lines. The in
terests of the Mississippi Valley are the
center and source of well-being of other
portions of the country. lis development
is their growth, its prosperity their
wealth; and when the hand of industry
touches into life any dominant element or
power which nature has hidden in its
field7, mines, lakes, or rivers, they grOwby
its activity and move under its impression.
The Mississippi Valley! The very name
calls up a vision of transcendant grandeur.
Mountains, filed with ores; valleys in
stinct with fecund life; prairiCs Carpeted
with the most brilliant wild flowers aud
redolent with the sweetest purfUmes ;
lands generous with wheat, corn, and
barley; lands teeming with cotton, rice,
aud sugar The snow clad fields of the
North shading into the dUsky yellow OF
the parchcd and thirsty South. The
freezing blasts of Canada melted to the
genial breezes in The warm embrace OF
the fervcnt winds of Florida Ii stretches
from Central Pennsylvania TO the western
boundary of Kansas; from the Lake OF
the Woods 10 the Gulf of Mexico. Its
soils are fertile, its mines productive, its
forests exhaustless, its skies bright, its
climates healthful. God has given to il
every element of wealth, every at,
tribute Of beauty, and through its
whole length great river made
of the continent waters Of every
spring, and riVulet, and stream in all its
broad eXpanse, rolling its ceaseless food
from the frozen region Of the Arctic
ices to the green orange groves of the
sunburnt tropics. Cheap lands, and
Astounding in breadstUffs, well secures its
future. Ere long hundreds of millions
OF people viii inhabit it They will ill
lis fertile soil 4; they will work its fruit
ful mines; they viii manufacture its raw
materials; they will bring every force of
nature into cooperation with every ap-
pliauCe of art, and use both with every
device of human ingenuity, and every eff
fort of human industry in the develop
mcnt of its unTivalCd resources. They
will be an active, CnterpTising, self-reliant
ard auiaciOus people. They will not
submit to isolation. The will require and
they Will have free, uninterrupted, easy
communication with the Gulf of Mexico
by the Mississippi river; with the
Chesapeake bay by the canals OF
Virginia; with Sandy Hook by the
canals of New York; with tdc North At
lantic by the lakes and St. Lawrence river.
T.cy will reach the Pacific by Northern,
ntral and Southern railroads. They
WI dig through the mountains of Nirgj,
Ma and import by way of Norfolk. They
viii thread the valleys Of Kentucky and
Tennessee, and load the ships Of Charles
ION and savannah. They will build levecs
on the Southern rivers, and reclaim tr
cultivation their rich alluvial. They will
sweep away every embarrassment caused
los restriction, or, if you prefer the word,
p 5teCuYe system, and they VIII demand
every improvement in the burthen OF
taxation, and in the benefits of the
currency, which the most enlightened
a.d sagaCious statesmen can suggest
And, | would fain believe that, 10 the
midst of this splendid material advance,
mcnt, they VIII never forget that in the
eyes of God and humanity they are cha-g.
cd with a preservation Of this free Gov
eminent, and with its maintenance as its
hest guarantee of the confederated system
OF our fathers. Does this contamination
Sc m improbable Look al the ocean tele
. aph; at the Pacific Railroad; at the SGe2
canal. al The delicate machinery which
does actually supply the place Of human
hands, and can almost think, and who
shall doubt that the Almighty has touched
,..,+l. - liriDr 6ra tho invaDtiup rpuius IF