The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-01-18
RitIlmoud nlspatfh.
WEDNESDAY,. Jan 'A .-..-
"Seaboard.'

,r,yofIe fact Of these Gay > ''" " ~
naa.tion to very many persons VINO are
.o' s;,;ons of prominence, and in some
,.,r ar other employed in cnlishtenins tue
,corle on commerce. Savannah mas n',.
h,rbor. and is as near the sea rs II Is wen
convenient for city 10 approach 'ha' >''et
ing infant In calm, that furious aoa '.'ir
ble monster in a storm, whose rage Whole
fleets swallowed up will not appease. oa-
vsnnah has the conditions most tavorao'e
to thrift and growth. according 10 .he pony!
or +beorv of saltwater sayantS-yiz: that
straight line Of road transporting the pro-
ducts of the land to terminus on deep
salt water, or upon the seaboard. Is the pet
way to build up local commerce ana g'eH'
cities. Savannah has her consolidated iineS'
and more cotton is shipped lhcre III ono
year than probably has been shlppeo at
Norfolk in all time since cotton was an
ort;c,, of export. The railroads ale we'll
managed. They are, indeed, conducted
with sagacity and spirit that smartly
ebecku,ate the lines tending northeast
wardly, whose ambition has led them to
dive into the commerce Of the Gulf States.
OF course there is concentrated at Savan-
nah a large capital sufficient for the vast
export trade which that city enjoys.
But being monopolized by that export
trade, it is not available for enterprises or
industries not Immediately connected with
1t. Yet, if such an export trade could
build up a great city and give State the
advantage of 4 great demand for the means OF
sustenance Of an immense population and
the public treasury the accession ofimmense
revenues to meet the public debt, Savan-
nah ought to be such clty-ought to fur
nish such q demand for the products of
agricultural industry, and add to the public
treasury such increased and steadily in
creasing resources to meet the demands
against the Commonwealth.
The theory fails, and most signally fails,
In the case of town having all the advan
tages which the Seaboard" theorists
stipulate as the conditions upon which the
promised rewards are pledged.
Why so? Because neither export nor
import trade per Sc makes great cities. II
we may suppose that 4 town has, not only
the shipping of the staple, but the gain
upon the drafts upon the foreign ports TO
which the staple is sent, cannot we see how
small population would bercquired to do
the whole business of city which might
he the port Of departure for one.third OF
the products Of the United States! A
small corps Of stevedores could do all the
transhipment from the railroad shedsto the
ships, and half dozen bankers and their
clerks could do all the settling, and drawing,
and shaving, in the form of bills and Of pre-
miums or interest. How could that make 4
great city!
But no city in this Union is likely ever 10
do the business OF drawing-in other words,
be the SETTLING point" between this cour.
try and Europe-but New York. That Is
the established settling point. So that the
utmost that any " seaboard" city eau hope
for is to become the shipping point for the
staples, and that will only encourage small
colony Of steyedorcs and a limited college
of clerks-maintalnin indeed barely
enough of human beings to require police
and Mayors court.
All the business in the way Of exchanges
and shipments of England would support
but small population. And so with this
country.
What is 1t, then, that makes great cities:
1t Is the combination Of manufactures and
commerce. There is no great city i'll the
world which depends wholly upon traffic.
There must be the numbers engaged in NAH
ufacturing, and there must he that large
gain which grows out Of the transmutatloh
of the raw material into fabrics for sale and
use in the domestic economy Of life. TO
cause the rapid accumulation OF wealth and
the rapid increase Of population. This il
is which makes great townS-which makes
Paris (alas, poor city y great without SHIPS,
much less "salt water" and which makes
London and New York great, independent
of their vast business OF exchanges. Both
the Iatter.nalned are immense manutac.
turing cities.
Take Richmond. How slow was her
growth for half century, Notwithstanding
she had the largest tobacco trade in the
United States. Dealngin the staple did not
make her grow; even the manufacturing OF
tobacco had restricted advantage. 1t was
not until the field of manufacturing was
widened and the requisite 7u1'6ersfo for maE
ufacturine enterprise were introduced, that
her population was decidedly increased.
The seaboard has not shown any adapta'
bility to manufacturing industry save undei
very peculiar circumstances. Where noun
tain range loses itself in the sen, 50 that there
are pure mountain airs and springs, anG
out-cropping rocks, and all the concoml-
tantS Of Salubrity that are so refreshing to
man. and which promote his health i'll SO
many ways, there upon the sea may men noi
only happily dwell, but there human en-,
ergy will be favored in Il high degree and
vigorously developed. But where a long
interval OF flat country interyeneS between
the sea and the mountains, especially il
the Temperate zone, there are no such
4 favorable circumstances, and no great
cities to be found. Where such ~.
biographical order prevails, the large
cities are always high up OH the rivers,
where there is pure air, freedom from The
exhaustive effects of summer heats and ma
laria, and where there are running waters
sweet and abundant, for the wants of men
Is it wonderful that scaboard" cite:
don't thrive like the river cities!
With regard to Richmond, as we have
before remarked, the Indian chief Pow
aATAN, centuries ago, located this city
In his wigwam he smoked his pipe, where