New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-03-09
Farm products, vegetables and
Total exports,

BY deducting the fire arms and specie,
amounting to $l8, 1897 ,3Ol. from the total
exports, there remains OF all other pro-
ducts, agricultural, miperal, mechanical,
textile and chemical, $i5O,l76,7I1. The
value OF the cotton exports deducted from
this haves but s223, ll9, ,OS7, or an amount
below the value Of the cotton exported OF
$3.S7S,677.
Without this cotton for expectation we
would be continuing to pile up q foreign in
debtedness oppressive in the extreme or
compelled to curtail One-half of our foreign
commerce. But with an annual cotton crop
equal to the capacity OF these new and un-
surpassed cotton lands, pierced by this new
railway, where would we then standl In q
position making us the most prosperous ma
ton under the sun, with all Europe paying
us annual tribute.
Passing beyond this cotton region we
enter the grazing fields of Western Texas,
over which roam countless herds of wild
cattle, horses, deer, buffalo, and wild In
dians. This country is from the frontier OF
Texas, i'll PalO Pinto county, to Ell PasO, OH
the Rio Grande, distance OF four hundred
miles. 1t is capable OF producing sufficient
beef to feed King Williams army for an in-
finite number OF years.
New York city. destined to become the
great money market OF the world, will, in
from these fields
From FL PasO west, through New Mex
leo, we cross the last mountains Of the
plains; fine grazing fields, abOundin. in
rich mines Of gold and silver.
Through Arizona and Southern California
the country is chiefly noted for its minerals.
The Pacific reached, the road will con-
troll great part OF the Eastern trade,
which has always enriched the nations pos
sessinS it.
However regarded, this magnificent
work will become magical agency in the
development OF the South. As a measure
of reconstruction it cannot be over esti-
mated. Emigration and capital will flow in
and over the whole region in steady and un-
interrupted streams. The natural wealth
of Texas itself, its incalculablc growth of
cotton, its vast expanse Of grazing land, its
countless herds of cattle, its wheat and corn,
itf wonderful deposits Of iron, coal, lead,
copper, and even gold and silver; its rivers
and harbors, its equal and moderate climate,
and its capacity for division into five great
States. each as large as Pennsylvania, and
able to hold the whole present population Of
the United States, are opportunities and
facilities nowhere else combined in any part
OF the world. recent estimate shows that
Texas alone can raise more cotton than all
the great States put together. This splen-
did empire is but the vestibule to an out
lying country Of still grander riches. 1t has
lain fallow for want Of this very work, with
out population or cultivation for centuries.
Had it not been hcnmed by slave States it
would have long ago been opened to civil
zatiOn-the seat OF unrivaled commerce,
manufactures, and daring people. At last
its hour OF redemption has come.
The Southern Pacific road derives its
great strength from the double fact that
it is almost exclusively Republican meas
ure, and that it was due to the section lately
in arms against the government. This ac-
counts for the immense vote it received in
both houses Of Congress. Many supported
it who were committed against land grants
to other similar enterprises, and because
their constituency expected them to do SO
as the best and most practical reconstruc-
ton. Its passage will be hailed with ioy
North and South, as one Of the nOblest evi
dences Of the generosity Of Congress and
the executive to the late insurrectionary
States.