The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1873-10-30

The Beard II lrssae.
Tue National Bosrd of Trade, having
been 10 session 1t Chicago since Tuesday
morning, adjourned on Saturday, to meet
gain on the second Tue-dsy Of January, a,
Baltimore This il an unprecedented step,
and one which promises . great change 10
the u.efuln-1s- Of the Board. Hitherto it,
yeariy meetings have been pretty much &C.
cupied la listening to the prepared speeches
Of men who had axes TO grind, and in
drilling the new members TO the usages OF
the u ard, 20 that, about the time that the
lhicket of crammed speeches had been cut
away, and the moras- of iDexperience on the
o ri OF Young mem ber- bad been bridged the
session closed. The neIt year the same Ope-
ration mad to he faced, because a large share
4 the members il changed each year, and
new men manage to get into the Board with
fre-i, supply OF dull axes. The adjourn
nent until January will reassembe the same
membprs and committees to resume, after
Two months OF inquiry, the discussion of the
quest IONS to which their attention has now
been directed. Moreover, the meeting in
January il to he held al Baltimore, clo-e to
Washington, when Congress will then be in
session. Ii il fair to presume that its pro.
oeediDgs will receive much more than ordi-
nary attention, and that the facts then
brought out will have all the weight to
which they may be titled.
The particular question which the Board
found il impossible TO handle at the late ses-
sion was that of resumption of specie pay
ment resolution propOeing Tesunftion
July l, 1871, WAS proposed by large and
very able committee, of which the President
of the b. ard was also the Cnsirman. 1t APP
peared, hoxever, that the committee was by
no M ans unanimous in its Recommendation,
and that very considerable portion OF the
Convention wxs inclined to assail the report.
Moreover it was felt by every one that the
occasion was one peculiarly unsuitable for
he di.cr-s. on OF such proposition. Events
may occur At almost any time which will
either bring resumption at once. or put 1t
beyond The power Of Government to bring it
ior wears. II was seen, BY come members
at least, that the steady tendency of public
opinion and business adjustments was al
ready toward the epecie basis, and that the
adoption Of any such report, affirming the
opinion of business men that resumption
could not safely be reached before 1877,
WOulu CIteCA bndt tcuucuNy, huS go
dual settlement of business to . more solid
basis, and perhaps prciong for years an IN
certainty and disastrous hIctuation OF values
which NAV otherwise speedily terminate.
Accordingly il was deemed best to postpone
the discussion. Alter January We shall
know whe' her the Government Can 20 moth
ing, and be better able to judge what it ought
to do.
On the question of transportation, the
Board was also unable to take fnal or satis-
factory action. 1t is true, the resolutions
reporie1 by a committee, Of which Colonel
Grosvenor, of this city, was chairman. did
very unequivocally call for the completion
"without delay" of improvements Of the
Mississippi river and other great nationr'
water ways ~ the only complete and per-
manent restraint q, ainst unjust charges by
railroads during half the year when the laks
route il closed. The resolution on this topic
was unanimously adopted, but another, con-
cernlng the charter of double track freigh,
railway, vas vigorously disputed and with
drawn; while third affirming the duty OF
Congress to regulate interstate traffic by
railways, and Of the States to protect the
rights Of the people a. to railways within
the State, vas opposed at great length by
some of the half cry States rights
ultraists, and, upon q final vote. lacked four
votes of the required two-thirds majority ;
The list Of subjects then formally referred
for report at the meeting in January includes
questions a. TO the effect of fast freight lines,
of watered stocks, of the Credit MObilier
system Of building, Of the leasing or combi-
nation of roads, and of the duties on iron,
and, in short, substantially defers for more
mature inquiry the whole subject of railway
management and control. Questions relat-
ing to the best methods OF securing water
hiehvays for commerce will in like manner
come up for further confederation.
1t will be very properly inferred that the
National Board of Trade, at this particular
session, did not do very much. 1t never
does. Its chief duty, ordinarily, has been
TO let of prepared speeches, and to eat good
dinner. These solemn functions it perform
ed on this occasion with due grace and grav.
ity, and then postponed the investigation OF
the knotry problems of currency and trans
portation until January. 1t is credilable in
the Board that it precsired its inability to
treat those questions thoroughly without
farther inquiry. All ordinary gatherings Of
Uniformed persons might have settled both
nv series of didsct.c resolutions in aboul
fifteen minutes. The Board Of Trade, com
poeed of men newly chosen every year, would
nave done itself lece credit had it attempted
to act upon all the phases of questions 90
complex and important without the months
Of examination which it has now concluded
70 take.
Two resolutions, both passed without de-
bate or dissent, urge rec procity with Can
ada and the Spanish Wet Indies. Treaty
stipulatione 70. free exchange of products,
We venture to suggest, will not materially
help the case. What this country must soon
have is annexation. America, from the
Isthmus to the Pole, muat soon become the
domain of one great nation. Our CONNER.
cial relations draw us cloeer every year &c
the peoples to the northward and the south.
ward, and the shadowy political line Of di.i.
siou must presently vanish altogether. Ir
case of war We should have to occupy the
territories about our own; in time Of peact
re may % we'll reap aome Of the advantage
Of commercial and industrial slliance.-S
Louis Globe.
4