The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-09-18
THE sPEECHoF HON. Jos.r
SEGAR BHFORE THE "a
REPUBLICAN, STATE
CONVENTION AT
LYNCHBUHG.
IMPORTANCE OF THE COMPETITION
OF THE JAMES RIVER AND
KANAWHA CANAL.

! have been honored, Mr.. President
with an invitation 10 address this Conyen
ton before its Adjournment, with the ex
preston of desire that / would make tht
James River and Kanawha Canal the sub
ject OF my address. and am now before
you ofulfill the task assigned me.
believe il is an acknowledged maxim IN
the political economy Of the whole world
that no people can attain an eminent degree
of general prosperity and wealth and nation.
al greatness, without the co existence and
combination Of the three grand elements,
agriculture, commerce and manufactures
and hence it isthat purely agricultural
country is seldom very prosperous and
rich one. A
Spain and Portugal, for example. though
possessing q fertile soil, and d Delightful
climate, yet, being almost exclusively ill
lers of the soil, have no diversity OF in
dustry, no home market, no commerce,
and no manufactures, and are accordingly
among the most insignificant states Of Ed
rope. France, on the contrary, their near
neighbor, has happily blended an three Of
the great elements, and adds to the bounti-
full production Of her soil diversified rnan,i-
features and q, thriving commerce; and she
is one or the first powers on the Continent
And it is to this minglng of her industries.
and multiplication OF their branches. that
she owes her rapid aud extraordinary re-
covery from the effects of the German
war, and her ability to meet its very hea-
Wy exactions. A purely agricultural coun-
try could never have done THUS. I I, "a. "a q.
England, combining with her agricultus
,ol ahi1itsno hnilr OK
and manufactures, is among the most pros-
porous, wealthiest, and most powerful na-
tons Of the earth.
New York--to come for examples to our
own great lcountryr-is a great siate--a
magnificent siate--though Virginia ought
to be her equal. She is great producing
state; but take from her her Erie canal and
the commerce it creates, and where will
her greatness be?
Pennsylvania, too, is great state, a
rich, prosperous, and powerful state,
though in respect to fertility Of soil and ex-
tent of mineral resources by no means SUI
perior to Virginia and yet she is very far
ahead of her southern sister, only because
1t has been her constant policy to keep the
plough, the loom and the anvil in harmoni-
GUS concert and close proximity together.
But the most remarkable illustration of
the blessed effects of the division of pursuit
and the union Of the three great industries
is to be found in New England. Take.
Massachusetts for example. Cold, bleak,
rocky, billy, and sterile, rejoicing in ice
and granite as important items of export !;
she has managed SO admirably to blend
agricultural, manufacturing, and CONNER
cial development, that for thrift, comfort,
and wealth, she is not excelled if lequaled
in proportion to her size by any territory
on the globe. The largest possible amount
of physical comfort is diffused among all
classes Of her people; her manufactures,
embracing every conceivable variety,
amount to hundreds of millions Of dollars
annually and besides supplying her own
home commers with her own
fabrics, she sends OFF an immense surplus to
the various markets ofIthe world, for
which she brings back for home capital
millions of ready-nade and assorted car
goes interchangeable commodities to
supply domestic demand, or perhaps to be
re-exported to outside points of consump-
ton. How could she be thus thriving and
rich, but for her sagacitg in infinitely diver
styling pursuit, and multiplying the depart
ments of trade--in other words, in adding
to agriculture manufactures, and to both
commerce?
Now. Mr.. President, Virginia has a
a Thousand times the elements of prosperi-
ty and wealth over her granite
and ice-exporting sister of New England,
and no similar area on The face of the globe
is more blessed Of Heaven than she is.
The land 7she is Of iron, and coal, and
copper, of gypsum, and salt; of noble har-
bors and capacious roadsteads of bound
less water power, and inexhaustible abund-
ance Of the raw material for nearly every
manufactured fabric that man consumes.
Her soil is rich. and adapted to the produc-
lion of most Of the staples needed by man.
And yet sir, her people are poor, and as
a state, she is comparatively insignificant.
Sir, | am grieved to be forced to speak
these unwelcome truths about the land OF
my birth that | still love, but the whole
truth must be told. And worship at her
affairs now here to-day when proclaim it
from these hnstings that Virginia, with all
her gifts, is poor, and poor independent of
the effects Of the late war!
OF commerce she has none, except what
scraps are picked up by some struggling
steamship Of a foreign line, that calls an
hour or two at her wharves, on her way to
some city beyond her limits.
Of manufactures, the gushing spring OF
wealth, she has none save the proceeds of
score or two Of tobacco factories, q few
flour mills, now and then cotton and wool
len mandatory, and an occasional furnace
and foundry; bat nothing approximating
manufactures as an industry.
AS state of the Federal Union, hei
representation has dwindied from % to o.
taking in West Virginia, to IL.
Now, why is this? 1t is mainly because
she has not cultivated that wise principle
Of the division and multiplication of pur-
suit which is the highest philosophy Of q
sound political economy, and which where
ever it has spoken, has been found the ex-
ponent of thrift, wealth, independence, and
material elevation and distinction. In other
words, because she is almost purely an ag.
ricultural state.
Is this state of things to continue? MOI
unless ourselves we so choose. Most for.
tunately there is a single measure which, i
successful, and which we can make sue.
cessful, if we are men, will not only lifl
up her people from the prostration Of The
civil war, but give her commerce thai
will cause even New York to tremble fol
her laurels, and that will make her infalli
bly, manufacturing power. And thai
measure. (Which seems almost prov
dence from God,) is our great water line
the James River and Kanawha canal