New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-03-18
A LOUD CRY FOR REFORMATION.

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The Mississippi Valley Society is an as
ISOLATION formed in London for the os-
tensible purpose of making known to the
civilized world something Of the hitherto
unexplored regions of the Mississippi
| valley. We learn that fearful condition
of ignorance prevails in London, Liver
| pool, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin,
Edinburg, Glasgow and other great cities
of the United Kingdom respecting the
manners, customs. language, religion,
| products and manufactures of the bar
barous tribes who inhabit the provinces
of Minnesota, Iowa. Wisconsin, Missouri,
Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas,
Louisiana and Mississippi. The facts
that have been heretofore relied upon ap-
pear to fail of the object. One-haf OF
this teeming population is descended
from English, Irish or Scotch parentage.
Probably one-fourth of those now living
in the great valley first saw the light in
the kingdom of Great Britain. A very
large proportion Of our earthenware,
glassware, railroad iron, manufactured
cloth, silks, ale, pickles, cutlery, ETC.,
comes from England, and We send back,
in return, millions Of bushels OF
grain, bales of cotton, and other pro-
ducts. The English language is read
throughout the length and breadth Of the
great valley, and travellers from each
country may be met in the other every
day in the year. Yet, in spite Of this i'm
mense business and social intercourse,
more information is needed, not for the
purpose of attracting poor people, but to
inform English capitalists that there is to-
ward the setting sun, four or five thou
sand miles distant from London, an i'm
mense tract of country whose fertile lands
need but to be tickled with the hoe to
laugh with harvest. We have omitted
in our list of the sources of information
the local newspapers of both countries,
any one of which supplies probably in a
year more practical information than any
non-trading society can possibly collate
and supply. Yet we find men Of superior
intelligence eagerly enrolling their names
as members of the Mississippi Society,"
and planking up their initiation fee Of
S25. The stated objects of the society
are ''for the promotion Of direct trade be-
tween Europe and the great Western and
Southern States of North America" There
is some little ambiguity in the state
ment, as it does not appear very
clearly what means are to be en-
ployed to promote the very desirable
objects OF the society. Information is
a very useful element in international in
tercourse, but it can hardly be called a
motor. 1t only throws light on the high
way Of commerce for the guidance of those |
who are in business. And surely we are
hardly prepared to accept statement at
this late day that the peoples Of the
United Kingdom and the Mississippi valley
are so ignorant of each other that their
mutual interests are suffering for want of
more knowledge. 1t is slightly discou-
raging to be told that the efforts that
have been put forth on both sides the At
lantic for the best part Of a hundred years
nave failed to bring the two sections into
something approaching perfect acquain-
ance with each other. England, at all
events, is well advertised throughout the
yalley. Every household has its English
ard, either in the shape of a Sheffield
lnife or a Crosse & Blackwell pickle
ar. There is not, probably, a man
" woman in England, Scotland, Ire
and or Wales who has not eaten
bread made from American wheat, or
worm garments spun from American cot
on. English actors and actresses, cotton
buyers, tourists, book makers, hunters,
gentlemen, gentle ladies and all others
oam over this continent at will, and
occasionally prince goes SO far astray as
o touch on our Eastern shores and revel
n the bright smiles of fashion. Yet, if
With all these little rills and channels of
between the two countries,
more light is wanted to penetrate the
Zimmerman darkness that enshrouds
Threadneedle street and the Strand, let
he Mississippi Valley Society go ahead
nd supply the hiatus. Perhaps, after
hey have exhausted all their efforts, they
will at last be told that it is necessary for
me to rise from the dead to confirm their
tatements before they can be received.
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