Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-05-16

wears the loRs on the landed estates In Great
Britain amounted 10 $50. 900 000. Well, that
is easily accounted for, 1t is because OF
the progress of cheap transportation. To-
dav YOU can ship barrel of -four or
bushel of wheat from this city to Liverpool at
less rate than before the war you could take
il from Buffalo TO New York. You can put
it from Chicago to Liverpool to-day cheap
or than you could put ii from Chicago to Buf-
falo at the close of the late war. The cN-
PLANTATION ofthc losses on the great landed es-
tatcs of England is in the low rates of trans
portation for products raised on lands the fee
simple of which is not half as much a. the
full rental of the English lands. Applause
Therefore this progress must 90 on. We
are destined to feed the whole world be-
cause we can feed it cheaper than anybody
clse-because the merchant who can sell the
cheapest goods gets the custom. We are do
ing that to-day. vet we are losing the vast
wealth that goes with the carrying trade.
The commerce of this country has been going
forward with strides immcasurable; the car
rying trade has been going back with strides
unreasonable. ] suppose there are some
here who remember the time of Clintons
Ditch Well. there are gentlemen here
whose grandtathers can remember Laugh
ter Well. tonnage from New York to Buff
falo was $50 a ton for merchandise before
that ditch was opened, and it fell to - the
year afterwards. Applause. That was con
sider,d marvel, and yet. as have said, that
was more than it is to-day from the far north
west of Minneapolis to the ports of Euro.c
There is nothing We have not done in this
country to encourage railroad building. We
have gone wild on that We have built them
in all directions where they were needed, and
a great many where they were not. Laugh
ter. We have built those those that paid
with doubt and distrust. and we have rushed
with blind conf dcncc into those that would
not pay a PENN; and we seem to have con
tented ourselves with bringing the vast pro-
ducts of the Continent to the scahoard and
the rest we would allow to foreign hands. 1t
is one continuous route from Chicago to Liy-
erpool right through New York. Applause.
We are dividing with the foreigner. That is
precisely what we are doing.
REVIVAL OF AMERICAN COMMERCE.
Now, if You intend the toast to be a decla-
ton on the part of the Chamber Of Commerce
of New York that its vast and unlimited in
tucnce is to be exercised in the direction of
revival of American commerce. you may
consider the thing accomplished. Applause.
IT it is possible. il is done already if it is inn
possible you will see that it is dcne. Laugh
ter. You can apply the Talleyrand motto TO
il. You can do it no other power can do il.
Applause. When you get ready to exert
your influence let us hear from you by tclc
graph. Laughter. When the old lady was
training her son for the trapcze the boy made
three or four Intellectual efforts, and did not
get over. John 'Enery Obs" says she.
If you throw your cart over those bars your
body will follow Laughter. If New York
will throw its heart into it, the rest of it will
follow applause and we will then have the
commercial, the manufacturing and the agri
cultural interests going forward they
should go forward, step by step. hand in hand.
mutually supporting and mutually benefttng
each other.
"Yes, but" say some of my friends near
me, .tear down your navigation laws and
give us free ships" As long as am talking
on this subject | am going to talk loud.
Laughter. am opposed to that because it
does not build up American commerce. do
not believe in false trade marks; they are
against private and public morality. do not
believe in taking an English shpand calling it
an American ship, for it is not. believe
that in this continent every single article
that goes into the construction of az ship can he
had as well as in any spot in the world. You
take $500, 900 ship representing about .. 800
tons $1,000 represents the cost of the origi-
mai material ana S4Ho,UOo VIII be Tor the
labor put on by American hands. | am OPP
posed to paving that ont of this country;
am in favor of keeping it here. You will get
a commerce that enrichcs us on the land by
its achievements on the sea. just so long as
this country fails to become a great and tri-
umphant commercial nation it is defeating
the hands of Providence. We have 1000
miles of coast. fronting the sea, looking to
Asia and Europe and Africa. We have a
larger sea frontage than all of Europe. begin
ming at Arctic Asia and running to the
Pillars of Hercules, and at the Black Sea to
Trebizond. We stand in our relations to the
world to-day AS central point. Ralph Wal
do Eperson once said that England had the
best business stand on the globe. That was
so under the old dspensation. But to-day the
business stands of the globe have shifted and
the United States is prepared to take the
stand, and your imperial city, with its match
less position, is destined to be. under the guide
of its merchants, what London has dreamed
of hut never yet realized. Long continued
applause followed by three cheers for Scna-
tor Blaine.