Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-11-10

What portion OF the ten cents in New York
do these charges absorbs A quarter Yes-a
way. in the gin in the press, on the wagon and
on the rail- your cetton is deprecated. The
only thing that saves you is that you possess
the only land yet open TO CIVILIZATION which
can produce the staple needed.
Egypt, under English rule, which may be
near, could eaual YOU even ut that
If the Northern Italians, who are now moving
in force, I20, 600 last year, mostly to the Para
quay and Parana rivers OF south America
should take up cotton growing. they may pos
sess a land fully equal to your own
No monopoly can long be sustained on the
face Of this earth, and even you must be pre-
pared for competition.
have said that there is no better single stan
dard than the proportion or railroads 70 the
square mile of territory of any state. by which
to gauge the condition and prosperity Of the
But look at Ohio, Illinois. Iowa; consider
these lines which represent the proportionate
mileage Of all the great states OF the worldi
shall they lead you much longert
You have the larger part to do OF what we
NAV call a very big Job. which must be done
before the century is ended.
have made a computation Of the number OF
miles of railroad which must be constructed
ia several OF your States in order that you may
be served half as well as Massachusetts now Is,
in order that you may have one mile OF railroad
to each eight square miles OF terrlSoTy3 or
miles; Virginia 2,900 miles; Kentucky, 5,1OO
miles, and in order that some other States may
be served one fourth as well as Massachusetts,
or one mile of railroad to sixteen square miles
OF territory. North Carolina viii need l,1W
miles; Tennessee, eco miles; Mississippi, ,1cO
miles; Alabama, 300 miles; Arkansas. 3OO
miles; Louisiana, 1900 miles; Texas, 1900
miles.
Ihave computed the whole table of all the
States to see what number OF miles Of railroads
will be required to be added to our present
service in order that all the States and Terri
tories may be one-fOurth as well served as
Massachusetts, now is, and it will require for
that purpose 117,OOO miles IN addltlon 10 Cne
10000 which we now have.
But we will be content to double our railway
service, that is to say, to add lOOO0O miles IN
the next sixteen years.
be sixteen years at the end of the present year
since the civil war virtually ended In that
period we have added 660C0 miles out of the
100, 600 miles of railroad which we now have
at the rate of 4, 125 miles year
In that period we have overcome the curse
of paper money; we have restored the specie
standard; we have paid more than One-third
nearly One-half OF our national debt; we have
greatly increased our population: we have
passed through the most severe commercial
crisis ever known; and, most important OF all,
we have surmounted most Of the difficulties
connected with the industrial revolution in
your Southern States. Is it too much to ex-
pect to average a little over 5000 miles of rail-
road year in the next six years
IL this is not over-Sanguine, and | think it is
not, for we are building this year nearer 0,0OO
than 1000 miles, then we shall accomplish the
work.
It looks as have said like very big job;
but will make it appear a very little one.
A fair average cost OF average mile or
railroad is S35, 600; that sum of money mea-
sures the service Of every man engaged in it,
from the presidents of the railroads, the iron
works, and the mines, down through the
workers in the rolling mills, iron mines. and
machine shops, to the commonest laborer who
digs and delves olthe track.
At two dollars a day average for the whole
force. each one hundred miles requires the
as,FE farc
In order that we may build 100, COO miles In
sixteen years, a force of laborers must be con-
tinuously employed during that period of $780,
600 men.
1t looks like a large force; but as 1 have said
on this chart, while Europe prepares for war,
we prepare for work.
1t during these sixteen years We should sus-
tain standing armies equal to the present
armies of France or Germany in active service
in proportion to the average population of the
period, our standing army would number 70O,-
Can we spare one-half Ct that force to build
our railroads.
Now, consider that with the railroad comes
every other branch of industry which goes to
make the State-the wheelwright, the carriage
maker, the blacksmith, the worker in wood
the worker in iron, the car builder, the tin
smith-all the representatives OF the various
arts out OF which villages are made, and on the
foundation OF whose work towns are built up
and cities grow into existence.
Will you take your share in this great work.
You are richer than you know; but you have
not yet found out how to concentrate your
wealth; how to make great aggregates Of CAPT
tai out OF small savings OF each workman and
WOrkWoman, after the manner OF our savings
banks. We are also giving many Of our chill
dren a trade so that each can use his hands as
well as bis head. 1t is by this com binetiOn that
we must work if we are to keep our place n
competition with you. We are eagerly seeking
to solve the question OF industrial education;
only by this and by the savings bank can We
be saved.
save yoar pennies and learn to use your
hands," that is our rule The measure of
success in business is the amount Of work a
man can do for his neighbor better than he
can do it for himself.
call your attention to the examples Of the
work of the pupils in our school of mechanic
arts of The Massachusetts, Institute Of Tech
noiogy, which you will soon find in the Exhi-
hition building. There is no more suggestive
or useful lesson in that whole building than
the one that is taught by that set OF bits Of iron
and steel, and wood.
You ave the materials in richest abundance
you have the minerals, you have the timber
you have the SOIL you have the climate, you
have everything with which nature can endow
you.
Have you the men capable of grasping the
advantage now spread before your That is the
only question, and this great Exhibition is but
the first syllable Of your reply TO that queS-
ton. You have them; that we now know if we
never did before.
Gentlemen, mark the line of the proportion
ate miles of railroad in Kansas and in Georgia
Almost the first money ever earned was sub
scribed to the stock of the New England Emf
grant Aid Society, by which immigration into
Kansas was organized. John Carter Brown,
the greatest cotton manufacturer Of Rhode
Island was President, and Amos A. Lawrence,
of most honored name-one of the subscribers
to this eXhibitiOn-WaS one of the officers and
most active men.
Lawrence is now the Atlanta Of Kansas its
railroad centre-and last year Kansas produced |
l30,OO0,0OO bushels Of grain. What did it? The |
railroad.
You can pass Kansas if you will match cot |
ton against corn. Add your more abundant |
mi0es and your timber, which she lacks Will |
you do il?
It IS very true that the density of popula- |
ton should be considered in estimating the |
proportion of railroads, as well as area;
but 90 not railroads bring population? |
Do they not lead population in the West7 Do |
they not create diversity Of occupation? Why, |
gentlemen, there is one little place in Ohio |
which conta ms only about 10,001 people, whose |
railroad tonnage. irrespective of general mer- |
chanGiSe is double the entire weight of your /
whole cotton crop of 6,0000 600 bales. The ores /
and iron and coal moved into youngstown,
Ohio. and the products moved out In 1880 |
weighed over 900, 600 tons.
Gentlemen, the wonder of the railroad is /
never ceasiDg There is profitable copper /
mine in Arizona at which the ore ia smelted |
with coke brought out from England, and the /
engines on the railroad, by which the coke is
carried to the mine, are drawn by coal brought
from Australia.
l cannot too often repeat the fact that a /
days wages of a workman in Massachusetts /
will pay for moving his years supply Of -four /
and meal thousand miles, from Chicago to
Boston.
We have about SIS, O0OOOO invested in cotton
mills in Massachusetts, but the capital of our /
raj roads is more than hundred millions;
and that reminds me that the deposits in our /
savings banks of our working people, of our
servants, Of our sckOolmistresses, Of our opera
tives, of Cuf ministers and doctors, of those /
who are not rich, but who mostly work for 4
wages to earn their daily bread, IS more than /
two hundred and twenty-five million dollars
more than the whole cap tai of all our cotton i
mills and our railroads combined
make these suggestions. hoping that they /
may open to you new visions OF the potentiali- |
ties, both Of your land and of ours-of our COM
mon country.
Let me say before l close. that while to you /
is due a word of praise. which others must rem
der for have no words equal to the task, for |
the work you have done here, the most pre- |
cious legacy which can leave to my children,
and the proudest memorial of my life to which /
they can point hereafter, will be the record /
that proposed this Exhio ition, and even faint