The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1881-03-03
OHIO AND BALTIMORE.
THE COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
WHICH BIND THEM
TOGETHER
ADDRESS OF MIR. JAMES
HODGES, OF THE BALTI
MORE MERCHANTS AND
MANUFACTURERS AS
SOCIATION,
AT THE BANQUET GIVEN TO
THE OHIO EDITORIAL AS
ISOLATION, IN BALTI-
MORE, JAN. q, 1881.

COLl0 W JuG EdluldGlOl10 Wu4CA AtI =
been extended to guests of the Ohio
Press Association this evening, and
the ladies accompanying them-a
welcome to Baltimore and q welcome
to this festive board. But the ex-
pressions of hospitality which have
already been addressed to them are
so full and earnest in their meaning,
that there is little left for me to say
to give increased cordiality to the
greeting. Besides, the eyes of our
people have already spoken, and the
eyes of our guests have given back
their responses, and the bond of mu-
tuai sympathy and appreciation is
already drawn up and signed, and
needs no verbal Endorsement. Gen
tlemen of the Ohio Press Associa-
ton, you come from a State especially
distinguished in the brilliant cluster
that forms the American Union.
Ohio! proud Ohio! conspicuously IA
Yored of her sister States, is the hap
py mother of Presidents and states
men. How proud her editors must
be to represent so bright a star in
our federal constellation! The
Chief Justice, the General of the
army, the Secretary of the Treasury
are her gifted sons. I need not
remind you after this that you hail
from a State of splendid educational
system, strong in the general intel
igence Of her people, and Of great
earnestness of purpose in time Of
peace and in time Of war. The
name of your State is a household
word in Baltimore. It is advertised
and placarded everywhere around
us. Il is familiar to the tongue of
every citizen. It was another name
for commercial hope to our mer
chants and business men fifty years
ago, when our great Western rail
road was projected, in search of the
rich and growing trade of Ohio and
the West. That great railroad, the
proudest offspring of our enterprise
and the right arm of our city, bears
its name, and the iron ligature which
it has established between the city
of Baltimore and the State of Ohio
makes the two as inseparable as the
twins. Let Us hope that
the two peoples will soon become as
closely bound together by ties of
friendship and by ties Of trade as
the Siamese brothers were united by
ties of blood, and that one of the
first fruits Of this intercourse Of
souls to-day will be the accomplish
ment of those results.
A glance at the railroad map Of
the country Will soon convince you
that Baltimore Is your natural port
of export and import. It is your
natural outlet to the sen, as it is your
natural market on the seaboard.
These facts, let us hope, have been
most cOnvincingly illustrated to
you by your inspection Of our harbor
to day. OF course you have seen
but few of the facilities we possess
for a vast foreign and domestic trade,
but let me assure you that they exist
here on a scale commensurate with
our greatly favored geographical posi-
ton. Upon this point you need not
the slightest doubt. As a
people, we are conscious |
Of power, and would impress you
with a Just appreciation of it. We
have faith in our destiny. Our course
is onward to a higher attainment of
commercial prominence and infu- |
enCe, and to far greater achievements
IN the way of municipal wealth and
grandeur. Our only |
serious rival in the future for COM
nercial supremacy on the Atlantic |
is the city Of New York |
This is so plain that he who runs may
read. In our contest with that for
competitor, with which we |
ire closing for a desperate CONNER /
,ial struggle, I ask our guests if we /
may not reasonably expect the aid of /
5he editorial pens of Ohio, in our ef-
.orts to secure the trade of that .
State as an important auxiliary Of
1ur success? I feel sure that we can;
or by aiding US you would be pro
noting, On economic grounds, the
agricultural and commercial inter
ysts of your State.
We are an old city, full Of historic
md commercial interests. We have /
ust completed the 15Oth anniversa-
y of our municipal birth, from
which you may infer that we are
veil graduated in business. While
,ur growth has been gradual, our
.oots are deeply set and far reaching,
md our out-crop is vigorous and
lonest to the core. Our trading
MOTTO is: "Who come within these
walls are safe. We have not flashed
,ut with the suddenness of a meteor
N the national armament, like some
# our more youthful sister cities Of
he West, but we have advanced .
With that gravity and dignity of
manner and freedom from self asser-
ion, so becoming to seniority, when
onscious of its inherent strength
nd power. While this is admitted, .
10 one familiar with our early his
ory can deny that we were foremost
n many enterprises that now sup
,ort the whole superstructure of !
modern trade. We have been re-
.ently reminded by Maryland's lat
st historian, that our people were
he first in the country to construct
turnpike, and to build and run q
and n steamboat; that we
we're the first to light a city with il
uminating gas, to use the magnetic
and to erect q cylinder
,ress. These are some Of the enter
,rises started here. You have seen