The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-01-12

over sixteen feet of water at the mouth
of the river. The other day committee
| from the New Orleans Chamber of Com
merce examined and found twenty-siX
! feet of water at the muddy mouths of
= the Mississippi. This means something,
and can have no small bearing upon the
future of the country and the develop
ments of the west. Nine-tenths of the
! vessels of the world can safely float in
/ twenty-six feet of water, and can tie up
at the wharves of New Orleans. The
effect of this Improvement upon trade
| in four years is wonderful! Grain is
moving south by water, instead of east
| by rail. In 1876 only 100000 bushels of
| grain left New Orleans for Liverpool.
Last year 100000 bushels went down
the Mississippi and out the jetties! AL
I ready this great increase is disturbing
! the value of railroad stocks, and the low
| freight war that has heen going on be-
/ tween the trunk-lines is the Legitimate
result of fierce competition. Each line
is struggling to maintain it's traffic.
! But they cannot compete with the rivers.
A little tug costing $4,000, with six
barges, can carry more grain to New
! Orleans than ten locomotives with forty
| cars each, and there must be a crew to
| each train. While in st. Louis recently
| contract was made to deliver corn in
Liverpool by the river for eight and one
half cents. 1t cost twelve cents to ship
bushel of corn from st. Louis to BOs-
ton by rail. The West has been depend
ent upon the east for an outlet for its
products for manufactures, sc. That
day Is past. The east is now dependent
upon the west for its food supply, while
the west is fast developing manufac-
lures. If you take a map of the United
States and study it in connection with
the census returns of our products, you
will see that Ohio is the fuTthest State
east that is self-suppOrting- is,
that raises food enough to feed her peO
pie. But her manufactures and pOpula-
tion are developing so rapidly that in
another generation she will eat more
than she produces, and she will have to
look TO the west for food. In the future,
instead of carrying the food of the world
to the seabOard for shipment, our great
trunk lines will only carry grain enough
to feed the east. st. Louis, commerce.
ally, is nearer Liverpool than New York,
as far as the grain trade is concerned,
and the food of the world will not start
out to seek consumers upon the broad
bosom of the Mississippi. [ look upon
Jay Gould as the greatest and shrewdest
railroad financieT in America. His chief
investments are west of the Mississippi
River, and will become feeders to the
river. They will pay dividends when
the great lines east of the river are
bankrupt. These are some of the Tea-
sons have that lead me to think the |
improvement Of the Mississippi River |
one of the great immediate questions of |
the future. When it comes up you will |
find the States of the east, the capital |
and the people, the oldest civilization of |
the Union, arrayed against the improve |
ment and the new civilization of the |
west. SO fierce will be the contest that |
it may almost lead to a rupture. But it is |
bound to come. The sectional strife be- |
tween the south and west has been |
dropped and they are looking mutual |
development and pOSS billJieS in the |
face, and are discovering that their in
terests are mutual, and that grandest
gift of creation to America, the Missis-,
sippi, now binds the west and the south
together in one future and one destiny.
st. Louis will one day be the largest |
city in the world. The middle and
New England States have hated the
south and kept alive sectional warfare
because they have thus been able to
make the west pay tribute to the east i'll
all transactions of trade; but the grand |
laws of trade will assert themselves and
commerce will seek National channels"
'DO you think the present prosperous |
era will cOntinue"
"NO; | think there will be panic in |
this country inside of eighteen months. |
There is not business in this country |
to-day that is not out of joint. The |
price of production, of labor and ma
terials is increasing, and will increase,
while the price Of products stands still. |
No man can look ahead six months and,
with safety, fix the price Of any manu-
factuTe. This is an unnatural and an |
unhealthy state of affairs, and we are |
surely travelling the circle that leads to |
periodical panics. Business Teadjusts |
itself about every seven years. Three |
causes combined to give us an era of |
prosperity, such as the world never saw: |
First, for five years the crops of Europe |
have failed. Second, these five years we |
produced the largest crops ever grown |
i'll America. Third, while we got top |
prices for our grain, we were just /
emerging from the panic of 1873, and |
labor was low and materials cheap. |
This enabled farmers 70 make enormous
profits. They spent their money in i'm |
prOvements, put it in railroads, &C., |
which gave tremendous impetus to |
every branch of business. But the toll |
ers, who are the last to derivea benefit |
in returning prosperity, are now claim. +
ing a share in the profits; and even If |
we have large crop next year we can |
not find market for it, and if the grain |
stops moving our railroads will become |
embarrassed and trade will be at |
standStill."
The approaching train cut short the |
very interesting conversation, and |
left the distinguished gentleman with
the impression that he had brains
enough to grace the Governors office if
he was not elected. PICKAWAY.