The National tribune., 1882-04-01
National Unity.


progress which the country has made SINCE
the close of the war. Enterprises which IN
1860 would have excited the wonder OF the
continent, are now passed by as affairs OF
everyday occurrence. Indeed, the expan-
sion of our railroad and telegraph system Is
so rapid that the general public canno longer
keep pace with it, and the mind is fatigued IN
merely trying to keep in view the direction
of industrial Development That vast region
of country beyond the borders Of the State OF
Kansas, which less than quarter OF CEN
tury ago we were accustomed to think OF as
a bowling wilderness, and which was repre-
sented on the maps of those days as an un-
known waste, divided by arbitrary terrific
rial lines, has become the theatre OF great
projects and the centre Of new civilization
Cities have sprung up as if by magic IN the
heart of the Rocky Mountains and church
bells are heard where but the other day the
war-whoop of the savage was the only sound
that disturbed the primeval solitude. And
yet, despite the wonderful growth of the
country. there never was time in its history
when we were such a homogeneous people.
The war eliminated the old States rights
doctrines, and the railroads have done the
rest. The tides of population which ebb and
flow along these channels of interstate COM
munication facilitate the interchange of ideas
and customs and sweep away the artificial
barriers of local prejudice as fast as they are
erected San Francisco is nearer New York
to-day than was Chicago in the days when,
as Fort Dearborn, it marked the extreme
northwest limit Of our frontier, and, notwlth-
standing the. bitter feelings engendered by
the war, Boston and Richmond have more IN
common to-day than they had in 1860
There are those who fancy they see in the
vastness of our territory a constant menace
to the life of the Republic. They profess to
believe that as immigration increases and
! spreads over the continent, local interests
/ Will, in course of time, antagonize the
! national welfare, and that another civil war
viii be the result It has been often said
/ that the next war will be between the
! West and the East" So far from that
| being possible, it seems to US that the
more rapid the development of the West,
! dependent as it is upon the multiplication
| Of the means of railway communication,
the more closely the interests of the two
sections are likely to be woven together.
! The industries which once were confined to
the Atlantic slope long ago crossed the Ale
ghanies, and as the plowshare IS driven
further and further towards the Pacific the
spirit of manufacturing enterprise keeps
pace with it, Doubtless the present genera
ton will see the day when Chicago will be
the greatest manufacturing city on the con
tinent, if not the first in point Of population
and when the forests of Oregon will be the
main source of our lumber supply.
We have said that Boston and Rich
mond have more in common to-day than
they had in 1860. We might 90 further ant
add that if in 1860 the present railway sys
TEN Of the South had been in existence, it i!
possible that there would never have beer
any rebellion. No greater misfortune evel
befelI the State of South Carolina than tha
the great railway across the Blue Ridge
which was designed to make Charleston tht
port of Cincinnati: was never completed
Had that magnificent project been carried
out it would have developed the laten
spirit of enterprise and emancipated th
people of the Palmetto State from the yok
of Incidence and prejudice Along with tn
Grain of the West would have flowed il
the liberal progressive ideas OF. the West
and the pernicious doctrines of Calhoun
would never have rotted away the old attach
ment of the people for the Union of tn
fathers. II was the isolation of the Soutl
which more than anything else was the caus
Of secession, and it is the most precious 0
. ali the results of the war that it has epene'
ND every section of the country to the geniu
of enterprise and labor. Sectionalism ma,
survive in limited localities, but it canno
long Withstand the invasion of the railroa
and telegraph with all the nationalizils
Influences which attend their march.