The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-02-18

fhe 's1ufuro a Amoe3c0" 0t Rem
GhAVD Han.

!; Owing to tho extreme severity u the
weather not mere than sixty perSons u
tended the lecture On the Future Of
America" delivered last night BY DR.. L.
b. Voolfolk In Renshaw's Hall.
Dr. Voolfolk = . gentleman Of com
handing presence, about six feet high
and heavily built. His heavy grayish
beard and hair show his natural vigor,
and his voice is 90 strong ~ rather to re-
quire repression than effort in speaking.
The small audience prevented . fair
lest Of the acoustic properties Of the
hall, but when the speaker'svoice was
moderated to an ordinary tone it was
EASY to understand him from any part
of the room.
DR.. Voolfolk began by outlining the
history Of the settlement Of the Ameri-
can continent, showing how the French
settler, chose the northern and the Span
ish and Portuguese the southern por-
lions, both actuatcd by q desire for gain.
In the central regions, now occupied by
the United States, settled an English
speaking people, and here they were
destined to build up the great English
nation Of the civilized world. He
traced the age of steel and the rise of in
vention in the United States, and
showed how the energies of its people
were directed to inventions and then to
cotton manufacturing especially, until
the discovery Of gold in 1S4S gave them
new direction. Then came the war of
1861, which temporarily stopped the
supply of cotton from the United States
to the mills and factories Of England.
Next in the development Of this country
the speaker outlined the progr.s s. Of sill
yer mining, and more especially the
growth Of railroad, coal and iron mo-
nololies in the United States, which he
claimed were based on and built up by
British gold. Illustrating this he de-
scribed the building by this foreign
capital of railroad into the oil regions
of Pennsylvania, near enough to the
wells to transport to market the oil be-
longing to the monopoly, but to" far
away to enable individuals to ship ut
any profit.
The sudden increase in the wealth of
Vanderbilt and Gould was commented
OF rs due to British railway nlenopolies,
the former having Deen worth only one
million dollars in 1886, and being now
rated, ~ the speaker said, ut eigl,ty-five
million.
The general tenor Of the lecture illus
trate'i the tremendous increase Of the.
wealth of mOnOpOlies in the United
States, based on and fed by London
capital. Chicago, it was said, was own
I'd by Eastern canital, which was in re-
atty London capital, and before the
end Of the century it was predicted Chi
cago would have two million inhal,i-
tants.
The speaker declared incidentally that
the alscnteeisn, of Irish landlords and
the consequent land troubles in Ireland
were due to the fact that about 1880 the
British Parliament passed law per-
hitting Irish estates to be sold for debt
and that since that time they had bcen
bought in and were owned principally
by London capitalists.
This. Of course, is merely u faint out
line of some Of the most important
points made.
The speakers perOr:.tion in which lie
depicted America ~ the grand, central
republic of the universe, and particular
~ describing the future Of Montana,
was received with much applause.
DR.. Voolfolk will not lecture again,
"n account Of the incle,nency Of the
weather. until Saturday evening, when
will deliver his lecture on the Rcftl-
tati"n Of lnyer~"llisn, ut the I'rs~'yt.-
ri:n Church.
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