Morning journal and courier., 1884-07-05

cities, and then to change the whole charac- ter of it's life. And in this great change New Haven has taken the lead, until by the census of 1880 our gross manufactured products were valued at $24, ,O40, 225; our net products at $9, ,558, ,062. The number of hands em
 ployed was 15. 156, and the amount paid in wages $5, 761, 1875. Surely here is something that helps to account for the century's growth. And we cannot leave the subject N ithout calling to mind how much the inventive genius of her sons to the general prosperity of this and of all civilized lands. It is not therefore by statistics of his own products nor indeed by any other means that we can measure the contributions of our city to the industrial progress of the world. An eminent Eng lishmau maintains that Q manufacturing city is necessarily ugly. I should like to see that eminent Englishman and lead him gently forth among the cities of Connecticut. But fortunately or unfortunately he will never come to America as he would die in 8 land haps, however, he might survive if he caught glimpse of the old State House.
 As have already said the hopes of the petitioners for the charter looked towards the growth of New Haven as a commercial port engaged in foreign trade, and it may seem at first glance as if these hopes had
 been disappointed. But however elusive they have proved, they certainly were grounded in experience. From the very earliest times the commerce of New Haven with foreign ports, and especially with the West Indies was considerable. Just before the opening of the Revolutionary war in 1775 there had been 40 vessels engaged in foreign trade war there was but one And now in 17S4, less thsn two years after the signing of the treaty of peace, there were thirty-three,
 most of them in the West Indies trade, though some of them sailing for foreign ports. This extraordinary revival Of ship ping might well lead men to believe it was to be great in virtue of it's foreign trade. But the far superior harbor of New York to the west and Boston to the east, and various great changes in the courses of trade to which I shall refer in Q moment, left New Haven far behind in this matter
 And yet the foreign trade of New Haven has steadily increased from that day to this, ex- cept during the years of the last war with England. It was matter of surprise to me to learn upon unquestionable authority that there is more tonnage engaged in foreign trade owned in New Haven to-day than ever before. But we almost lose sight of the for eign trade of New Haven in the development of domestic commerce which was as unex- pected by the fathers as was the rise of the manufacturing industries. The ex- tension and settlement of the territory of the United States, and the wise provision of the constitution whereby the States surrendered the right to levy import duties against one another, have opened the breadth of continent to unrestricted trade. From Maine to Florida and California, among 1000, 900 of people, commerce is absolutely unshackled. Freedom of trade between the States, accelerated by the introduction of railroads, steam navigation and the telegraph, has resulted in an internal commerce of tonlshing proportions To the development of
 |
 How little could our predecessors of enc hundred years ago guess that the steadi- ly increasing and important foreign trades of New Haven would bS almost lost to sight in the mighty flood of an unrestricted and un- fattened domestic commerce. The changes can hardly be better illustrated than by the fact that in city had no bank and needed none. To- day they have some dozen banks and bank ing firms. And this commercial greatness of the nation and the city has come from abso- Iute freedom of trade between the thirty eight United States and the vast territories which they control. And these considerations
 of the growth of manufacture and com merce lead naturally to the subject of the
 increasing wealth in land and especially in
 cities. New Haven is one of the richest
 cities ln the country in proportion to it's population, and in no city of the same or greater size is wealth more evenly distribut- ed. And ret here, as everywhere, by a nat
 ural law which no human legislation can an- 1 null, we see the tendency of wealth to accu-
 mulate iu the hands of the few. Ire truth, l " To him that hath shall be given" is | written in the very constit ution o1 I the human race. There is gradually growing up in this city, as in every city,
 to work for 8 living, and who are able
 to, to live on the interest of invested money. The growth of such 8 class in every commu- Hity Is It's greatsSt blessing or greatest curse For there is a vast amount of work which must be done for the public good which does
 not pay, and which cannot be done by men who earn their bread in the sweat of their
 brow. They have no time for these things
 Their energy is absorbed by more primitive and intimate duties. But they who
 have financial competence are called to other work and other duties no less important, though they may seem less pressing Money. ed men may be the salvation of any commu-
 nity in which they live, if they will devote the time which their lot has giv-
 en them to the public good. They have
 time, that blessing which is denied to most | of us. They may devote themselves to the study of scientific and social end economic
 problems whose solution shall benefit man kind. They may look to the administration of justice and the enforcement of law. They may enter into our political life without the
 necessity of making a living out of politics and without the temptations which beset poorer men in the same sphere. They can afford to give attention to the sanitary and moral conditions of our life, to public i'm provemenss, to the health and the morality
 and the prosperity and the beauty of the
 place of their habitation. When men of wealth thus conduct themselves they are
 the safeguard and glory of the city where PYk- unE1 oft VT ~hnra
 the men of wealth give themselves up to
 making 8 vanity fair of life; where they
 devote their whole energy to musical festivals
 and dramatic festivals. to alleged high art, queer pottery; where they make the collec-
 tion of bric-a-brac the business of life and
 devote their ability to trying to live up to some ugly piece of blue china; in such a city
 you may also see misrule, the miscarriage of
 justice, disorder, mob law, violence, riot and
 bloodshed, with nights of terror and days of fear. And where class of monied men de
 vote themselves to gambling in stocks and the produce of honest industry, to making for Gheir own Heheof and pleasure fictitious huc- tuations in the prices of the necessaries of life and arbitrary changes in the value of workingmen's investments, there you will see demoralization, dishonesty, ruin and the grinding of the faces of the poor, and behind all these the ill-omened working of danger- ous forces which may one day blow the
 whole social faDr1C Into the a1E. HIS lanQ and the world has already seen enough, and more than enough, of the blasphemy and tyranny of wealth. So great arc the periIs of the misuse of
 wealth in the hands of the few, where it has
 been put by the inevitable operation of nat .
 ural law. History is ever repeating itself in
 illustrations of the evils of riches unworth- fly used. And yet the operation of the law
 is benefcent. When men of financial com petence invest their money in sound and hon. est enterprise, so taRt it may give employ ment to sound ar honest industry, they are
 making the best use of it and are contribut- ing to the prosperity of every class. And
 when such men give the time, which has been given to them, to these public affairs, which do not pay, ana to those measures for the public good to which most men have no time to give, they are doing the work appointed for them in this world. At no time in the history of our country has the responsibility of wealth been so great as now. It is in this regard 8 very critical period, and the course of such men of wealth will largely determine the future of our nation. And, thank Godl there are uuni stakeable signs that rich men are more and more feeling their responsibility and the burden of duty which is laid upon them. More and more men who are born to wealth are growing up to know that because the necessity to work for living is not theirs, therefore there rests upon thena the larger and grander necessity of working for the life of the nation and of the race. I am persuaded from the signs of the times