Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-09-24

aspects OF the means OF intercourse DetWeeu
the different parts OF our country. Although
our 80 states are sovereign aud independent
in the largest part OF their local concerns
and hope will so remain for the safety of
all-in a large commercial sense, and in all
respects of intercourse, our fathers in found
ing the national government century ago
most wisely oblterated their boundaries aud
made the whole people of the United States
one people with common rights aud init
matey connected interests. They gave us
one money! am sorry that part OF It Is
not now what II ought to be in relation to an
other part Of il. They gave US the blessing
aud benefits of the postal system, which
am glad to say, clearly includes the telegraph
~ part Of it, and which we shall have aud
enjoy before long as easily AZ the mails They
gave Congress the common and exclusive
regulation of commerce among the states
They prohibited determinations in favor of
the people or ports OF one state against those
of another and they gave the citizens of the
different states national courts for the trial
and decision of their controversies.
THIS unity and community OF so many in
terests demand quick easy aud cheap means
of transportation, at fair and equal rates, be-
tween one part of the country and another.
To build ,fR,l&sys aud canals requires great
aggrepations of capIuS and great cencentra-
luu hHu ttREuluhllOu VI ulhlnr
These have seemed to involve au Amount OF
power which has often been perverted ffSS,s...'
us Legitimate USES IA AN instrument Of public
creation for the equal public good to dom
mating aud caprlcious control of the trade
and intercourse Of the people, AZ well as fro
quently an organized, well equipped and po-
tent interference with political al airs, aud
with legislation.
| have now only to speak OF these great
concerns aud their management in relation to
questions of fair transportation. 1t is gener-
ally admitted by the managers of these lines
of communication, that great evils now exist
sometimes arising from personal or other ia
vorit,sm or the reverse, by which one Gus
toner or one village city, il ruined or
greatly injured aud another advanced, and
by which even the companies themselves are
involved in war Of rates." destructive to
til III own property, aud so huctuating the
prices OF transportation that producers aud
shippers cannot calculate with any ,rtainty
in respect of their operations.
Aud in still another aud most important
way the state of things have mentioned in
juriously affects our farmers, Manufacturers
and merchants This is done by charging
too high rates for short transportation, aud
too 10 rates for long distances. It frequent
ly happens, HI everybody knows, that it costs
the farmers aud manufacturers Of OHIO, for
instance as much or more to trans port their
products 500 miles to market ~ il does the
farmers aud manufacturers of Texas or Ore
gOu TO send their products to tue same mar
ket over distances three or four times a.
great-and We know of Ike instances all over
the country. Leaving out OF consideration
the comparatively tr.hng matter Of loading
and unloading, aud other terminal charges,
the actual pense of railway transportation
nF nd ~
similar lines, depends almost entirely on the
distance run. Tue railway companies have
the right to live and make fair profits from
their business IL they do this il follows
that Of their income the shippers for short
distances, in the cases supposed, have paid
rates unreasondbly high, aud the shippers for
longer distances have paid rates uureasonbly
low. The farmers Of Vermont, for instance,
where tue price of land and wages is high,
are by these methods compelled to contrib.
ute part of their hard earned gains to the
farmers of some distant part of the country
where land gnd wages are low, to help them
make their products worth AZ much as IL
they had been grown or raised within 800
miles OF Boston or New York THIS cannot
be justice. Nsarness aud distance from the
place of sale or consumption are just as nat
ural and interchangeable relations IA are those
of soil climate, skill or thrift. As we'll
might the farmer, who with good land and
thorough and industrious cultivation has
raised good crop, be required to give part
of 1t to his neighbor, who, with poorer land,
Incidence and ninite weeds has raised only
half IA much. Aud this, of course, applies
we'll to all sorts OF things produced as to
those Of the farm.
Evils of this kind, which seem to be in
creasng, need the most earnest and candid
consideration of the people, and the enact
ment Of such wise laws Of restraint aud reg
uiaton rs shall be just, and in the long run
really beneficial to the carriers Of the coun-
try, while they provide for the speedy aud ef-
fectual redress Of these and other grievances,
and produce that equality aud steadness in
the management of trade aud transportation
which will be found to be alike for the bene-
ht of carriers, shippers and the people OF ey.
cry part Of the country.
There is another topic that belongs TO the
general subj. set to which | have called your
attention, but the time l can properly occu-
Ply will admit only of brief reference to it.
| allude TO the disposition of the surplus pro-
ductions of our country in foreign markets.
The oceans that bound the whole length of
both the eastern aud western borders OF the
republic are free highways from which there
can be no exclusion, and in respect Of which
there can be no monopoly, and over which
and their connecting waters goods can be
taken to nearly every habitabe country of
the globe. O,her great producing nations
have successfully sought to extend their com
meTce and the sale of their productions, by
acquiring islands, stations and other posses,
sious here aud there in nearly every accessi-
BILE part of the world. L oder the protection
and fostering assistance of establishments so
set up, the commercial operations and iniu.
ence OF these nations have been greatly eT
tended. Their ships open regular communi-
cation, their subjects control trading houses,
and these, as against American traders unsup-
ported by the same means and influences alb.
sorb much the largest share in supplying dis
tant peoples with the commodities they re-
quire. | do not mean to say that think the
United States could have wisely pursued the
same policy in respect of obtaining numer
GUS foreign possessions, and creating foreign
dependencies but in the present state of the
trade of the world do think it clear that
our government should encourage the estab
lishment of American lines OF cOmmuniea-
ton with, aud American trading establish
ments in, the principal purchasing and non
manufacturing countries, which will faoili-
tate the export Of American goods, and will
create and promote American commercial in.
huence, and in the end give us that measure
of advantage in foreign markets that the su-
periority of many of our productions fairly
entite us to.
In this great ocean communication and
trade l think the one by far most important
point is as yet unoccupied and not utilized by
any country. l refer to what l am confident
ia the only practicable ship water way be-
tween the Atlantic add Pacific oceans, and
which crosses the republic OF Nicaragua
within 1000 miles of our own coast To any
intelligent person, who will examine a globe
or map of the world, it will be apparent N |
am right as to the fact l have Just stated J
that such ship canal will prove the key aud
regulator OF half the long commerce. as it
may be called, of many nations, aud that for
the commerce OF the Central and South
American states with the United States as
well as in respect of our own commerce with
Asia and the islands of the Indian ocean, and
in respect of the domestic shipping trade be-
tween the eastern and western shores Of the
the republic it will be indispensable. The
people of Nicaragua and her sister states
have been, aud | believe still are, DESTROYS
that this canal shall be built aud managed by
the United States for the great common ends
aud benefits of commerce aud intercourse be
tween nations, as we'll as for the more init
mate interests OF the American states, and
trust that ere long our government will feel
more deeply and see more clearly than II has
yet done, the Importance of the matter, and
| bring 1t TO successful issue.
These briefly outlined subjects, Mr.. Presi.
dent aud ladies and gentlemen, have thought
might interest you, perhaps, as much as