The Portland daily press., 1888-02-13


whot otner individuals or banks, who may IN
vest their deposits in bonds Of remoter io-
calities to the exclusion OF borrowers VINO
are desirous of promoting local prosperity;
Certainly large amounts OF individual capltal
have been swalleowd up In western schenes
which might iusC as well have been lost at
home. The success of the Maine Central, OF
the Portland Company, OF the Water Compa-
nv and the appreciation of real estate all
along the Maine coast emphasizes the truth
that home investments may pay Just as
good returns as far away investments ana
still promote our local prosperity. Zap
will allude to one other thing and that is
the immense drain upon our resources IN the
amount of money that Is constantly g9lhg
out of the State for the Louisiana and Hay-
ana lotteries. This money goes from tne
pockets of the people who can least anord 10
lose it, and il is our duty to apprise them,
what they certainly ought to know, that not
one dollar in five which goes out OF the city Ior
lottery tickets ever comes back in the way OF
prizes. The tendency of the whole thing. is
hurtful and demoralizing and ought 10 De dls-
countenanced. Let us rather place against
such waste of money building loan assocla-
tions, where small amount OF money put
away month by month will soon result In
buying homes for the people and add to their
general comfort and welfare. l Will not oc-
cupy any more of your time. / am glad 70
see so large gathering at this second meet
ing of the board; it evinces goodly lnteress
and is prophetic of better times near at hand
and have faith to believe that before many
months Portland will start in upon new
period of commercial activity and towards
that result we are all bound to cooperate to
the best of our ability. LApplause.l
Vice President Winslow then called upon
Mr.. ii. III. Shaw as one of our most enter
prising manufacturers, who responded as
follows:
SPEECH OF H. II. SHAW.
Mr.. President and Gentlemen Of the Board
of Trade:
Heretofore | have not trespassed upon
your time or patience by talking. There are
two reasons, however, why | have consent
ed to talk tonight. The first one is because
have arrived at age. Today happens to be
the twenty-frst anniversary of my first ap-
pearance among you'll came to Portland from
Boston. came here to do manufacturing
business, and l selected Portland from
among all the cities of this country. Iinves-
tigated with great care but did not rely upon
my own youthful Judgment but upon the
judgment of men like you, men doing a
wholesale business in thei large centres Of
the country who came to eastern markets for
the purpose of buying and selling; they gave
me the benefit of their knowledge and expe-
rience; they gave me the advantages and
disadvantages of the sections of the country
in which they did business, and after follow
ing the investigation for some months, tax
ing time to sum up carefully the merits and
the outs of the different points, after weigh
ing in the balance the advantages and disad-
vantages OF the different points as | under
~ q W Af dafa ,f,.f.. -.
what city | could get the most for my life
time, / came to Portland / selected Ii be-
cause 1t was my native air, il was a goodly
city with steady, thrifty population; it
possessed educational and social advanta-
ges and sufficient banking capital, and was
easily accessible from the rest of the count
ry. Indeed it possessed all the advantages
of the large cities without the disadyanta-
ges:
Now one of the reasons why l consented
to talk about manufactures tonight is be-
cause | have been engaged in them 81
years, and think / am fit person to talk to
you upon that subject 1t is well known
that ii you want to find out all about any
particular subject you may ask somebody
that doesn't know anything about it. have
little about manufacturing and therefore
can tell you all you want to know about it in
vely few minutes.
When l arrived in Portland and began my
WoIk mere udu discovered tnat tneIe were
some things | had not seen from a distance
and one Of them think has been the trouble
with Portland for many years. We have
been living and looking backward into the
past too much and attempting to bring the
past back to subserve the purposes of today.
Now, gentlemen, the past gives us nothing
but its lessons and its achievements. The
past OF our country has achieved for us a
home Of freedom and given everyone an OBJ
portunity to do all he could and all he de-
sired according to his ability and his faith.
The past has some lessons for us and think
the merchants and manufacturers of Port
land may well draw at least one lesson from
it. Infancy and youth are progressive. Ma
turity is but the beginning Of decline. Old
age and decrepitude mean passing away.
Now, the white winged merchant marine Of
the past, which we have been looking back
ward to. and trying to bring forward into the
future, Is gone and, like the men of fifty,
sixty and seventy years ago, who built it
and enjoyed its privileges, and who have
gone whence no traveller returns. il has
gone to stay. There came with the men of
this generation new order of things-the
railroad, the telegraph, the telephone and
the iron monsters of the sea. We have
learned some lessons in regard to those and
am here to declare to you that my, belief is
that the time for nursing railroad corpora
tions has gone by. Until our bonded debt is
wiped out by some other means than that of
the corporation for which we created it we
have an illustration that these corporations
are able to cope with municipalities and can
well enough take care of themselves.
[Laughterl Railroads will be built and run
where there Is business enough to make
them pay and that without the aid of citi-
Zens of any particular State or municipality.
Why, to my mind the nursing Of railroad
corporation, or anything pertaining to it in
and about Portland is like eve yearling
nursing a lions whelp-the eve will get the
worst of 1t every time.
Another lesson which we may well learn
from the past is that in instituting manu-
featuring enterprises they never come into
existence full grown to stay. We have had
some experience in Portland in planting
manufacturing enterprises fully grown in in
experienced hands and expecting them to
prosper. Such, gentlemen, is not the order
Of progress In manufacturing enterprises as
have known them.
l read and am told by the older men Of
this country that up to within fifty years
most of the articles which are now abund-
antly manufactured in this country, were
brought from abroad, and not until the ne
cessitieS OF the war compelled us did we
stop transporting from across the ocean,
and produce them within the borders of our
own land. We then learned that If we
wanted these useful and convenient articles
we must make them. Now, as citizens of
Portland, we are facing necessity. The
merchant marine which once brought wealth
to our doors, has gone, and with the old
stage coach, it has gone to stay. The
lumber forests, which were available for
those who preceded us in this vicinity, have
gone, and those which are further away are
rapidly going. We are not an agricultural
community. Our harbor is left, but in our
generation none Of US can expect to see it
become the one great harbor Of the world.
Therefore, gentlemen, IL we would in the fu-
ture have anything to sell to those who pro-
duce the bread which we must have and
which we must obtain from them, we must
make 1t. We have still left very great re-
sources, and these resources are brains,
which, believe, are as abundant in Port
land as in any other city l ever visited /;
abundant, not only in the men Of the present
time, such as see before me and meet on
the street from day to day. but also In the
rising generation. We have the brains to
produce what we like We have the most
thrifty and intelligent general population OF
any city with which | am acquainted, and
therein, If anywhere, lies the future promise
of what Portland shall be-
Now, gentlemen, how will y0n use 1t?
What are you going to do about 1t. | was
taught by my father that the best way to fix
up neighborhOOd was for a man to go to
work and fix himself up and then mind his
own business, and in little while the rest
would come in. have been trying to fix
myself up and my business and have got
along pretty well for Portland have been
panied, perplexed and distressed since my
advent into this town to see the material and
opportunities which were running to waste
and being unused, while the capital aceumu-