Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-06-01


longer be used as an agent for the promo
ton OF slavery had won ut the polls. Their |
commercial success was dependent on |
slavery and the success of slavery was
dependent upon political supremacy and /
when Abraham Lincoln was elected the |
South saw that its political power was
gone and their commercial stability was
destroyed The strength of the CONNER
Cial interest is also shown by the oppOsi- !
ton to the idea of abolition by New York
merchants and the reluctance with which |
the North accepted war as the arbiter of |
the differences between the two sections |
When the hostilities were over and tho
rebelllous portion of the nation was sub |
missve we do not find an entire reunion. :
"Rehs" and "Yanks" were still terms
which aroused the bitterest feelings in the !
North and South respectively. Nor did
tho South recognize the North az n bcne-
factor because it had crushed that system !
of labor which had proved its greatest
curse. The liberal terms made by the
North in the reconstruction conciliated but
did not reconcile the Southern people. !
Reunion with the "Old South" was for
ever impossible but in the New South"
we find the amalgamaton OF the divided
sections of our country and everybody rec
ognizes the New South" a land pene-
trated by Northern capital, a land whose
prosperity has become "A common sol.ci-
tude because 1t furnishes the cheaper Ia
Dor and the North a cheaper capital, sec
ton nterlinked by the multiplied and
cheapened routes of travel. The reunion
brought about by the Introduction of North
ern machinery into the South means the
development Of the most efficient produc-
tive forCe-free and Intelligent labor-over
the broad face of the whole country. The
destruction of slavery by Union guns
cleared the way but Yankee enterprise
with its profits has developed this COM
mercial reunion. As result on every
hand we see progress and development so
stupendous that we can not comprehend
IL. From nation in 1865 that was i'm
porting merchandise worth S72,716 295 more
than all the goods we exported we have
come to be a nation that with few excep-
tons during the last quarter Of a century
have exceeded that sum in the excess for
our exports over imports, the excess for
the year 1895 reaching $617, 900 0o0. one and
a quarter billion dollars represents the
cash value of our exports for 1898 but to
form any correct conception OF the i'm
mense increase in production which this
represents we must remember that our
population has doubled since the close OF
the war and that our consumptive capa-
city per capita has increased in almost
every direction We have become the
greatest consumers of any people on earth
and no nation can equal us as producers
One more comparison may serve to i'm
press upon us more clearly the progress
which this reunited nation has made. We
are paying moro money to our wage earn
ing people than Is paid to the wage earn
ers of Great Britain, Germany, Austria
and Italy combined. Let the figures rep
reseGting the growth of Industries in Eng
land. France and Germany, for the last
thirty years. be combined and you have
less than half of the sum Representing tho
growth of our Industries during that per-
iod. The production Of iron for the last
tod lNT h1tr
shown by Great Britain by 100000 tons
and the present year promises to exceed
last years immense business with the
greatest figures the world has ever
known.
We are all familiar with the universal
ity of this expansion of our trade but a
little con parison will show in what direc-
ton it has predomnated Out of the g.
01. 600 worth of imports sent to Hawaii
ST 600, 900 comes from the United States.
Since 1860 our imports have nearly tri-
pied but our imports from Asia have in
creased eight fold During the same per
iod our exports have increased 600 per cent
J while our exports to Asia are between $40
and 900 per cent greater than in 1865. Our
/ trade with China to-day is 50 per cent
greater than Germany's trade there. AL
most half of the cotton cloth exported
, from the United States in the last yeal
went to China. American -four has found
f
what it has lost in Europe through the
competition of Russia, India and the Az
gestine Republic.
3 If have succeeded In my purpose, this
somewhat lengthy review has brought GU
the fact that our policies in the past have
had as an underlying cause our CONNER
cial development: that since our policy q
International isolation has been introduc
ed and the Civil War has so increased
our productive capacity by making ~
American labor free and independent there
has been such an international develop
ment in our commercial relations that We
are confronted with the demand for large
political influence; that the possession @
the Philippines Is IA political development
following our commercial growth AND DC
mands: and that the same interests which
vindicated jefferson in ignoring strict con
stitutional limitations in acquiring LOUIS
lana argue to-day in favor of the posses
sion of Hawaii and the Philippines. II
responding to the needs of an expanding
. commerce in the past we have strength
ened rather than weakened our nationa
power and political influence. ! do 40
believe we are taking leap into the ddr'
but are under the guidance OF the light o
experience; and that for these reason
we should be optimistic rather than tn
contrary.
But it will be said that this is not
, complete presentation of the case. l ii
not ask YOU to accept ii as such but main
; tain that it correctly shows the primar.
cause of those great movements Whlcl
, have been so influential in the formation
, of our Uatonal character and hay
, brought out those principles which ar
, our national pride. The injustice in refer
ring to only our commercial interests as tn
cause of our various struggles or distin
T gushing policies is that 1t ignores an
, other influence which has ever been pc
!, tent ia the courses we have pursued.
refer to that sense OF justice and RICH
which also is discovered in the large ma
q iority of our national acts. To Enor
l this is to represent the national spirit n
!. simply greed. one of the most Valuabl
! features of this day is the complete re
: futation the sacrifice of the lives of thos
whom We meet to honor has made o
such an unjust representation. The prin
i, ciple for which our patriot fathers tough
: was not only commercially right but NOR
n ally right; the sense of justice was a
evident as the commercial necessity Il
, the struggle of 1872; but when we com
to the Civil War we find that althoug
. the South was commercially right II wa
morally and politically wrong. 1t ha
4 the right to protect and promote its com
n mercia welfare but not at the eXpens
: of the Union. The interest of the Who'll
, was paramount to that of a section, blu
the South attempted to ignore this fact
The commercial interest OF the North SAY
nothing to be gained in the rupture be
tween two sections that were doing
Ia ktY-t ,ttl, H., L.,