The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1944-11-02
Turning Over An
Old Leaf
Rv PHILLIP A. CLADHFIM

Their were fires Of grief and fear that
are a few forgotten ashes;
There were sparks Of recognition that
AR not FORGOTTEN yet
Il is almost inconcelVabIe that less
than a hundred years ago there was
INIT one paved road from east to west
in the United States. Reflect for a
moment on the colossal network of
roads. super-highways and railroads
that now thread web-like, from coast
10 coast. Yet it was this first road
that shaped the destiny of our nation.
First. il was but an Indian trail, then
Nemacojns Path for the Ohio Com
pany; then a military road for Cen
eral BraJdock's army--then the Cum
terland tor BanlO Road-later called
The National Pike Now it is Route 40,
lust another road. No longer is it the
enc Indispensable medium for people
to travel west and make their homes,
and establish an empire that included
the whole continent.
Just what was the force that pushed
the people out of the safe and estab-
lishrd settlements of the East? In the
north, merchants and manufacturers
GREW up powerful monoplics on prod
ucts ami labor. The New England
farms We're small and unfertile. The
economic pattern, almost from the
start, required money instead of bar
ter. The only way to obtain money was
to work in a factory. Farmers could
not produce enough labor; they de-
faultcd, and many were forced to 90
west. In the South. including Mary
land shreWd plantation owners bought
up immense sections Of land They
used negro slaves to do the work. They
were in a position to corner the avail
able markets for their produce so that
The small independent or tenant far
mer had too meaG,re outlet for his
produce over and above his family
needs. Being deprived of market
he too was unable to meet his taxes.
He too was frozen out. SO both in
North and South, the small indepen-
dent people of the land were exploited
by dominant industrial and agricul-
tmaI families. In spite Of the Decla-
ration of Independence the economic
power was misused by the exclusive,
naToW-minded industrial Puritans of
the North, and the snobbish, landed
mistocrats of the South. Our seacoast
was not only rich plumber for the
pirate, but also for the plutocrat, who
in spite Of his misfortunes in the old
world retained the selfish philosophy
Of privilege in the new. As a result,
the majority Of the people were not
given break.
Shortly after the Revolutionary War
We see myriads Of insecure families
along our eastern coast. We see them
coming from North and South towards
the middle passage over the noun
tains. There was a steady exodus from
all parts Of the East. and this nrocps-
sion Of people between 1900 and 1850
wound their way West over the Ma
tional Pike, twenty miles of which
crosses the northern end of orr
county.
The real epic of America was the
uamping feet. the horses hoof, and
the wagon-tread. 1t was pioneer.
from Kentucky. Henry CLAW, who when
he came into power. fatbered this
road And no one was more freouontlv
seen on the pike than this redoubt-
able orator. whose l0de-star was
Thomas jefferson and whose off
spring was Abraham Lincoln. These
are the immortal triumvirate of our
Post-Independence period-who es-
pouscd and brought into reality the
rights Of the independent, small free
holder Of the soil. These men whose
vision rested on the soil believed that
our true destiny was more linked IN
with an agrarian than an industrial
culture. the latter being the philoso-
ply Of Alexander Hamilton which sur
wives by reason of our urban culture.
But jefferson. Clay and Lincoln Ito
some extent Jackson) foresaw that
the unity of this nation depended on
the equal freedom of the common man
to hold the balance of power against