Year: 1865

From the tone of the prominent Eastern pa
pers we notice that the general feeling seems to
be in favor Of an early completion of the Pacific
Railroad. Among other recent utteranees on
this subject quote the following from an ar
tice in the Financial and Commercial Chrontete :;


The commerce of Asia is about to be developed
beyond its former proportions, and there Is no
reason why this Republic should not be made
the worlds thoroughfare. through which the
wealth of the East shall roll from coast to coast
paying tribute, as it passes, into the coHers OF
the people. The internal dissensons that for
years have disturbed the industrial system OF
China are now at an end. The spirit OF eXclu.
siveness that has hidden the greater portion OF
the riches of Japan as in n sealed casket. guard
ed by jealousy and prejudice, is yielding slowly
but surely to the persistent advances OF higher
order of civilization. The unhappy strife in our
country that for four years has shut out the
world from commerce in the great staple OF the
South, has occasoned research and experiment
in regard to the cotton-growing facilities OF the
East and the production of that commodity IN
India under the energetic and sklitul manage
ment of Europeans, will greatly enhance the In
dian trade. Let us see, now, whether we cannot
compel the merchants of Europe. by the never
failing law of advantage to themselves, to make
Us the carriers and our country the viaduct OF
that immense trade.


Let u suppose the Pacific Railroad constructed
and in active operation with sufficient rolling
stock for the transportation Of Eastern merchan-
disc 1T remuneratve rates. BY swift steamers
from the furtherrnost parts OF Asia the average
voyage would be twenty days. BY railroad,
from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast would be,
over good road, with powerful engines, eight
days. From the Atlantic TO the European port
would be twelve days. Allowing five days for
incidental delays, breaking bulk, etc, the mer
chant at Liverpool could receive lis goods in
forty-tiyc days from the date Of their dispatch
from Hongkong. Calcutta, or other Asiatic ports
The machinery of commercial speculation renders
II Impossible for business men to ignore the ave
nue. that is the speediest means of communication
with the marts at which they traffic. If the
American merchant could send cargo Of tea
from China to Liverpool in torty-iyc days, the
English merchant would be compelled to accept
the same facilities or to relinquish competition.
The inevitable result of the completion of the
Pacific Railroad would be the transfer of the
principal part of the trade of the Indies from its
present channels to the great thoroughfare of
nations that would be established in this Repub-
lie.


Do our people appreciate the magnificent fu-
ture that would thus be opened to them? Do
they realize that opportunity to pay the national
debt? Venice in her days of glory owed her
grandeur and prosperity to the circumstance that
the commerce Of India passed by her threshold,
paying toll to her on its way to market. Let ii
not be said that American enterprise hesi!ated
and faltered in the path Of 5uch a splendid
destiny.


Bat rot only in that respect does this raasuii-
cent project appeal 20 the interests and to the
pride Of the American people. In the far West
millions Of acres of fertile land wait to be re-
deemed from waste and unproductiyeness. The
Pacific Railroad would drag immigration along
it, iron course Wherever the speeding engine
would pause Ia is rapid career. TO be fed with
wood and water there would be a house built
and then a hamlet, and then town. and then
great populous and busy inland cities. each one
the center of an area Of thriving settlements.
each one a link in the quick forged Chain Of civ
ilzaton from oceant to ocean, from the teenirr
marts On the Atlantic border to the golden lla-
GERS and r.ch valleys Of Oregon and California.