Class. Book^ £i?3 h ^.L MAN m AMERICA. /i3 SIX THOUSAND YEARS FROM EDEN TO INDEPENDENCE HALL. THE HIGHEST SUMMIT REACHED BY MAN, EN MASSE, BETWEEN THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND INDEPENDENCE HALL, IS CITIZENSHIP MAN- * HOOD ON THE TABLE LAND OP EQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES, WHERE THE AMERICAN CITIZEN IS AS HIGH ABOVE THE SUB- JECT OF A CROWN AS THE TABLE LAND IN THIBET IS ABOVE TIDEWATER, OR THE FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE HIGHER THAN THE SPARROW. BY THOMAS S. FERNON, AUTHOR OF "no dynasty in north AMERICA," "FREE TRADE MEANS SERF PAY AND FAMINE FARE," ETC. PHILADELPHIA : PRESS OF HENRY B. ASH MEAD, Nos. 1102 AND 1104 Sansom Street. 188 9. t C> if- I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. if XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. xxxyii. ' .' x.)ixv/ii; • ■' xxxrx.' XL. xLi. six Cities CONTENTS. Sign of the Covenant between the States and the United States, In Search of a Livelihood and Haven, . The Dominion of Canada, .... Party Platforms and the Commandments, What Crises and Epidemics do, Worth mills in the Ground, millions under Roof, Alien-born Agitators as Mischief-makers, The Crusades against the Turk — Diplomacy his Ally Railway's and Waterways — Western Europe, Washington Petersburg, ..... Imports and Exports — Foreign Trade Totals, Great Cities are not on Ocean Shores, . Internal and External Trade, . Manchester Ship Canal, England, . Pennsylvania the Pass and Passage-way, New Jersey and California— The Union Waistband The Erie Canal and Wall Street, Bank Clearing-house Returns — Philadelphia and Baltimore to Denver, Cotton in past time, Iron in present time Between Pittsburgh and Denver, St. Paul and New Custom-houses Described, .... Consular Officers in Foreign Countries, . Duplicity in Trade, Diplomacy in Congress, . Americans must not Lose their Paradise, All Countries Foreign outside of the Union, . Per Capita Capacity for Consumption, The American Citizen Farmer, Labor Misrepresentatives in Legislatures, The True Economist the Poor Man's Wife, Pins, Apothecaries, Political Traders, . A Speechmaker and Party Servant, University Schoolmasters, .... The American Situation — Principal Millionaires, Railway Wreckers, ...... Invested Home Capital and Competition, Satan in Judea, the European in Africa, The Ways of the World— The Battle of Life, Commercial Treaties with Foreign Nations, . , iChiJefve J>faturj,t {jp,;;vvs;and Meditate Mankind, • Ititeroceanic Gfliiale atid Continental Railways, Unrest and Distrust in Western Europe, Orleans, St Page 4 5 9 14 17 19 20 22 22 27 27 32 34 35 37 38 from 38-41 . 41 . 43 . 44 . 46 . 49 . 49 . 51 . 54 . 5G . 59 . 61 . 62 . 63 . 64 . 65 . 66 . 67 . 69 . 71 . 73 . 74 . 75 . 77 f|^n links of brittle metal that will not hold together in a chain of argu- ment, does not ripple his satisfaction with himself behind his petrified cheek, nor cause a suspicion in the narrow cell of his mind that, in- stead of a steam steed on a track hauling a long train, he is only a " fish out of water," floundering for its native element wherein its fins and tail are its natural motive powers. A SPEECHMAKER AND PARTY SERVANT. There is in Pennsylvania to-day a public character whose capital in trade is the fact that he is a speechmaker and party servant who has held many conspicuous ofiices, nobody knows for what reason, at Harrisburg, Washington and as minister in South America, not omit- ting membership of a convention that altered the state constitution into a hermaphrodite, imperfect in both genders ; one who always was, and now is in years too old to change, a cold-blooded personality that never responded in his nature to democracy broader nor deeper than his political party, so popular in free trade England and Texas. Long ago he tried to limit by constitutional amendment the number of representatives that a city might elect to the popular branch of the Legislature, a stab meant to kill the doctrine of representation ac- cording to population. What is the country without the town ? Bah ! In the earlier years of railroads, and when the question of gauge^ a matter particularly important to Pennsylvania, was in controversy with Lake Shore and New York interests, he lent himself, as his henchman, the departed Wesley Roat, would attest if he could come back and qualify, to the repeal of a wise and opportune law which forbade the construction of any more wide-gauge roads in the state ; and was the spokesman for railroad parties in other states, whereas, afterwards, all roads of wide gauge in Pennsylvania were changed to the standard gauge of the Pennsylvania, New York Central and Bal- timore and Ohio trunk lines, at enormous cost. And, finally, over- looking his double-dealing on tax on tonnage on railroads parallel with state canals, and on the subject of charters for railroads, Charles R. Buckalew made a speech, common of commonplace, and cast his vote against I'ennsglvania for the Mills bill in the interest of free trade in the guise of " revenue reform," in the Congress which expired with President Grover Cleveland's maladministration of the govern- ment of which George Washington was first President, elected with- out the vote of New York state, a hundred years ago. Verily the army of the ballot is oflicered with blind mutes in Columbia county, where Buckalew is a sage, as was Buchanan a sage in Lancaster, before he failed in his high trust in 1861. <;4 UNIVERSITY SCHOOLMASTERS. University and college professors who, after all, are schoolmasters, nothing more, nothing less, in the same way that stock members of a theatrical company are actors the same as stars of the profession, as- sume too much when they assume that an abstraction as they state it will become a concretion when the word of the pedagogue is made the ruling of a statute, the law of the land, in precedence and preference to practical experience and thorough understanding of the industries and the arts which leaven society and bind communities together, in- tent and busy in the pursuit of happiness. Political economy, the art of government, is a theme of many phases, a subject controverted in cabinet and council, where states- manship and statecraft meet for consultation ; and where facts are counted and reasons weighed before judgment is pronounced. Pi'ac- ticality is the touchstone iri statesmanship, and theory is the miasma which rises out of the morass and is a source of obscuration till the heat of the sun scatters it where it can do no harm nor dim the vision of the wayfarer. Doctrinaires and cranks who assume that they understand aerial navigation and perpetual motion, and wonder why invetitors do not overcome the law of gravitation, and meanwhile browse on pessimistic stubble and lament that words discharged with a trigger-tongue from the muzzle of a mouth do not bring down game like a bullet from a gun barrel, descant on political economy as if it were a subject com- prehensible off-hand or by intuition ; and stultified professors hold fast to university and college salary teats, even though all of them are not scholars to qualify them for judges of practical politics, and but few of them are students in the broad and deep sense of that word, which fits the thoughtful man advanced in years as it does the boy in his teens. The process of acquisition of knowledge is continued till mind- sight begins to dim and crevices in the memory begin to open, show- ing that brain power has passed its maximum, where imperfection foreruns decay. This is the decree of nature, the inevitable law, which is typified by Time as a skeleton with a scythe. The oldest judges of the Supreme Court, the oldest senators and members of Congress and the oldest citizens are students so long as mind maintains the mastery and reason commands the man. Universities, colleges, high schools, academies, grammar schools, indeed all schools, are armories for drill of the intellectual faculties in youth, as apprenticeship drills artisans in the use of tools, accord- ing to a manual which qualifies a pupil who is apt in its tactics and steadfast in bis purpose, to uiiircli steadily on, leaving loiterers and truants in the rear. The scholar of philosophic turn never tires of the times, but looks down below the surface of the ground and into the springs which flush the brooks for causes, and takes interest in current events, whatsoever they may be, wheresoever they may occur. These lookers on, these readers, spectators and thinkers, who " make haste slowly " and can use the " mind's eye " for a locomotive head-light, may be sometimes seen at the foot of a hill gazing up a road at wayfarers, who hurry to the summit, there to disappear be- hind the horizon, because they climbed too fast and stopped where they had no foothold. There are, besides, some who, though not on the school lists after early boyhood, continue to study at night-time and visit libraries, attend lectures and read books, magazines and newspapers with such method and profit that they accumulate information and fund it, in- voiced and classified, thereby equalling, if not surpassing, superficial incumbents of professorships and schoolmasterships Avho can commit to memory by rote the text of the lessons they teach, like actors on the stage always up in their lines, but who nevertheless are short of appreciation of the words delivered from their lips. THE AMERICAN SITUATION. To comprehend protection as a practical, pending political ques- tion, and its bearing on the American situation, let the citizen con- sider the nation of the United States a political family of forty-two state members and a half score of territorial candidates for member- ship, with a large estate occupied and cultivated by joint heirs to a common inheritance, under the deed of union, the Constitution, which declares its purposes and describes its powers, to the end that all citizens may be shareholders in the body politic, under its perpet- ual charter, to conduct the affairs of the general government in the interest of the states and the whole people, numbering sixty-five millions of souls. This great political family, the second in size among the Christian powers, which combine the push and progress extant and hold the world in the arms of outstretched Christian civilization, has many interests to foster and look after ; for in trade, where it is conducted on a gigantic scale, as in the United States, for the individual benefit of the living generation and the common benefit of its posterity, there are many who are exposed to extra risk which does not menace others, and who need and deserve protection against aggressive com- 5 66 petition from loreign countries, where subjects are paid starvation wages and are assessed as chattels and used as tools. The theory of banking is that credit is necessary to worthy persons in business, to float them through fluctuations in prices and temporary depression in the market; and hence cnpital is associated and money loaned, with lasting good results. And, indeed, so fraught with evil to a community is a panic in a market that pecuniary assistance is proff"ered and pecuniary sacrifice promptly incurred to avert it, and thus restore confidence among depositors and dealers. And it may not be amiss to assert, as an abstraction, that a thing is worth what it will sell for in market ; but price is not always a measure of value beyond the moment of sale, for inflation and depres- sion sometimes follow each other in quick succession, where a sudden collapse destroys confidence and sinks quotations, as explosion of a boiler scatters in pieces the iron it was made of. Of course failures will occur whatever be the common usage or the statute law, for in mundane matters ver?/ much depends on Judgment and management. Where these qualities arc lacking, success is not so easily won as where they are manifest in the daily walks of those who watch the tides in commercial currents and the weather-vanes on house tops and high poles. The principal millionaires in the United States did not derive their fortunes from profit on manufactures. Stephen Girard was a shipping merchant who sent his vessels to foreign ports and traded cargoes with consummate foresight and judg- ment. He likewise was a public-spirited citizen, always in the fore- ground in the community in response to duty. His means he invested wisely and where they have grown and will continue to thrive. The Girard College, a charity created by his will, and now and forever his monument, is the grandest and most successful public charity founded by man. Thousands of men, grown-up orphan boys educated within its walls, bless the name of Stephen Girard. Neither Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Thomas A. Scott nor John W. Garrett was a manufacturer, but all four wx^re railway pro- moters with promises to pay and expert reconstructionists and prac- titioners in Wall Street finance. RAILWAY WRECKERS. When a ship is wrecked at sea it goes to the bottom and is lost. When Jay Gould and others of his ilk — smart in their way but with " cussedness " in their treason — wreck a railway corporation, they do not destroy its trackway and appurtenances nor cripple it as a trans- portation machine. On the contrary, they simply put in ply their ▼ 67 kijowludgc oF the art of corporation book-keeping and proceetl with the aid of accountants and attorneys to foreclose on its default to meet liabilities, moult its debts, as a parrot moults its feathers, to make way for new ones of the same kind, go before court for rehabil- itation, make a new departure, lie to the public in exaggei'ated exhibits about increase of earning capacity, manipulate a rise in the stock exchange, and when all is ready unload on outside buyers who there- tofore did not believe in "total moral depravity." Different, indeed, is this formula from the manufacture of mer- chandise, whereby employment is provided at home and wealth with- held from export out of the country. The homage paid by vice to virtue in the last act of the drama of life, when the soliloquy is, " to be or not to be," illustrates the aspira- tion of mortal man to conciliate public opinion in his "latter days," as. if to propitiate judgment on his record and mitigate a possible verdict in that eternity undiscovered from this planet, but whither every one is bound. INVESTED HOME CAPITAL AND COMPETITION. Capital invested in works for iron and steel manufactures, and for cotton, wool and silk manufactures, and indeed in all manufactures of fibrous and metallic material, is exposed to risk of deficit in income to defray expenses, and also to reduction of interest or dividend by reason of fluctuations in prices, the proximity of the continents in steamship time, the low rates for transportation charged on mer- chandise and the whole catalogue of causes which employes can ascer- tain, if they do not already know ; for the telegraph, the submarine cable and the telephone, not forgetting the mail, are tell-tales of the secrets in trade. There is nowadays no terra incognita to commerce, not even in Africa, which is being portioned out in parcels among the powers, like rations distributed to troops, the aborigines not con- sulted nor considered in the allotment of their land, except in cere- monial mock way. But civilization is a blanket-word, and where it cannot cover evangelization can excuse a transaction, for the mission- ary is abroad, and if he cannot proselyte in the interest of creed, he can explore in the interest of trade. Fifty years ag6, when the sailing packet was the medium of inter- communication, averaging thirty days to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and the mail-bag aboard ship carried all the information transmitted, and when, besides, there were long intervals of non-communication between home and foreign shores, then secrets in trade were of money value to the owners, because there was time between arrivals to plan operations, conduct negotiations, and make purchases and sales. G8 And if it 1)0 asked if, iiotwitlistanding the risk, there is not about tlie same percentage of manufacturers as of jobbers successful in busi- ness, it may be answered yes, for protection is a guarantee of posses- sion of the home market, meantime that competition within it reduces prices to the consumer. Protection in the American Union, where there is capital seeking investment, means inside competition with custom-house locks on outside doors. This last phrase states the case of the American citizen against the foreign subject. The former ought not, will not be cut down to the European subject level ; the latter should not, will not be permitted to forage or foray in the United States, when the whole world else- where is open to him under laws in force. The subject shall not gather the sheaves where the citizen ploughed the ground and planted the seed. Let the foreigner pull up by the roots the weeds on his own trespassed acres, better the condition of himself and fellow subjects with the wit and strength nature gave him for his own behoof, or follow fortune if it beckon to a new field where there is work awaiting immigration, to make it Avelcome and pay it well. The fraud on the part of the free trader is in representing manu- facturers as ''protected barons" fattened in fortune on premium tariff duty, added to the invoice price of foreign merchandise, whereas in truth, as the falsifier is aware, discriminating duty is imposed so that the higher wages hitherto and at present paid in America may be continued henceforth. Thus the citizen employe is assured of em- ployment and money is retained in the country, a twofold consequence of double benefit to home interests, as every one can appreciate. That individual manufacturers, and firms and corporations organ- ized for manufacturing purposes, have realized profit on product of machinery and capital, and clear heads and deft hands employed, is a truth that entitles the parties to public approbation instead of censure, from misrepresentatives in Congress who trade in politics and use catchwords coined for the stump in a canvass for votes; for skill and industry add substance to a country and exalt it in the scale of nations. A country that is large must have bulwarks to make it strong, con- sisting of industrial establishments to make it independent as well as fortifications to maintain its independence and play its part among the powers. Employes cannot expect per capita pay in excess of the value of their services to their employers, since a pay roll that represents a per capita loss must soon exhaust capital and cause suspension of operations. 69 And where a pay roll represents a per capita profit, even though it be a minimum, and the employes are numbered by scores and hun- dreds, a common occurrence, the profits of course aggregate a con- siderable sum, the logical sequence of a large business. But these savings are invested in new enterprises and in enlargements of suc- cessful works, whereby employment is given to additional numbers and the community benefited thereby. The industrial interests of a country are sympathetic ; and wher- ever and whenever a calamity shocks the public — and disasters befall every year — the heads of the industries respond through their pockets to the appeals of humanity for succor and assistance. In sooth, ob- servation of routine life and experience among the perils which beset human beings, soften the business man into a good Samaritan when the bell of appeal sounds the alarm and summons help. SATAN IN JUDEA, THE EUROPEAN IN AFRICA. The summary of foreign news in the morning and evening news- papers is to date an epitome of the latest events throughout the world, as it is mapped and portioned in all its circumference, among con- tented and discontented possessors of big and little patches, mostly defined by treaty, a process of binding over ostensibly to keep the peace ; as where a tract of land is left a legacy to heirs who show their gratitude to their donor kinsman by contesting his will, to change his allotment of a gift. St. Matthew tells how Satan took the Saviour " up into an exceed- " ing high mountain and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world "and the glory of them. And saith unto him, All these things will "I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith "Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan." What title Satan had to "the kingdoms of the world," with sight of which he tried to tempt the Son of God, we are not told. But we can infer that "the glory of them" meant the pomp of the royal courts and crowned heads in his service, under contract signed and assignable. The title to a throne, therefore, it may be, comes down from the devil, as title to land in the colonies comes down from grants made by crowned heads in Europe who had no patent to hinds in America where the aborigines were occupiers and owners. On the discovery of the continent of America by Columbus, a spirit of adventure set Europe ablaze, and expeditions organized for. dis- covery were fitted out by rival dynasties, commanded by navigators alive to the situation and ambitious of distinction, to scour coasts and explore rivers; and in the name of the sovereign or country they were 70 serving, seize and occupy territory, totally ignoring the aborigines Avhere they were unopposed, and where the natives resisted the ma- rauders, they were sometimes treated with a barbarity that made the word " civilization " a misnomer and "colonization" a synonym of dire portent. Spain, Portugal, France, England, Holland, Swe The cabinet of Great Brifuiiii, not its parliament, emphatically not the subjects of the crown, committed that kini2;