IRON AND CIVILIZATION. ' 343 



the blast-furnace are placed upon settled foundations, and two conti- 

 nents have been made his debtor a debt which you will gladly join 

 with me in recognizing on the first suitable public occasion which has 

 occurred since the completion of his great work. 



Having thus briefly traced out the mission of science in our day to 

 bring capital into productive relations with labor, and to remove the 

 just grievances of labor, not against capital, but against its ignorant 

 administration, and to make commodities cheap for the benefit and not 

 at the expense of humanity, let me, in conclusion, sketch the picture 

 which will be presented at the beginning of the next century, when 

 our mining interests will be developed on a scale somewhat commen- 

 surate with the area of the country and the extent of its resources. 

 As New York will be the centre of capital, so will it be the initial 

 point of our iron and steel industry. On the shores of the Hudson 

 River, the ores of Lake Champlain, of the valleys of Connecticut, and 

 of the highland ranges of New York and New Jersey, will meet the 

 anthracite coals of Pennsylvania upon conditions so favorable that 

 New York and its vicinity must become a great metallurgical centre. 

 Thence the chain of fire, extending across New Jersey and following 

 the banks of the Lehigh and Schuylkill to the Susquehanna, will lead 

 us by the margin of the coal-fields, along the outcrop of the magnetic, 

 hematite, and fossiliferous ores which extend through Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, 

 and Alabama, nearly to the Gulf, so that the light of furnace answer- 

 ing to furnace will irever be lost sio-ht of in the long- line of over 1,000 

 miles ! Hence, turning to the West, Missouri, Kentucky, Western 

 Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, will be all aglow with furnaces, 

 forges, and mills, fed by the admirable fuel of the inexhaustible coal- 

 fields of the West, and the superb ores of Missouri and Lake Superior. 

 The waters of the great lakes will reflect the flames which will light 

 up their margin, while to the west, along the lines of the various Pa- 

 cific Railways, the newly-found coal and iron of that hitherto trackless 

 region will form an enduring basis for the growth of industrious com- 

 munities, busy cities, and teeming fai'ins. The West coast will not be 

 behind in the race, but an iron industry, more valuable than its mines 

 of gold and silver, will yet supply its growing millions with the funda- 

 mental basis upon which modern civilization rests. The growth of 

 this vast industry will be accompanied by the school-master, the 

 preacher, and the physician. Homes of which human nature may 

 be proud will be established in its wake, labor and Christianity will 

 march hand in hand, binding all interests and all classes so harmoni- 

 ously and so indissolubly together, that peace and good-will between 

 capital and labor shall prevail throughout the land forever. 



