PIERCE 



4670 



PIGEON 



collection of it> ancient "Sound dues." a toll 

 which it hail taken from foreign nation- for 

 renturie>. In Nicaragua the United States gave 

 official recognition to the government headed 

 by William Walker, the filibuster. The i: 

 sentiment of the nation towards these compli- 

 cated problems is clearly expressed by Na- 

 thaniel Hawthorne, who was then American 

 consul at Liverpool, in a letter to a friend at 

 Itnston. He said: 



Our relations with England seem to me to bear 



a more pacific aspect than for many months 



I 'rank Pierce never did a better thin^r than 



in recognizing "Walker's government; it has 



brought John Bull to his hearings, and with his 



customary jri-owling and jrrumhling. he is going 



t> back out. frampton ought to have been dis- 



in.'i,- promptly: hut it is better late than 



never. 



Two weeks later Hawthorne wrote again: 



We have gained a great triumph over 

 and I begin to like her better now ...... We 



have gone through a crisis and come out ri^ht 

 side up. Give Frank Pierce credit for this, at 

 it was his spirit that did it. 



Domestic Prosperity. If .slavery was the chief 

 question, and during the last two years of 

 Pierce's administration practically the sole 

 question, in the public mind, there were, never- 

 theless, many other problems and events of 

 interest. There were, for example, matters pri- 

 marily of local interest, such as a terrible epi- 

 demic of yellow fever at New Orleans, which 

 continued for a decade. There was the labor- 

 saving exhibit in the Crystal Palace, at New 

 York, which is usually called the first "world's 

 fair." 



lyiore important by far was the remarkable 

 wrMward expansion of American railroads. 

 which reached a climax about 1856 and 1857. 

 Between 1849 and 1857 seven trunk lines were 

 constructed across the Appalachian Mountains, 

 and most of these, by their connections in the 

 central states, could reach the Ohio River and 

 i In Mississippi River. The rush of railway 

 building was accompanied by a steadily increas- 

 ing demand for government assistance. The 

 fir.M public grant, in 1850, was made to the 

 Illinois Central Railway, and included 2,500,000 

 acres. "The West," said one rhapsodic Ohioan, 

 "is no longer the West, nor even the Great 

 West, it is the great Center." 



The significance of railroad expansion was 

 iiio>t clearly marked by changes in agricultural 

 conditions. The grain of the interior found a 

 larger market in the East and in Europe. The 

 center of the grazing industry passed from the 



northeastern states to the newer Males north of 

 the Ohio and to Texas. In the South the rail- 

 ways helped to a lesser degree in extending the 

 cultivation of cotton and increasing the pros- 

 perity of the cotton planters. The prosperity 

 of the agricultural West and South were fol- 

 lowed by a new industrial prosperity, by a great 

 impetu> to manufactures, in the KaM. The 

 Tinted States government, too, was so prosper- 

 ous and had accumulated such a large gold re- 

 serve that Congress in the closing months of 

 Pierce's administration passed the tariff of 1846, 

 whose primary object was to reduce duties BO 

 that the revenue of the government might de- 

 cline. At the end of Pierce's term the United 

 Stan 1 -- was prosperous and believed in a matinifi- 

 cent industrial, agricultural and financial future 

 spreading before it. 



After the expiration of his term, Pierce trav- 

 eled in Europe for several years, and took no 

 further part in politics. He died on October 8, 

 1869, and was buried at Concord, N. H. w.r./. 



Consult Rhodes' History of the United Xtatrtt 

 from the Compromise of 1850; Smith's Parties 

 (i)id Slavery. 



PIERRE, peer, S. D., the state capital and 

 the county seat of Hughes County, is cen- 

 trally located in the state, 120 miles west of 

 Huron. It is on the Missouri River, which is 

 navigable but. is little used for commerce, and 

 on the Chicago & North Western Railroad. 

 The river is crossed here by a large bridge, and 

 on the opposite bank is Fort Pierre. The city 

 is situated in a vast fertile country, formerly 

 noted for cattle grazing, but gradually being 

 opened to the cultivation of alfalfa, corn and 

 forage crops. It is the largest live-stock market 

 in the state and has publishing concerns, flour- 

 ing mills, a tomato-canning plant and saddle 

 and cigar factories. Features of interest are 

 the state capitol, erected in 1909 at a cost of 

 $1,000,000, a Federal building, the high school. 

 Carnegie Library, Saint Mary's Hospital, the 

 government industrial school for Indians, t In- 

 state library and the United States land office. 

 Pierre was settled in 1880, was incorporated m 

 1883, and in 1909 adopted the commission form 

 of government. The public utilities are owned 

 and profitably operated by the municipality. 

 In 1910 the population was 3,656. 



PIGEON, pij'un, a group of birds consisting 

 of many species, found in all parts of the world 

 and varying widely in habits. Some live in 

 trees and others build their nests on the 

 ground; some live in colonies and others in iso- 

 lated pairs. The pigeon does not raise its head, 



