116 



COMMERCIAL CONVENTIONS. 



sirable route for the Southern Pacific Railway. 

 A report in favor of a longitudinal route from 

 the centre of the Mississippi Valley to Mazat- 

 lan or San Bias, in Mexico, was presented but 

 did not receive the approval of the convention. 

 The route finally indorsed was substantially 

 the same as that recommended by the Memphis 

 Convention. A report was adopted requesting 

 the people of the Southern and Western States 

 to afford all possible facilities to immigrants, 

 and urging the several Legislatures of those 

 States to appoint commissioners of immigra- 

 tion, whose duty it should be to invite immigra- 

 tion from all sections by means of agents, and 

 by reliable publications, setting forth the re- 

 sources of this section, and the advantages 

 offered to immigrants. That portion of the 

 report recommending the importation of Chi- 

 nese laborers met with opposition, and was 

 stricken out. The convention was in favor 

 of memoralizing Congress to adopt measures 

 for the protection of the low lands of the 

 Mississippi Valley from inundation, for the 

 adoption of a uniform three-cent postage- 

 stamp, and for a ship-canal across Florida. 



This convention adjourned, to meet at Keo- 

 kuk, Iowa, on the 7th of September. . 



At the adjourned convention, William Van- 

 dervere was chosen president. Estimates were 

 presented, showing the cost of completing the 

 improvements already begun at Des Moines 

 Rapids, Rock Island Rapids, the falls of the 

 Ohio, and the mouth of the Mississippi, to be 

 $9,487,21 3. The Committee on the Mississippi 

 River and its Tributaries reported the follow- 

 ing preamble and resolutions, which were 

 adopted : 



Whereas, cheap transportation is the great want of 

 the West and the entire nation thereby meeting the 

 first great principles of the wealth of nations, cheap 

 food for the masses, better remuneration for tne pro- 

 ducer, and an increase of the exports of the nation ; and 



Whereas, the relative cost of transportation per 

 mile by water and by rail is as one to eight ; and 



Whereas, the Mississippi Eiver and its tributaries 

 afford 20,000 miles of connected navigation, and are 

 the cheapest natural highways for the commerce of the 

 valley in which are produced annually two-thirds of 

 the breadstuffs and provisions and four-fifths of all 

 the exports of the entire country ; and 



Whereas, the rate of transportation on said river 

 and its tributaries is much increased on account of 

 the interruption, danger, and delay, caused by certain 

 obstructions i therefore, 



Resolved, That the people in the Mississippi Valley 

 now in convention assembled do hereby respectfully 

 and earnestly petition the Honorable Senators and 

 [Representatives of the Forty-first Congress to ap- 

 propriate, at their next session, so much as shall be 

 necessary to complete the imprbvements of the Mis- 

 sissippi River at the Des Moines and Eock Island 

 Kapids, and the completion of the Louisville and Port- 

 land Canal at the falls of the Ohio. 

 m Resolved, That, in view of the injustice of discrim- 

 ination on any railroads against local traffic to and 

 trom river stations, we recommend to Congress and 

 to btate Legislatures the passage of a general enact- 

 ment, requiring that all railroads shall grant to local 

 traffic rates of freight proportioned to the lowest 

 tnrough-rate of freight granted on the same roads. 



In regard to immigration the convention 



voted that an increased supply of skilled and 

 intelligent labor was.necessary for the develop- 

 ment of the resources of the Mississippi Val- 

 ley, and that' every effort should be made to en- 

 courage free immigration from every quarter. 



A resolution was adopted in favor of pe- 

 titioning Congress to make an appropriation 

 for holding a World's Fair in the Valley of 

 the Mississippi in the year 1871. No place was 

 designated ; but on behalf of St. Louis a prop- 

 osition was made, that, if Congress would appro- 

 priate the amount of the premiums, that city 

 would furnish the grounds and the buildings. 



This committee also reported the draft of a 

 bill, to be submitted to the Forty-first Congress, 

 which proposes that any bridge hereafter to be 

 built across the Ohio River, shall be made with 

 continuous or unbroken spans, and that the 

 span across the main low-water channel shall 

 be not less than forty feet above extreme high- 

 water mark, and shall be of such length as to 

 leave not less than four hundred' feet of unob- 

 structed passage-way at all stages for naviga- 

 tion. There were other provisions respecting 

 the construction of bridges so as to obviate all 

 difficulties in the passage of steamers, and re- 

 quiring the submission of all plans, for bridges 

 to be built across the Ohio, to the Secretary of 

 AYar ; the main span of bridges to be built over 

 the Mississippi to be not less than five hun- 

 dred feet in the clear. This bill was approved 

 in the convention by a vote of 78 to 9. 



The committee on Foreign Commerce, hav- 

 ing under consideration the two great modes of 

 transportation between the West and the East, 

 reported the following resolutions, which were 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That the Federal Senators representing 

 the constituency of this convention are respectfully 

 requested : 



1. To examine the treaty relations between the 

 United States arid foreign powers with a view to ob- 

 taining such modifications or amendments thereof as 

 will remove all obstacles to a free or reciprocal trade 

 between the Mississippi Kiver and such foreign na- 

 tions. 



2. To exercise their influence with the appointing 

 power to secure for the Valley of the Mississippi a 

 fair share of the diplomatic and consular appoint- 

 ments to foreign countries. 



Resolved, That the river and port cities of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley be requested to extend all the muni- 

 cipal facilities and commercial economies indicated in 

 this report as a means of counteracting the rivalry of 

 the cross-routes, and of regaining and increasing the 

 domestic and foreign commerce of the Mississippi 

 Valley. 



Resolved, That the several States of the Mississippi 

 Valley are ^requested to did in establishing and sus- 

 taining an immigrant agency and depot at the city of 

 New Orleans, on such terms as will secure to thorfe 

 States a fair share of tlie foreign immigration. 



Resolved, That the representatives of the Valley of 

 the Mississippi in Congress be requested to introduce 

 bills for the increase and equalization of postal steam 

 service, by additional subsidies to lines of steamers 

 between the port of New Orleans and the principal 

 ports of Europe, America, and Asia. 



The subject of the removal of the national 

 capital carne before the convention, and it was 



