ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF NEW- YORK, DELIV- 

 ERED AT THE CLOSE OF THE 28tH ANNUAL FAIR, NOV. 1856. 



By Prof. A, D. Bache, of the U. S. Coast Survey. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen — If mind produces 

 material improvement, this reacts equally upon mental pro- 

 gress. Society as it exists comes, humanly speaking, out of these 

 actions and reactions. The state of society in our country at this 

 day is modified by communication by telegraph ; by easy personal 

 communication by steam; by facilities for transportation by steam, 

 and wind, and life, which determine the conditions of commerce 

 and navigation, — commerce internal and external. For all prac- 

 tical purposes of communication between man and man, the large 

 area of our country is but as one of the former States of our con- 

 federation. The Postmaster-General of the confederation travel- 

 ing on his way from Boston and Philadelphia, and making it a 

 point to stop at the ^ood inn of Tower Hill, Rhode Island, on his 

 ten days' journey, is typical of that day of small and slow things. 

 He, of the United States, is carried through the same country by 

 the railway, avoiding " Tower Hill," and making no pauses in 

 his way by land and water in a journey of sixteen hours; or, if he 

 prefer land, in twelve hours of travel. Days have thus nearly 

 shrunk into hours. Five days and a half carry one to the far 

 west, near the limits of our interior civilization, reached with 

 months of toil by Lewis and Clark, and by Pike and Long, not 

 fifty years ago. The improvement in dwellings, in dress, in food; 

 the appliances for comfort, for luxury, for knowledge — how great. 

 Compare the Fifth Avenue palace, with its comforts of gas, and 

 warm air, and water ; its splendid exterior and interior ; its spa- 

 cious parlors, and chambers, and offices ; its inlaid floors, its pol- 



