Franklin Repository

Our State Convention, which met in Philadelphia, on the 23d inst., nominated for re-election Gen. Geary, and Hon. H. W. Williams for Supreme Judge. No opposition appeared against Judge Williams, and he was nominated by acclamation. The same can almost be said of Gov. Geary, he having received one hundred and twenty-two votes out of one hundred thirty-three on the first ballot. The resolutions passed appear in another column, and will meet the hearty approval of every true Republican. The proceedings of the Convention were singularly harmonious, and foreshow a united and triumphant campaign.

We endorse the nominations cordially, and go into the canvass with cheerful assurances of a happy issue. The people of Pennsylvania will ratify the action of the Convention, which, by its unusual unanimity, reflected their sentiments so truly. They have tried Gov. Geary, and have found him a "good and faithful servant; who has done their will, and administered the affairs of the State wisely and economically." They can't afford to do without him, and won't. Under his administration they found their debt diminishing, a rigid economy enforced, unwise legislation suppressed, corrupt influences broken up, and political and moral purity reigning in the Executive department. They have found their Governor as wise as a statesman as he was brilliant as a soldier; and that the debt which they owed him for his services in the field has been increased by his services "no less renowned" in the chair of State. They are too generous and noble to let them go unrewarded!

The short period which Judge Williams has served on the supreme bench has been long enough to prove the qualities claimed for him by his many friends. A purer citizen does not belong to the State; an abler Judge nowhere adorns the bench. A member of the Republican party because he finds that party the guardian of law, order and just progress, - the preserver of the nation, and the champion of the rights of man; he will never prostrate himself in the mire of partizanship, and dishonor his robes of office to serve the mere interest of party. Men of all parties will respect such a Judge, and we predict that he will become the most honored member of the Supreme Court.

The gentlemen composing the Convention are among the most worthy and able citizens of the Commonwealth, and are familiar with the wishes and feelings of our people. They discharged their duty well, and have put upon us the obligation of performing our part of the good work. Let us be up and doing. The struggle before us will be a hard one, the incentive to duty a noble one. We have not only to reward honest public servants; but to take care of ourselves as dependant upon wise and skilful rulers. The present State Administration has placed the Commonwealth in a safe and prosperous condition. Let us see to it that no unwise change be made! The loss of Pennsylvania to the Republicans next election would be of national detriment. It would be felt disastrously by the nation. Gen. Grant has begun his Administration with wisdom and success. The confusion, corruption and violence that characterized public affairs during the disgraceful term of the vilest of rulers and men, who has passed from office amid the just execrations of the people, have given way to order, honesty and peace. The rights of the people are preserved - lawlessness is suppressed - the public debt is dissolving under the strict economy enforced, and an honest collection of the revenue. Stability and strength have taken the place of inquietude and weakness, and confidence has revisited the breasts of our people. In other lands our nation is regarded with reverence and awe. Its majesty is acknowledged. We are recognized as a powerful government in strong hands. All hopes of our dissolution perished with the overthrow of the Democratic party, which, led by Johnson and linked with rebels, kept up discord and defied law. Under Grant the Administration is loved at home, and respected and feared abroad. It is the duty of every Republican to strengthen his hands. Our defeat in this State would be a discouragement to him, and would revive the hopes of the desponding and tamed Rebels and Copperheads. No man can put off the responsibility of saving his country. Every one is under moral obligation to support right. We dare not be negligent and indifferent. We must work and vote. It matters not whether we are sure of the State, or not. But we may as well confess that we are sure of the State only in the event of strong effort. Our ticket is all that we can desire - our platform commends itself to the approbation of all; but these are not self-electing - they must be enforced by work, WORK, WORK! Come forward then, brother Republicans, and begin the campaign in earnest! Rest only on the field of victory. Our standard bearers are worthy of our cause, our cause worthy of the prayers and labor of true men. For our leader's sake, for our cause's sake, for the State's sake, for the nation's sake, for our own sake, be up and doing, Men of Pennsylvania!

Enterprise is contagious. Apart from the zest which men feel in attacking obstacles, they are incited to work by seeing others reaping the fruits of their labors. With peace and the resumption of the arts under the fairest auspices ever vouchsafed to any people has opened the era of the world's greatest national progress. The meeting of the locomotives at Corinne, a month ago, opened the highway to India and Japan: the Great Eastern's prow is cutting a furrow for the cable, today, which, ten days hence, will join the two continents, and make the Atlantic narrower than the Rhine. Everywhere these great triumphs are stimulating inquiry.

What can we do to put ourselves in connection with this teeming, busy, brain which is accomplishing such colossal labors? What toil shall we undertake to make ourselves partakers of this progress? What advantages of position, of endowment, have we, which, if developed will quicken our life and reward our efforts? Such questions every community, great or small, is asking itself. As journalists, we see that they are being asked by our readers, and that the answers are rapidly rounding into shape. It is time to set them our plainly, and follow their biddings to action, for we wager that few localities have more to gain or more to lose by activity or the want of it in the coming months than the county of Franklin. Nearly wholly agricultural, to day, though fertile and populous, its people are a generation behind the East in thrift, in wealth, in intelligence and in comfort. They are so because their labor is of a single kind, and they are largely cut off from markets. The young men of the county leave it, as birds do the nest when they first find themselves able to fly: they would fail if they did not. Their labor and their brains go to stock the empty counties of the west. A distant market is a poor substitute for one at the door. Tolls and freight are a farmer's bane; they, worse than the weevil, eat up his substance and leave him the chaff. Can this emigration be stopped - these hands be saved to increase our labor - can consumption of our crops be brought about on our own soil and saving transportation, we be enabled to return to the soil what we take from it? Sore evils now, they will become worse presently if they can't. We think they can - that the evils can be cured, and great blessings brought about in their stead. How? By railroads. We want a railroad from Broad Top to Gettysburg - passing through Chambersburg - and having branches to Mercersburg and to Waynesboro, the junction of the latter being at Fayetteville. In this enterprise we see an almost fabulous development of the riches of the whole county. Our strength, it is plain now, is in iron. Of this, the most valuable of all the materials - gold does not for a moment compare with it - the county has limitless beds, their quality is of the best in the Union. Their localities are known: many are partially developed; some have been largely worked for a generation; most are fresh for the miner. Limestone and water-power abound. Coal alone is wanting in proximity to the ore. At Broad Top, a day's walk only, lies the missing coal. Were it accessible, the smoke of a score of furnaces might becloud our mountains and the noise of trip hammers make the whole valley echo. Without, it we may lament our dullness till Gabriel's trump shall sound. It is true that the task of reaching Broad Top may be considered too great for a single county. It is for most Pennsylvania counties, perhaps, though in the West or in the East, they would build it in a year; but, a beginning once made, aid could be enlisted from abroad. It is proposed to reach the ore at the North and the South Mountains by building the roads from the centre of the valley to Mercersburg and to Fayetteville.

Mercersburg is in earnest, it is said, and means to reach the Cumberland Valley road at some point. Last year $185,000 were ready for a road, from Waynesboro "to a market." This sum is still in the hands of the spirited men who offered it then, and is ready for use now, with $100,000 more, when called for in earnest. Suppose now that these beginnings were made, that the locomotive could go from Chambersburg to Fayetteville, and thence by Funkstown, Quincy and Mont Alto Furnace to Waynesboro, how long would the "Tape-worm" lie idle? And if the track were at Mercersburg, how long would the gap to Broad Top lie unfilled? What interest of the county would then be undeveloped? What township, South of the pike, would not be enriched in men and money and the good they bring? Our readers may consider the result for themselves - to attempt to even sketch the results would expose us to the charge of extravagance. On the other hand; if we delay, we think a severe punishment awaits us. The Pine Grove road will go to Gettysburg with the Western Maryland - Mercersburg will look southwards, Waynesboro join herself to Hagerstown and Baltimore, and we be left on the sand high and dry for a score of years to come. We will richly deserve it, if, while all things are yet plastic, we do not mould them to suit our necessities. We trust our readers will think of what we have only tried to suggest, and that they will carry these hurried and imperfect considerations out into fuller shape, and develop them in timely action.

The Waynesboro Village Record, in an editorial on the subject of a railroad to connect Waynesboro with Chambersburg, by way of Quincy and Fayetteville, makes the following pertinent suggestions. If it were but possible to arouse the citizens of Franklin county to a just appreciation of the relative importance of her location and material wealth, to the great danger there is that her immense opportunities may be lost through supineness and indifference, we might indulge strong hopes of her future. It is not yet too late:

"Chambersburg, our county seat, has advantages of location, which, if improved, would conspire to raise her far above the level of a small inland town, only known from having been martyred in her rebuilt condition by a lack of enterprise among her citizens. Only 40 miles from Broad Top Coal, and convenient to Cumberland, she should be surrounded in the county by large Blast Furnaces, and should embrace within her limits Rolling Mills and Factories. She should by her manufactories afford literally a home market for the rich products of our county's soil. Let her be up and doing. If the magnitude of an undertaking to connect with Gettysburg by rail at once, causes her to shrink, she can build five or six miles of the line now, with which we can connect, and let the future develop the further necessity and ability to extend toward and be met by our neighbors of Adams county.

Let us not permit others to deprive us of the advantages which nature has bestowed on our county, but awake to her true interests, commence this great work of progress. Chambersburg! build your six miles, or make a move toward it, and secure great interests east and south-east of you, which will finally and at no distant day, open the door to Broad Top."