Gluten-Free Ancient Grains: Cereals,

Pseudocereals, and Legumes:

Sustainable, Nutritious, and
Health-Promoting Foods for the 21st
Century John R.N. Taylor & Joseph M.
Awika
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Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science,
Technology and Nutrition

Gluten-Free Ancient Grains

Cereals, Pseudocereals, and Legumes:
Sustainable, Nutritious, and Health-Promoting
Foods for the 21st Century

Edited by

John R.N. Taylor

University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Joseph M. Awika
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
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Contents

List of Contributors xi
Foreword  xiii

1. Environmental, Nutritional, and Social Imperatives

for Ancient Grains
John R.N. Taylor
1 Introduction 1
2 What are Ancient Grains 1
2.1 Definitions 1
2.2 Grain Species Dealt With in This Book 3
3 What is Driving Interest and Activity in Ancient Grains? 4
3.1 Drivers Influencing Ancient Grain Production 4
3.2 Drivers Influencing Ancient Grain Consumption 6
4 Book Scope and Content 9
4.1 Chapter 2: Global Supply of Ancient Grains
in the 21st Century 9
4.2 Chapters 3–10: The Ancient Grains Species
Specific Chapters 10
4.3 Chapter 11: Future Research Needs
for the Ancient Grains 10
References 11

2. Global Supply of Ancient Grains in the 21st Century:

Keys to Unlocking Their Full Potential
Timothy J. Dalton
1 Introduction 13
2 Supply and Demand of Ancient Grains 14
2.1 Sorghum 14
2.2 Millets 15
2.3 Quinoa 17
2.4 Buckwheat 17
2.5 Fonio 19
3 Conclusions 19
References 20

v
vi Contents

3. Sorghum: Its Unique Nutritional

and Health-Promoting Attributes
Joseph M. Awika
1 Introduction 21
2 Nutritional Quality of Sorghum 22
2.1 Proximate Composition 22
2.2 Effect of Processing on Sorghum Nutritional Quality 26
3 Major Polyphenols Found in Sorghum 30
3.1 Phenolic Acids in Sorghum 31
3.2 Flavonoids in Sorghum 33
4 Opportunities for Using Sorghum to Promote Human
Health and Well Being 39
4.1 Antioxidant and Antiinflammatory Related
Mechanisms 39
4.2 Sorghum in Cancer Prevention 42
4.3 Obesity, Glycemic Response and Related
Mechanisms 44
4.4 Sorghum as an Important Food Security Crop 46
5 Conclusions 47
References 48

4. Millets: Their Unique Nutritional and Health-Promoting

Attributes
John R.N. Taylor
1 Introduction 55
2 Production and Cultivation 58
3 Description and Structures of Millet Grains 60
4 Nutrients and Phytochemicals 62
4.1 Carbohydrates 65
4.2 Proteins 66
4.3 Lipids 66
4.4 Dietary Fiber 67
4.5 Micronutrients 67
4.6 Phytochemical Compounds 70
4.7 Antinutrients 70
5 Processing and Food Applications 73
5.1 Primary Processing Technologies 73
5.2 Traditional Food and Beverage Products 76
5.3 Modern Food and Beverage Products 79
5.4 Effects of Food Processing on Nutrients
and Phytochemicals 79
6 Health-Enhancing Properties of Millet Food Products 91
6.1 Antidiabetic-Related Effects 91
6.2 Antiinflammatory and CVD Prevention Effects 93
6.3 Anticancer Effects 93
6.4 Prebiotic and Probiotic Effects 94
 Contents vii

7 Conclusions and Future Directions 95

7.1 The Nutritional and Health-Promoting Attributes of Millets 95
7.2 Future Prospects for Millets as Staple and Specialty Foods 96
References 96

5. Quinoa: Its Unique Nutritional and Health-Promoting

Attributes
Regine Schoenlechner
1 Introduction 105
2 Chemical Composition and Nutritional Attributes 107
2.1 Proteins and Amino Acids 108
2.2 Fat and Lipid Components 108
2.3 Carbohydrates (Starch and Sugars) 109
2.4 Dietary Fiber 110
2.5 Micronutrients—Minerals and Vitamins 110
2.6 Bioactive Compounds 112
2.7 Saponins and Phytates 113
3 Processing Properties and Food Applications 114
3.1 General Processing Properties 114
3.2 Milling Processes 116
3.3 Food Uses 117
3.4 Gluten-Free Foods 119
4 Nutritional and Health Promoting Properties
of Quinoa Food Products 120
5 Conclusions 122
References 123

6. Amaranth: Its Unique Nutritional

and Health-Promoting Attributes
Stefano D’Amico, Regine Schoenlechner
1 Introduction 131
2 Chemical Composition and Nutritional Attributes 134
2.1 Proteins and Amino Acids 134
2.2 Fat and Lipid Components 136
2.3 Carbohydrates 140
2.4 Dietary Fiber 141
2.5 Vitamins 142
2.6 Minerals 143
2.7 Bioactive Compounds 143
2.8 Antinutrients 148
3 Processing and Food Applications 149
3.1 Milling Processes 149
3.2 Food Uses 149
3.3 Gluten-Free Foods 151
4 Conclusions 153
References 153
viii Contents

7. Buckwheat: Its Unique Nutritional

and Health-Promoting Attributes
Sándor Tömösközi, Bernadett Langó
1 Introduction 161
2 Buckwheat Seed Morphology 162
3 Chemical Composition of the Buckwheat Seed 163
3.1 Carbohydrates 163
3.2 Protein 164
3.3 Lipids 165
3.4 Minerals 165
3.5 Vitamins 166
3.6 Phytochemicals 166
4 Antinutritional Factors 167
4.1 Allergenic Reactions 167
5 Health-Promoting Aspects of Buckwheat Consumption 168
6 Utilization in Food Manufacture 169
6.1 Milling and Fractionation 169
6.2 Flour Technological Properties 170
6.3 Traditional Food Products 172
6.4 Potential Role in the Gluten-Free
and Nongluten-Free Diets: New Developments 173
7 Outlook and Perspectives 175
References 176

8. Lupins: Their Unique Nutritional

and Health-Promoting Attributes
Stuart K. Johnson, Jonathan Clements, Casiana Blanca J. Villarino,
Ranil Coorey
1 Introduction 179
2 Global Production of Lupin Seeds 182
3 Agronomic Advantages 188
4 Lupin Breeding: Focus on Australia 188
5 Nutrient and Antinutrient Composition 189
5.1 Protein 189
5.2 Dietary Fiber 191
5.3 Lipids 193
5.4 Available Carbohydrates 193
5.5 Micronutrients 193
5.6 Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Capacity 194
5.7 Antinutrients and Toxins 195
6 Lupin Mill Products and Isolated Fractions
as Food Ingredients 196
6.1 Kernels, Flakes, Grits, Meals, and Flour 196
6.2 Protein Isolates and Concentrates 198
6.3 Dietary Fiber Fractions 200
6.4 Lupin Oil 200
 Contents ix

7 Commercial Lupin Food Ingredients 200

8 Commercial Lupin-Containing Food Products 201
9 Lupin Allergenicity 203
10 Current Evidence from Clinical Studies of Positive Health
Effects of Lupin Consumption in Humans203
10.1 Antiobesity Effects 204
10.2 Type 2 Diabetes Protective Effects 204
10.3 Cardiovascular Disease Protective Effects 207
10.4 Bowel Health Improvement Effects 207
11 Conclusions 208
References 209

9. African Legumes: Nutritional and Health-Promoting

Attributes
Kwaku G. Duodu, Franklin B. Apea-Bah
1 Introduction 223
2 Production and Utilization of African Legumes 225
2.1 Production 225
2.2 Utilization 226
3 Nutritional Quality of African Legumes 227
3.1 Macronutrients 227
3.2 Micronutrients 234
3.3 Non-nutritive Phytochemical Constituents 237
3.4 Food Processing Technologies to Reduce or Remove
Antinutritional Factors 246
4 Health-Promoting Properties of African Legumes 251
4.1 Inhibition or Prevention of Oxidative Stress 251
4.2 Antiinflammatory Properties 258
4.3 Inhibition or Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
and Antihypertensive Properties 258
4.4 Anticancer Properties 259
4.5 Antidiabetic Properties 260
5 Conclusions 260
References 261

10. Wild Rice: Nutritional and Health-Promoting

Attributes
Dorota Klensporf-Pawlik, Felix Aladedunye
1 Introduction 271
2 Processing and Uses of Wild Rice 273
3 Nutritional Constituents 274
3.1 Lipids 274
3.2 Proteins 274
3.3 Carbohydrates 277
x Contents

4 Phytochemicals and Minerals 279

4.1 Sterols 279
4.2 Vitamins 283
4.3 Minerals 285
4.4 Phenolic Compounds 285
5 Potential Health Benefits 287
6 Future Objectives and Possibilities 292
References 292

11. Future Research Needs for the Ancient Grains

John R.N. Taylor, Joseph M. Awika
1 Introduction 297
2 Breeding and Agriculture 299
2.1 Organizations Involved 299
2.2 Agricultural Productivity 300
2.3 Technological Developments 301
2.4 Seed Systems 306
2.5 Sustainable and Organic Agriculture 306
3 Quality Systems 308
3.1 Grain and Food Composition and Quality Data 308
3.2 Needs for Large-Scale Processing 312
3.3 Needs for Quality Testing and Monitoring Methods 312
4 Foods and Food Technologies 315
4.1 Traditional Foods and Beverages: Development Needs 316
4.2 Gluten-Free Foods and Beverages: Development Needs 317
4.3 Mainstream Foods and Beverages 318
5 Bioactive Compounds and the Future of Ancient Grains 320
6 Conclusions 321
References 322

Index329
List of Contributors
Felix Aladedunye, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Franklin B. Apea-Bah, BNARI-Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Accra, Ghana
Joseph M. Awika, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
Jonathan Clements, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia,
South Perth, WA, Australia
Ranil Coorey, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia
Stefano D’Amico, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences,
Vienna, Austria
Timothy J. Dalton, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, United States
Kwaku G. Duodu, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Stuart K. Johnson, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia
Dorota Klensporf-Pawlik, Poznań University of Economics and Business,
Poznań, Poland
Bernadett Langó, Budapest University of Technology and Economics,
Budapest, Hungary
Regine Schoenlechner, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences,
Vienna, Austria
Sándor Tömösközi, Budapest University of Technology and Economics,
Budapest, Hungary
John R.N. Taylor, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Casiana Blanca J. Villarino, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City,
The Philippines

xi
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Foreword
It is a great pleasure to write the foreword to this excellent and timely book
Gluten-free Ancient Grains: Cereals, Pseudocereals, and Legumes: Sustain-
able, Nutritious, and Health-Promoting Foods for the 21st Century, edited
by John Taylor of the University of Pretoria and Joseph Awika of Texas A&M
University.
The book is a compendium of current knowledge on ancient grains and
builds a case on why, despite the apparent neglect and underinvestment in
research, as well as market development, these grains have persisted over the
years, emerging recently as important sources for supply of critical foods for
our nutrition and health in the 21st century.
Meeting the world’s demand and choice for food and nutrition continues to
be among the greatest challenges of human society. As the global population
continues to increase, living standards are rising in parts of the world and the
diets of people are shifting where more people want to eat meat in place of plant
foods, raising the overall demand for grain. Our ability to produce more grain is
constrained in parts of the world, and the global food system is at risk as a result
of climate change and associated agronomic problems. This is particularly the
case in third-world nations, especially sub-Saharan Africa, where the world’s
most chronically food-insecure reside, and penetrance of modern agricultural
technology has been very limited.
Today, the world is also facing an additional food and nutrition challenge—
the pandemic of noncommunicable, diet-related diseases, particularly obe-
sity, type 2 diabetes, and a rise in cardiovascular diseases. Both high-income
countries with their aging populations and the rapidly urbanizing middle- and
­low-income developing countries are affected. These so-called Western life-
style diseases are, in part, a consequence of our shifting diet and changes in food
habits from a predominantly plant-based diet rich in micronutrients, dietary
supply of phytochemicals, to diets dominated by energy-dense, animal fat-, and
sugar-rich foods. As a result, in a world endowed with great biodiversity and
rich in genetic resources, only three major crops—wheat, rice, and maize—are
counted upon to supply nearly two-thirds of the global dietary energy intake.
Most crops of the world originated and evolved in the old world. These
old civilizations are responsible for the evolution, selection, and preservation
of global crop biodiversity and many of the endowments of this planet that
we cherish. Biodiversity is not a result of happenstance. Plants and animals
exist where they do because of natural environmental adaptation and the powers
of human selection that encouraged their survival and cultivation. The ancient

xiii
xiv Foreword

grains are those cereal grains, pseudocereals, and pulses that have been sus-
tained as traditional staple food crops in rural areas of the old world, because
they met the food and nutrition needs of people in those regions.
As major crops of the world are more seriously threatened by climate change,
ancient grains thrive in many of these places because they have built-in adaptive
traits that make them suitable for cultivation in harsh environments. Ancient
grains are also crops of high premium potential and value. In addition to strong
environmental stress tolerance, many of the ancient grains are sources of better
nutrition as excellent sources of macronutrients and many micronutrients. They
are notably rich in health-promoting phytochemicals with promising potential
for prevention or alleviation of diet-related diseases.
This book, therefore is not simply a compendium of facts and tales about
ancient grains. With its holistic coverage by expert authors from around the
world, the book has wealth of information that imparts new insights on the
global range of adaptation, stress tolerance, as well as nutritional and health
potential of these indispensable crops of the poor. Eight-grain types from across
the world are discussed: Sorghum, the Millets, Quinoa, Amaranth, Buckwheat,
Lupin, African Legumes, and Wild rice. They represent the three different
groups of grain staples: cereals, pseudocereals, and pulses (grain legumes) and
all are characteristically gluten-free.
This book provides authoritative data on nutrient and phytochemical values
of ancient grains in comparison with today’s major food grains. It offers in-
formation on new developments in food processing technologies that enhance
their food and nutrition potential, and offers a critical evaluation of the current
research findings on their health-promoting properties. Additionally, the book
portends the fundamental social and economic issues that currently constrain
the supply of ancient grains, and suggests solutions required to make ancient
grains major world staples so that far more people can benefit from their unique
nutritional and health-promoting attributes.

Gebisa Ejeta
Distinguished Professor and 2009 World Food Prize Laureate
Director, Center for Global Food Security
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
Chapter 1

Environmental, Nutritional,
and Social Imperatives for
Ancient Grains
John R.N. Taylor
University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the reasons why the Ancient Grains should be of interest
to all those who are concerned about food: the world’s food supply, our nutrition,
and the role of foods in our long-term health and well-being. The chapter is three
parts. The first section explains what ancient grains are and which particular
grains are dealt with. The main section examines the societal and grain-specific
trends, which are driving interest and activity in ancient grains. The concluding
section gives an overview of the scope and content of the book.

2 WHAT ARE ANCIENT GRAINS

2.1 Definitions
Currently, there is no universally accepted definition as to what are ancient
grains. According to the Whole Grains Council, a respected advocacy group
working toward increasing whole grain consumption for improved consumer
health, ancient grains can be loosely defined as “grains that are largely genetically
(author’s insertion) unchanged over the last several hundred years” (Oldways
Whole Grains Council, Undated). A similar but more detailed definition comes
from Food Navigator.com (2015) that “ancient grains is a category covering
grains (cereals), pseudo-grains (more properly pseudocereals) and seeds that
are “ancient” in the sense that they have remained largely unchanged over hun-
dreds, even thousands of years, unlike, say modern wheat varieties.” Alternative
terms for ancient grains include: specialty grains (Abdel-Aal and Wood, 2005),
less common grains (Belton and Taylor, 2002), native grains (National Research
Council, 1996), traditional grains (Taylor and Stading, 2014), and neglected and
underutilized grains (Padulosi et al., 2013).
Gluten-Free Ancient Grains. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100866-9.00001-7
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1
2 Gluten-Free Ancient Grains

Another expression, which helps define ancient grains is “Lost Crops”. This
was coined by the National Research Council of the US National Academies
of Science. The concept of “Lost Crops” is that, these are plant foods, which
are lost to the mainstream of international science and to people outside the
less-developed rural regions of the world, where they are primarily cultivated.
To enable the scientific community and the wider world to “find” these lost
crops, in the late 1980s the Council, under the leadership of Dr. Noel Vietmeyer
commenced publishing an on-going series of books, including Lost Crops of
the Incas (1989), Lost Crops of Africa: Vol. I Grains (1996), Vol. II Vegetables
(2006) (National Research Council, 1989, 1996, 2006). The “Lost Crop” books
are literally a cornucopia of fascinating information about the ancient grains
and other ancient food plants, and are a great introduction to the subject for the
general reader.
Regarding consumer perceptions about ancient grains, these are apparently
highly positive. According to the Canadean Consumer (2015), more than 80%
of consumers worldwide are familiar with ancient grains as food ingredients.
Furthermore, more than 50% of consumers consider that consumption of an-
cient grains has a positive impact on health and weight-conscience women in
particular view ancient grains positively. A rather more conservative and prob-
ably realistic figure comes from a Health Focus International Survey of consum-
ers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, where 35% of respondents expressed an
interest in ancient grains (Webb, 2016). The author also reported on a survey
by Today’s Dietitian of 450 dieticians in the USA, which found that 50% of
respondents stated that ancient grains would achieve “super food” status among
consumers in 2016.
As to which particular grain species or varieties can be considered as ancient
grains, the Whole Grains Councils limits the category to cereals and pseudocer-
eals, and includes grains largely ignored by Western palates, that is, sorghum,
teff and millet (sic), the pseudocereals quinoa, and amaranth, plus less common
grains, such as wild rice and buckwheat (a pseudocereal). It also includes primi-
tive wheats like einkorn, emmer/faro, Kamut (khorasan wheat), and spelt, and
possibly heirloom varieties of other cereals, such as black barley, red and black
rice, and blue corn (maize) (Oldways Whole Grains Council, Undated).
In view of the great interest in ancient grains by the both scientific commu-
nity and the general public, there is clearly a need for better definition of what
are ancient grains. This author is of the opinion that ancient grains should be
primarily defined in terms of their properties.
Several properties are associated with the ancient grains:

l They are good sources of many macro- and micronutrients.

l They generally contain high levels of phytochemicals that have health-pro-
moting actions.
l They are hardy crop plants that can be cultivated in environments with poor
soils, high temperatures, and low rainfall.
Environmental, Nutritional, and Social Imperatives for Ancient Grains Chapter | 1 3

l They are traditional staple food crops of communities in less technologically

developed regions of the world.
l They have not undergone the substantial and deliberate genetic changes
typical of the major grain crops.
Taking these together, the following is a working definition of ancient grains:
Ancient grains are species or particular varieties of cereal grains, pseudocer-
eals, and pulses that have been cultivated and consumed for hundreds of years as
traditional staple foods by communities outside the mainstream of technologi-
cal development, and hence have undergone relatively limited genetic improve-
ment. They are hardy crop plants enabling them to be cultivated in challenging
agro-ecologies and in an environmentally sustainable manner. When consumed
as substantially whole grain foods, ancient grains can provide significant levels
of phytochemicals with evidence-based health-promoting activities.
On the basis that several pulses (grain legumes) have only undergone limited
genetic improvement, are traditional staple food grains, good sources of many
macro- and micronutrients and contain significant levels of phytochemicals, the
author is strongly of the opinion that such pulses should also be considered
as ancient grains, in addition to the cereals and pseudocereals aforementioned.
Hence, some pulse types are the subjects of chapters in the book.

2.2 Grain Species Dealt With in This Book

This book is focused on a limited number of ancient grain species:
l True cereals: sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench); all the 11 economical-
ly significant cultivated millet species: Barnyard millet (also known as Indian
barnyard millet) (Echinochloa frumentaceaLink), Finger millet (Eleucine
coracana (L.) Gaertn.), Foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.), Japanese
barnyard millet [Echinochloa esculenta (A. Braun) H. Scholz], Kodo millet
(Paspalum scrobiculatum L.), Little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth), Pearl
millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.), Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum
L.), Fonio (Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf and D. iburua (Stapf) and Teff
[Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter], and Wild rice (Zizania spp.).
l Pseudocereals (starch seeds of cotyledonous plants): Amaranth (Amaran-
thus spp.); Buckwheat [Fagopyrum esculentum (Moench) and F. tataricum
(L.) Gaertn.]; and Quinoa [Chenopodium quinoa (Willd)].
l Pulses: African yam bean [Sphenostylis stenocarpa (Hochst. ex A. Rich.)
Harms]; Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.; Cowpea
(Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp); Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum
(Burch.) A. Schreib.]; West African locust-bean [Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.)
R. Br. ex G. Don]; and Lupins (Lupinus spp.).
These grains contain either starch and/or protein as their major nutrients and
normally high levels of B vitamins and minerals, and importantly all are rich in
phytochemicals.
4 Gluten-Free Ancient Grains

The major criterion for inclusion of these particular grains is that they have
been, and largely staple are staple foods for local rural communities in less de-
veloped regions of the world and importantly, they have the potential to become
significant sources of nutrients and health-promoting phytochemicals for the
wider world. A second important criterion related to their nutrient composition
is that all these grains are gluten-free and can be consumed by celiacs. Hence,
primitive wheat and cereals related to wheat (members of the Pooideae subfam-
ily) are excluded, such as barley, oats, and rye. Also excluded, in the interests
of conforming to the definition of ancient grains as traditional staple foods and
maintaining the book’s focus, as well as keeping it to manageable proportions,
are oil-rich seeds, such as chia, flax, and jobaba.

3 WHAT IS DRIVING INTEREST AND ACTIVITY IN ANCIENT

GRAINS?
Today, there are many factors that are impacting on ancient grains as foods. The
relative importance of the various factors and how they influence each other
is almost impossible to quantify. However, for the sake of simplicity they are
divided into drivers influencing production and consumption. Although, one
directly affects the other.

3.1 Drivers Influencing Ancient Grain Production

Table 1.1 summarizes the drivers of the ancient grain production—positive
and negative. The most important is global food insecurity. According to the
CGIAR institution Biodiversity International, to feed the predicted the world
population of 9 billion people by 2050 and at the same time protect the environ-
ment and provide healthy and nutritious food, we need a more diverse agricul-
tural and food systems than at present (Padulosi et al., 2013). Currently, just
103 crops provide 90% of the world’s calories from starch. Furthermore, wheat,
maize, rice, and potato account 60% of the starch caloric intake.
The continent most affected by food insecurity is Africa. In the past 50 years
its population has increased by more than 400%, whereas, cereal production
has only increased by 300% (FAO, 2014). The impact of this can be seen by
the very high incidence of undernutrition. Data for 2011–13 reveal that 25%
of Africa’s people were undernourished compared with an overall figure, for
developing countries, of 14% (FAO, 2014). This dire situation is likely to get
worse. FAO’s predictions is that the world’s population will increase by 2 billion
(a 14% increase) over the 40 year period from 2010 to 2050. Sub-Saharan
Africa’s population will be more than double, increasing alone by 1 billion
people (FAO, 2009). The FAO furthermore predicts that, to meet the world’s
demand, global cereal production will have to increase from 2.1 to 3 billion
tonnes over this 40 year period.
Environmental, Nutritional, and Social Imperatives for Ancient Grains Chapter | 1
TABLE 1.1 Drivers Related to Ancient Grain Production
Drivers
Food Supply Issues
Promotion of production and
consumption of ancient grains by
international governmental and official
organizations like the FAO and CGIAR
institutions—driven by concerns over
global food security
Rapid population growth in developing
countries—threat to food security
Climate change—adverse influence
on crop production in tropical and
subtropical regions
Genetic engineering breeding
technology—short cut to increase in
crop yields and grain quality
Hybrid cultivar technology—higher yield
potential than open-pollinated varieties
but higher inputs are generally required
Improved varieties—higher yield than
traditional landraces
Biofortification—breeding of crop
varieties with high levels of critical
micronutrients
Sustainable and conservation
agriculture—reduced adverse effects on
the environment
Large-scale mechanized agriculture—
reduced production costs
Societal concerns
Great resistance to genetic modification
of ancient grains—concerns about
environmental impacts and loss of
genetic diversity—both uninformed and
some informed concern
Resistance to the implementation of
ancient grain hybrid cultivars—concerns
about viability and morality of hybrid
seed systems in developing countries—
both informed and uninformed concern
5
Ancient Grain Crop Characteristics
Ancient grains are a greatly underutilized
food resource
Yield potential of ancient grains currently
lags behind the major grains
Ancient grains noted for ability to yield
under harsh conditions
No genetically modified ancient grain is
currently in commercial production—
mitigates against cultivation in countries
cultivating genetically modified (GM)
maize
Ancient grain hybrid cultivars
increasingly developing
Improved ancient grain varieties are
rapidly and widely being implemented,
even in small-holder agriculture
Considerable success has already been
achieved with mineral biofortification of
sorghum and pearl millet
Ancient grains noted for their capacity to
produce a crop with minimal inputs
Improved open pollinated varieties and
preferably hybrids are required
Not applicable
Ancient grains by their very nature are
valued because they have great genetic
diversity and perceived to be natural
As aforementioned
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
place. I was convinced that the greatest calamity that ever befell the
benighted nations of the ancient world was in their having passed
away without a knowledge of the actual existence of Duluth; that
their fabled Atlantis, never seen save by the hallowed vision of the
inspired poesy, was, in fact, but another name for Duluth; that the
golden orchard of the Hesperides, was but a poetical synonym for the
beer-gardens in the vicinity of Duluth. I was certain that Herodotus
had died a miserable death, because in all his travels and with all his
geographical research he had never heard of Duluth. I knew that if
the immortal spirit of Homer could look down from another heaven
than that created by his own celestial genius upon the long lines of
pilgrims from every nation of the earth to the gushing fountain of
poesy opened by the touch of his magic wand, if he could be
permitted to behold the vast assemblage of grand and glorious
productions of the lyric art called into being by his own inspired
strains, he would weep tears of bitter anguish that, instead of
lavishing all the stores of his mighty genius upon the fall of Illion, it
had not been his more blessed lot to crystalize in deathless song the
rising glories of Duluth. Yes, sir, had it not been for this map, kindly
furnished me by the legislature of Minnesota, I might have gone
down to my obscure and humble grave in an agony of despair,
because I could nowhere find Duluth. Had such been my melancholy
fate, I have no doubt that with the last feeble pulsation of my
breaking heart, with the last faint exhalation of my fleeting breath, I
should have whispered, “Where is Duluth?”
But, thanks to the beneficence of that band of ministering angels
who have their bright abodes in the far-off capital of Minnesota, just
as the agony of my anxiety was about to culminate in the frenzy of
despair, this blessed map was placed in my hands; and as I unfolded
it a resplendent scene of ineffable glory opened before me, such as I
imagined burst upon the enraptured vision of the wandering peri
through the opening gates of Paradise. There, there, for the first
time, my enchanted eye rested upon the ravishing word, “Duluth!”
This map, sir, is intended, as it appears from its title, to illustrate the
position of Duluth in the United States; but if gentlemen will
examine it, I think they will concur with me in the opinion, that it is
far too modest in its pretensions. It not only illustrates the position
of Duluth in the United States, but exhibits its relations with all
created things. It even goes further than this. It hits the shadowy vale
of futurity, and affords us a view of the golden prospects of Duluth
far along the dim vista of ages yet to come.
If gentlemen will examine it, they will find Duluth not only in the
center of the map, but represented in the center of a series of
concentric circles one hundred miles apart, and some of them as
much as four thousand miles in diameter, embracing alike, in their
tremendous sweep the fragrant savannas of the sunlit South and the
eternal solitudes of snow that mantle the ice-bound North. How
these circles were produced is perhaps one of those primordial
mysteries that the most skilled paleologist will never be able to
explain. But the fact is, sir, Duluth is pre-eminently a central point,
for I am told by gentlemen who have been so reckless of their own
personal safety as to venture away into those awful regions where
Duluth is supposed to be, that it is so exactly in the center of the
visible universe that the sky comes down at precisely the same
distance all around it.
I find, by reference to this map, that Duluth is situated somewhere
near the western end of Lake Superior, but as there is no dot or other
mark indicating its exact location, I am unable to say whether it is
actually confined to any particular spot, or whether “it is just lying
around there loose.” I really cannot tell whether it is one of those
ethereal creations of intellectual frostwork, more intangible than the
rose-tinted clouds of a summer sunset; one of those airy exhalations
of the speculator’s brain which, I am told, are very flitting in the form
of towns and cities along those lines of railroad, built with
government subsidies, luring the unwary settler as the mirage of the
desert lures the famishing traveler on, and ever on, until it fades
away in the darkening horizon; or whether it is a real, bona fide,
substantial city, all “staked off,” with the lots marked with their
owners’ names, like that proud commercial metropolis recently
discovered on the desirable shores of San Domingo. But, however
that may be, I am satisfied Duluth is there, or thereabouts, for I see it
stated here on the map that it is exactly thirty-nine hundred and
ninety miles from Liverpool, though I have no doubt, for the sake of
convenience, it will be moved back ten miles, so as to make the
distance an even four thousand.
Then, sir, there is the climate of Duluth, unquestionably the most
salubrious and delightful to be found anywhere on the Lord’s earth.
Now, I have always been under the impression, as I presume other
gentlemen have, that in the region around Lake Superior it was cold
enough for at least nine months in the year to freeze the smoke-stack
off a locomotive. But I see it represented on this map that Duluth is
situated exactly half way between the latitudes of Paris and Venice,
so that gentlemen who have inhaled the exhilarating air of the one,
or basked in the golden sunlight of the other, may see at a glance that
Duluth must be the place of untold delight, a terrestrial paradise,
fanned by the balmy zephyrs of an eternal spring, clothed in the
gorgeous sheen of ever blooming flowers, and vocal with the silvery
melody of nature’s choicest songsters. In fact sir, since I have seen
this map, I have no doubt that Byron was vainly endeavoring to
convey some faint conception of the delicious charms of Duluth
when his poetic soul gushed forth, in the rippling strains of that
beautiful rhapsody—
“Know ye the land of the cedar and the vine,
Whence the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine;
Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppressed with perfume,
Wax faint o’er the gardens of Gul in her bloom;
Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit,
And the voice of the nightingale never is mute;
Where the tints of the earth and the hues of the sky,
In color though varied, in beauty may vie?”

As to the commercial resources of Duluth, sir, they are simply

illimitable and inexhaustible, as is shown by this map. I see it stated
here that there is a vast scope of territory, embracing an area of over
two millions of square miles, rich in every element of material wealth
and commercial prosperity, all tributary to Duluth. Look at it, sir,
(pointing to the map.) Here are inexhaustible mines of gold,
immeasurable veins of silver, impenetrable depths of boundless
forest, vast coal measures, wide extended plains of richest pasturage
—all, all embraced in this vast territory—which must, in the very
nature of things, empty the untold treasures of its commerce into the
lap of Duluth. Look at it, sir, (pointing to the map); do not you see
from these broad, brown lines drawn around this immense territory,
that the enterprising inhabitants of Duluth intend some day to
inclose it all in one vast corral, so that its commerce will be bound to
go there whether it would or not? And here, sir, (still pointing to the
map), I find within a convenient distance the Piegan Indians, which,
of all the many accessories to the glory of Duluth, I consider by far
the most inestimable. For, sir, I have been told that when the small-
pox breaks out among the women and children of the famous tribe,
as it sometimes does, they afford the finest subjects in the world for
the strategical experiments of any enterprising military hero who
desires to improve himself in the noble art of war, especially for any
valiant lieutenant-general whose
“Trenchant blade, Toledo trusty,
For want of fighting has grown rusty,
And eats into itself for lack,
Of somebody to hew and hack.”

Sir, the great conflict now raging in the Old World has presented a
phenomenon in military science unprecedented in the annals of
mankind, a phenomenon that has reversed all the traditions of the
past as it has disappointed all the expectations of the present. A great
and warlike people, renowned alike for their skill and valor, have
been swept away before the triumphant advance of an inferior foe,
like autumn stubble before a hurricane of fire. For aught I know the
next flash of electric fire that simmers along the ocean cable may tell
us that Paris, with every fibre quivering with the agony of impotent
despair, writhes beneath the conquering heel of her loathed invader.
Ere another moon shall wax and wane, the brightest star in the
galaxy of nations may fall from the zenith of her glory never to rise
again. Ere the modest violets of early spring shall ope their
beauteous eyes, the genius of civilization may chant the wailing
requiem of the proudest nationality the world has ever seen, as she
scatters her withered and tear-moistened lilies o’er the bloody tomb
of butchered France. But, sir, I wish to ask if you honestly and
candidly believe that the Dutch would have overrun the French in
that kind of style if General Sheridan had not gone over there, and
told King William and Von Moltke how he had managed to whip the
Piegan Indians.
And here, sir, recurring to this map, I find in the immediate
vicinity of the Piegans “vast herds of buffalo” and “immense fields of
rich wheat lands.” [Here the hammer fell.]
[Many cries: “Go on!” “go on!”]
 The Speaker—Is there any objection to the gentleman from
Kentucky continuing his remarks? The chair hears none. The
gentleman will proceed.
Mr. Knott—I was remarking, sir, upon these vast “wheat fields”
represented on this map in the immediate neighborhood of the
buffaloes and Piegans, and was about to say that the idea of there
being these immense wheat fields in the very heart of a wilderness,
hundreds and hundreds of miles beyond the utmost verge of
civilization, may appear to some gentlemen as rather incongruous, as
rather too great a strain on the “blankets” of veracity. But to my mind
there is no difficulty in the matter whatever. The phenomenon is very
easily accounted for. It is evident, sir, that the Piegans sowed that
wheat there and ploughed it in with buffalo bulls. Now, sir, this
fortunate combination of buffaloes and Piegans, considering their
relative positions to each other and to Duluth, as they are arranged
on this map, satisfies me that Duluth is destined to be the best
market of the world. Here, you will observe, (pointing to the map),
are the buffaloes, directly between the Piegans and Duluth; and here,
right on the road to Duluth, are the Creeks. Now, sir, when the
buffaloes are sufficiently fat from grazing on those immense wheat
fields, you see it will be the easiest thing in the world for the Piegans
to drive them on down, stay all night with their friends, the Creeks,
and go into Duluth in the morning. I think I see them, now, sir, a vast
herd of buffaloes, with their heads down, their eyes glaring, their
nostrils dilated, their tongues out, and their tails curled over their
backs, tearing along toward Duluth, with about a thousand Piegans
on their grass-bellied ponies, yelling at their heels! On they come!
And as they sweep past the Creeks, they join in the chase, and away
they all go, yelling, bellowing, ripping and tearing along, amid clouds
of dust, until the last buffalo is safely penned in the stock-yards at
Duluth.
Sir, I might stand here for hours and hours, and expatiate with
rapture upon the gorgeous prospects of Duluth, as depicted upon this
map. But human life is too short, and the time of this house far too
valuable to allow me to linger longer upon this delightful theme. I
think every gentleman upon this floor is as well satisfied as I am that
Duluth is destined to become the commercial metropolis of the
universe and that this road should be built at once. I am fully
persuaded that no patriotic representative of the American people,
who has a proper appreciation of the associated glories of Duluth and
the St. Croix, will hesitate a moment that every able-bodied female in
the land, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, who is in favor
of “woman’s rights,” should be drafted and set to work upon this
great work without delay. Nevertheless, sir, it grieves my very soul to
be compelled to say that I cannot vote for the grant of lands provided
for in this bill.
Ah, sir, you can have no conception of the poignancy of my
anguish that I am deprived of that blessed privilege! There are two
insuperable obstacles in the way. In the first place my constituents,
for whom I am acting here, have no more interest in this road than
they have in the great question of culinary taste now, perhaps,
agitating the public mind of Dominica, as to whether the illustrious
commissioners, who recently left this capital for that free and
enlightened republic, would be better fricasseed, boiled, or roasted,
and, in the second place, these lands, which I am asked to give away,
alas, are not mine to bestow! My relation to them is simply that of
trustee to an express trust. And shall I ever betray that trust? Never,
sir! Rather perish Duluth! Perish the paragon of cities! Rather let the
freezing cyclones of the bleak northwest bury it forever beneath the
eddying sands of the raging St. Croix.
 Henry Carey’s Speech on the Rates of
Interest.

In the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1873.

In the Constitutional Convention, in Committee of the Whole on
the article reported from the Committee on Agriculture, Mining,
Manufactures, and Commerce, the first section being as follows:—“In
the absence of special contracts the legal rate of interest and discount
shall be seven per centum per annum, but special contracts for
higher or lower rates shall be lawful. All national and other banks of
issue shall be restricted to the rate of seven per centum per annum.”
Mr. H. C. Carey made an address in favor of striking out the section.
The following is an abstract of his remarks:—
Precisely a century and a half since, in 1723, the General Assembly
of Pennsylvania reduced the legal charge for the use of money from
eight to six per cent. per annum. This was a great step in the
direction of civilization, proving, as it did, that the labor of the
present was obtaining increased power over accumulations of the
past, the laborer approaching toward equality with the capitalist. At
that point it has since remained, with, however, some change in the
penalties which had been then prescribed for violations of the law.
Throughout the recent war the financial policy of the National
Government so greatly favored the money-borrower and the laborer
as to have afforded reason for believing that the actual rate of
interest was about to fall permanently below the legal one, with the
effect of speedily causing usury laws to fall into entire disuse. Since
its close, however, under a mistaken idea that such was the real road
to resumption, all the Treasury operation of favoring the money-
lender; the result exhibiting itself in the facts that combinations are
being everywhere formed for raising the price of money; that the
long loans of the past are being daily more and more superseded by
the call loans of the present; that manufacturer and merchant are
more and more fleeced by Shylocks who would gladly take “the
pound of flesh nearest the heart” from all over whom they are
enabled to obtain control.
Anxious for the perpetuation of this unhappy state of things, these
latter now invite their victims to give their aid towards leveling the
barriers by which they themselves are even yet to a considerable
extent protected, assuring them that further grant of power will be
followed by greater moderation in its exercise. Misled thereby,
money borrowers, traders, and manufacturers are seen uniting, year
after year with their common enemy in the effort at obtaining a
repeal of the laws in regard to money, under which the State has so
greatly prospered. Happily our working men, farmers, mechanics,
and laborers fail to see that advantage is likely to accrue to them
from a change whose obvious tendency is that of increasing the
power of the few who have money to lend over the many who need to
borrow; and hence it is that their Representatives at Harrisburg have
so steadily closed their ears against the siren song by which it is
sought to lead their constituents to give their aid to the work of their
own destruction.
Under these circumstances is it that we are now asked to give place
in the organic law to a provision by means of which this deplorable
system is to be made permanent, the Legislature being thereby
prohibited, be the necessity what it may, from placing any restraint
upon the few who now control the supply of the most important of all
the machinery of commerce, as against the many whose existence,
and that of their wives and children, is dependent upon the obtaining
the use thereof on such terms as shall not from year to year cause
them to become more and more mere tools in the hands of the
already rich. This being the first time in the world’s history that any
such idea has been suggested, it may be well, before determining on
its adoption, to study what has been elsewhere done in this direction,
and what has been the result.
Mr. Carey then proceeded to quote at great length from recent and
able writers the results that had followed in England from the
adoption of the proposition now before the convention. These may
be summed up as the charging of enormous rates of interest, the
London joint stock banks making dividends among their
stockholders to the extent of twenty, thirty, and almost forty per
cent., the whole of which has ultimately to be taken from the wages
of labor employed in manufactures, or in agriculture. At no time, said
Mr. Carey, in Britain’s history, have pauperism and usury traveled so
closely hand in hand together; the rich growing rich to an extent that,
till now, would have been regarded as fabulous, and the
wretchedness of the poor having grown in like proportion.
After discussing the effects of the repeal of the usury laws in some
of the American States, Mr. Carey continued:—
“We may be told, however, that at times money is abundant, and
that even so late as last summer it was difficult to obtain legal
interest. Such certainly was the case with those who desired to put it
out on call; but at that very moment those who needed to obtain the
use of money for long periods were being taxed, even on securities of
unexceptionable character, at double, or more than double, the legal
rates. The whole tendency of the existing system is in the direction of
annihilating the disposition for making those permanent loans of
money by means of which the people of other countries are enabled
to carry into effect operations tending to secure to themselves control
of the world’s commerce. Under that system there is, and there can
be, none of that stability in the price of money required for carrying
out such operations.
Leaving out of view the recent great combination for the
maintenance and perpetuation of slavery, there has been none so
powerful, none so dangerous as that which now exists among those
who, having obtained a complete control of the money power, are
laboring to obtain legal recognition of the right of capital to perfect
freedom as regards all the measures to which it may be pleased to
resort for the purpose of obtaining more perfect control over labor.
Already several of the States have to some extent yielded to the
pressure that has been brought to bear upon them. Chief among
these is Massachusetts, the usury laws having there been totally
repealed, and with the effect, says a distinguished citizen of that
State, that “all the savings institutions of the city at once raised the
rate from six to seven per cent.; those out of the city to seven and a
half and eight per cent. and there was no rate too high for the greedy.
The consequence,” as he continues, “has been disastrous to industrial
pursuits. Of farming towns in my county, more than one quarter
have diminished in population.” Rates per day have now to a great
extent, as I am assured, superseded the old rates per month or year;
two cents per day, or $7.30 per annum, having become the charge for
securities of the highest order. What, under such circumstances,
must be the rate for paper of those who, sound and solvent as they
may be, cannot furnish such security, may readily be imagined. Let
the monopoly system be maintained and the rate, even at its
headquarters, New England, will attain a far higher point than any
that has yet been reached; this, too, in despite of the fact that her
people had so promptly secured to themselves a third of the whole
circulation allowed to the 40,000,000 of the population of the Union
scattered throughout almost a continent. How greatly they value the
power that has been thus obtained is proved by the fact that to every
effort at inducing them to surrender, for advantage of the West or
South, any portion thereof, has met with resistance so determined
that nothing has been yet accomplished.
Abandonment of our present policy is strongly urged upon us for
the reason that mortgages bear in New York a higher rate of interest.
A Pennsylvanian in any of the northern counties has, as we are told,
but to cross the line to obtain the best security at seven per cent.
Why, however, is it that his neighbors find themselves compelled to
go abroad when desirous of obtaining money on such security? The
answer to this question is found in the fact that the taxation of
mortgages is there so great as to absorb from half to two-thirds of the
interest promised to be paid.
Again, we are told that Ohio legalizes “special contracts” up to
eight per cent. and, that if we would prevent the efflux of capital we
must follow in the same direction. Is there, however, in the exhibit
now made by that State, anything to warrant us in so doing? Like
Pennsylvania, she has abundant coal and ore. She has two large
cities, the one fronting on the Ohio, and the other on the lakes, giving
her more natural facilities for maintaining commerce than are
possessed by Pennsylvania; and yet, while the addition to her
population in the last decade was but 306,000, that of Pennsylvania
was 615,000. In that time she added 900 to her railroad mileage,
Pennsylvania meantime adding 2,500. While her capital engaged in
manufactures rose from 57 to 141 millions, that of Pennsylvania grew
from 109 to 406, the mere increase of the one being more than fifty
per cent. in excess of the total of the other. May we find in these
figures any evidence that capital has been attracted to Ohio by a
higher rate of interest, or repelled from our State by a lower one?
Assuredly not!
What in this direction is proposed to be done among ourselves is
shown in the section now presented for our consideration. By it the
legal rate in the absence of “special contracts” is to be raised to seven
per cent., such “contracts,” however ruinous in their character, and
whatsoever the nature of the security, are to be legalized; the only
exception to these sweeping changes being that national banks,
issuing circulating notes are to be limited to seven per cent. Shylock
asked only “the due and forfeit of his bond.” Let this section be
adopted, let him then present himself in any of our courts, can its
judge do other than decide that “the law allows it and the court
awards it,” monstrous as may have been the usury, and discreditable
as may have been the arts by means of which the unfortunate debtor
may have been entrapped? Assuredly not. Shylock, happily, was
outwitted, the bond having made no provision for taking even “one
jot of blood.” Here, the unfortunate debtor, forced by his flinty-
hearted creditor into a “special contract” utterly ruinous, may, in
view of the destruction of all hope for the future of his wife and
children, shed almost tears of blood, but they will be of no avail; yet
do we claim to live under a system whose foundation-stone exhibits
itself in the great precept from which we learn that duty requires of
us to do to others as we would that others should do unto ourselves.
By the English law the little landowner, the mechanic who owns
the house in which he lives, is protected against his wealthy
mortgagee. Here, on the contrary, the farmer, suffering under the
effects of blight or drought, and thus deprived of power to meet with
punctuality the demands of his mortgagee, is to have no protection
whatsoever. So, too, with the poor mechanic suffering temporarily by
reason of accidental incapacity for work, and, with the sheriff full in
view before him, compelled to enter into a “special contract”
doubling if not trebling, the previous rate of interest. Infamous as
may be its extortion the court may not deny the aid required for its
enforcement.
The amount now loaned on mortgage security in this State at six
per cent. is certainly not less than $400,000,000, and probably
extends to $500,000,000, a large portion of which is liable to be
called for at any moment. Let this section be adopted and we shall
almost at once witness a combined movement among mortgagees for
raising the rate of interest. Notices demanding payment will fly thick
as hail throughout the State, every holder of such security knowing
well that the greater the alarm that can be produced and the more
utter the impossibility of obtaining other moneys the larger may be
made the future rate of interest. The unfortunate mortgagor must
then accept the terms, hard as they may be, dictated to him, be they
8, 10, 12, or 20 per cent. Such, as I am assured has been the course of
things in Connecticut, where distress the most severe has been
produced by a recent abandonment by the State of the policy under
which it has in the past so greatly prospered. At this moment her
savings’ banks are engaged in compelling mortgagers to accept eight
per cent. as the present rate. How long it will be before they will carry
it up to ten or twelve, or what will be the effect, remains to be seen.
Already among ourselves the effects of the sad blunders of our great
financiers exhibit themselves in the very unpleasant fact that sheriffs’
sales are six times more numerous than they were in the period from
1861 to 1867, when the country was so severely suffering under the
waste of property, labor, and life, which had but then occurred. Let
this section be adopted, giving perfect freedom to the Shylocks of the
day, and the next half dozen years will witness the transfer, under the
sheriff’s hammer, of the larger portion of the real property of both
the city and the State. Of all the devices yet invented for the
subjugation of labor by capital, there is none that can claim to be
entitled to take precedence of that which has been now proposed for
our consideration.
Rightly styled the Keystone of the Union, one duty yet remains to
her to be performed, to wit: that of bringing about equality in the
distribution of power over that machinery for whose use men pay
interest, which is known as money. New England, being rich and
having her people concentrated within very narrow limits, has been
allowed to absorb a portion of that power fully equal to her needs,
while this State, richer still, has been so “cabined, cribbed, confined,”
that her mine and furnace operators find it difficult to obtain that
circulating medium by whose aid alone can they distribute among
their workmen their shares of the things produced.—New York,
already rich, has been allowed to absorb a fourth of the permitted
circulation, to the almost entire exclusion of the States south of
Pennsylvania and west of the Mississippi; and hence it is that her
people are enabled to levy upon those of all these latter such
enormous taxes. To the work of correcting this enormous evil
Pennsylvania should now address herself. Instead of following in the
wake of New Jersey and Connecticut, thereby giving to the monopoly
an increase of strength, let her place herself side by side with the
suffering States of the West, the South, and the Southwest,
demanding that what has been made free to New York and New
England shall be made equally free to her and them. Let her do this,
and the remedy will be secured, with such increase in the general
power for developing the wonderful resources of the Union as will
speedily make of it an iron and cloth exporting State, with such
power for retaining and controlling the precious metals as will place
it on a surer footing in that respect than any of the powers of the
Eastern world. The more rapid the societary circulation, and the
greater the facility of making exchanges from hand to hand, and
from place to place, the greater is the tendency toward reduction in
the rate of interest, toward equality in the condition of laborer and
employer, and toward growth and power to command the services of
all the metals, gold and silver included.
It will be said, however, that adoption of such measures as have
been indicated would tend to produce a general rise of prices; or, in
the words of our self-styled economists, would cause “inflation.” The
vulgar error here involved was examined some thirty years since by
an eminent British economist, and with a thoroughness never before
exhibited in reference to any other economic question whatsoever,
the result exhibiting itself in the following brief words of a highly
distinguished American one, published some twelve or fifteen years
since, to wit:
“Among the innumerable influences which go to determine the general rate of
prices, the quantity of money, or currency, is one of the least effective.”
Since then we have had a great war, in the course of which there
have been numerous and extensive changes in the price of
commodities, every one of which is clearly traceable to causes widely
different from those to which they so generally are attributed. Be
that, however, as it may, the question now before us is one of right
and justice, and not of mere expediency. North and east of
Pennsylvania eight millions of people have been allowed a greater
share of the most important of all powers, the money one, than has
been allotted to the thirty-two millions south and west of New York,
and have thus been granted a power of taxation that should be no
longer tolerated. The basis of our whole system is to be found in
equality before the law, each and every man, each and every State,
being entitled to exercise the same powers that are permitted to our
people, or other States. If the Union is to be maintained, it can be so
on no terms other than those of recognition of the existence of the
equality that has here been indicated. To the work of compelling that
recognition Pennsylvania should give herself, inscribing on her
shield the brief words fiat justitia, ruat cœlum—let justice be done
though the heavens fall!
 Speech of Gen. Simon Cameron.

On the benefits derived by Pennsylvania from the Policy of Internal

Improvements.
Any one will see, who will take the trouble to read the debates on
the location of the National Capital, that the decision of that question
seems to have been made solely with reference to a connection of the
East with the then great wilderness of the West. All the sagacious
men then in public life looked to the time when the West, with its
wonderful productive soil brought under subjection by industry,
would exercise a controlling influence on the destiny of the country.
Columbia, in the State of Pennsylvania, was at one time within one
vote of becoming the site of the Capital; and Germantown, near, and
now a part of, Philadelphia, was actually decided on as the proper
location by a majority of one. The first of these was favored because
it was believed to be a favorable point from which to begin a slack
water route to the west. Germantown near the Schuylkill, was chosen
for the same reason. All looked forward to a system of canals which
would accomplish this desirable object, and experience has fully
demonstrated their wisdom in that great design. About 1790, General
Washington and the great financier Robert Morris, traveled on
horseback from Philadelphia to the Susquehanna river, with a view
of deciding whether a canal could be built over that route.
Shortly after this, some gentlemen near Philadelphia actually
began building a canal to the west, did some work on its eastern end,
built one or two locks on the dividing ridge near Lebanon, and for
want of sufficient funds and knowledge of the subject the work was
stopped. The money expended on the enterprise was lost.
But the progressive men of the country, keeping their minds on the
subject, continued to agitate the popular mind on it until 1820, when
the Legislature of Pennsylvania chartered the Union Canal Company,
and appropriated one million dollars to aid its construction. In a few
years the canal was completed between the Schuylkill and
Susquehanna. Although very small, this improvement did a great
deal of good. And the most remarkable thing about it was its
unpopularity with the masses. Not only the members of General
Assembly who passed the bill, but Governor Heister, who signed the
act of incorporation, were driven from office at the first opportunity
legally presented for testing public opinion, and the party to which
they belonged went into a minority. I remember well what a mighty
sum a million dollars seemed to be; and the political revolution
caused by this appropriation showed me that the idea of its vastness
was not confined by any means to myself.
Our system of canals was completed, and the benefits derived from
them were incalculable. When they were commenced our State was
poor. Industry languished. The interchange of her products was
difficult. Population was sparse. Intelligence was not generally
diffused. Manufactures struggled weakly along. Work was not
plentiful. Wages were low. When they were finished the busy hum of
industry was heard on every hand. Our population had grown until
we numbered millions. Our iron ore beds were yielding their
precious hoards for human use. Coal mines, unknown or useless
until means were provided for transporting their wealth to market,
now sent millions of tons in every direction. Progress in every walk of
advanced civilization was realized, and we were on the high road to
permanent prosperity. But in the meantime a new and better means
of communication had been discovered, and the building of railroads
quickly reduced the value of canals, and the works we had completed
at so much cost, and with such infinite labor, were suddenly
superseded. We lost nearly all the money they had cost us, but this
investment was wisely made. The return to our State was many times
greater than the outlay.
Like all great projects intended for the public good, that of Internal
Improvement progressed. In 1823, the New York canal—which had
been pushed through against the prejudiced opposition of the
people, by the genius of De Witt Clinton—was opened. Its success
caused a revolution in the public mind all over the country. The
effect was so marked in the State, that in 1825 a convention was
called to consider the subject. Every county in the State was
represented, I believe. That body pronounced in favor of a grand
system of public works, which should not only connect the East and
West, but also the waters of the Susquehanna with the great lakes,
the West and the Northwest. Appropriations were recommended to
the amount of three millions of dollars, and in 1826, I think the work
began. This sum seemed to be enormous, and the estimates of the
engineers reached a total of six millions of dollars. Meeting an ardent
friend of the system one day, he declared that a sum of that
magnitude could never be expended on these works. I ventured to
reply, with great deference to his age and experience, that I thought
it would be insufficient, and before they were completed I would not
be surprised if ten millions would be found necessary. Looking at me
steadily for a few moments, he closed the conversation by
exclaiming, “Young man, you are a d——d fool!” I was thus left in full
possession of his opinion of me. But after we had spent
$41,698,594.74 in the construction of these works, I found my
estimate of his judgment was singularly in harmony with my opinion
of his politeness. His candor I never doubted.
In the convention of 1825, there were two gentlemen who voted for
railways instead of canals. One was professor Vethake of Dickinson
College, Carlisle; and the other was Jacob Alter, a man of very little
education, but of strong understanding. The professor was looked
upon as a dreamer, and was supposed to have led his colleague
astray in his vagaries. But they both lived to see railroads extended
over the whole world. As a part of our system of public works, we
built a railroad from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, from
Philadelphia to Columbia, and one from the eastern base of the
Allegheny mountains to their western base. They were originally
intended to be used with horse power. In the meantime the railroad
system had been commenced, and the Pennsylvania Railroad, under
the charge of a man of extraordinary ability, John Edgar Thompson,
was rapidly pushed to completion. Another great railway, the
Philadelphia and Reading, was built to carry anthracite coal from the
Schuylkill mines to the market. A railroad was built each side of the
Lehigh river, that another part of our coal territory might find a
market in New York. Another was built from the north branch of the
Susquehanna, connecting with the New York roads, and leading to
the northern coal field. And yet another was built along the
Susquehanna, through the southern coal basin, to the city of
Baltimore. The total cost of these roads, independent of the
Pennsylvania railroad, was $95,250,410.10, as shown by official
reports. Their earnings last year are officially given at
$24,753,065.32. Each of these was forced to contend with difficulty
and prejudice. All were unpopular, and all were looked upon with
suspicion until they actually forced their usefulness on the public
mind. Those who made the fight for canals were forced to go over the
whole ground again for railroads, and their double victory is greater
than the success generally vouchsafed to the pioneers in any cause.
These roads, with the Pennsylvania railroad and the lesser lines of
improvements running through the coal region cost over
$207,000,000.
The Reading Railroad will serve to illustrate the struggle of these
great schemes. Its stock, now worth over par, once sold for twenty
cents on the dollar; and at one time it was forced to sell its bonds at
forty cents on the dollar to pay operating expenses. The vindication
of the sagacity of the pioneers in these great enterprises is complete.
All these lines are now profitable, and it has been demonstrated
everywhere in the United States, that every new railroad creates the
business from which its stockholders receive their dividends. It
seems, therefore, scarcely possible to fix a limit to our profitable
railroad expansion. They open new fields of enterprise, and this
enterprise in turn, makes the traffic which fills the coffers of the
companies.
I cannot now look back to the struggle to impress the people with
the advantages of railways, without a feeling of weariness at the
seeming hopeless struggle, and one of merriment at the general
unbelief in our new-fangled project. Once at Elizabethtown in this
State a public meeting had been called for the purpose of securing
subscriptions to the stock of the Harrisburg and Lancaster Railroad.
This road was intended to complete the railway between
Philadelphia and Harrisburg, one hundred and five miles. A large
concourse had gathered. Ovid F. Johnson, Attorney-General of our
State, and a brilliant orator, made an excellent speech; but the effect
was not in proportion to the effort. I determined to make an appeal,
and I gave such arguments as I could. In closing I predicted that
those now listening to me would see the day when a man could
breakfast in Harrisburg, go to Philadelphia, transact a fair day’s
business there, and returning, eat his supper at home. Great
applause followed this, and some additional subscriptions. Abram
Harnly, a friend of the road, and one of the most intelligent of his
class, worked his way to me, and taking me aside whispered, “That
was a good idea about going to Philadelphia and back to Harrisburg
the same day;” and then, bursting with laughter, he added,—“But you
and I know better than that!” We lived to see the road built; and now
people can come and go over the distance twice a day, which Abram
seemed to consider impossible for a single daily trip.
The peculiar condition of the States then known as “the West” was
the subject of anxiety to many. They had attracted a large population,
but the people were exclusively devoted to agriculture. Lacking
diversified industry, they were without accumulated wealth to enable
them to build railways; nor were the States in condition to undertake
such an onerous duty, although several of them made a feeble
attempt to do so. At one time the bonds of Illinois, issued to build her
canals, sold as low as thirty cents on the dollar. So with Indiana. Both
States were supposed to be bankrupt. It became, therefore, an
important problem as to how means of communication should be
supplied to the people of the West. Congress, in 1846, gave a grant of
land to aid in building a railroad in Illinois. Every alternate section
was given to the Company, and each alternate section was reserved
by the Government. The road was built; and the one-half of the land
retained by the government sold for a great deal more than all was
worth before the road was constructed. This idea was original, I
think, with Mr. Whitney of Mass., who spent two winters in
Washington, about 1845, endeavoring to induce Congress to adopt
that plan for the construction of a Trans-Continental Railway.
He died before seeing his scheme succeed. Others have built a road
across the continent on the Central route. Another on the Northern
route is now progressing, and the wealth and enterprise of those
having it in charge renders its completion certain. And it yet remains
for us to give the people of the Southern route a road to the Pacific
which shall develop the magnificent region through which it will
pass, and give the country one route to the great ocean protected
from the ordinary difficulty of climate with which railroads must
contend over so large a part of our territory. But I am admonished by
the value of your space to confine myself to the limits of my own
State.
 I have said that the outlay we have made in building our public
works was of great benefit to us even when the canals had been
rendered almost valueless through the competition of railroads. This
is paradoxical, but it is true nevertheless. That expenditure gave our
people a needed knowledge of our vast resources. It familiarized
them with large expenditures when made for the public good. And it
showed them how a great debt may be beneficially incurred, and yet
not break down the enterprise of the people. We at one time owed
$41,698,595.74. By a steady attention to our finances, it is now
reduced to $31,000,000, with resources,—the proceeds of the sale of
public works—on hand amounting to $10,000,000. And while we
have been steadily reducing our State debt, we have built 5,384 miles
of railway on the surface of the earth, and 500 miles underground in
our mines, at a cost of not less than $350,000,000, for a mile of
railroad in Pennsylvania means something. We sent 368,000 men to
the Federal Army. And our credit stands high on every stock
exchange. Gratifying as this progress is, it is only a fair beginning.
There is a large part of our territory rich in timber and full of iron,
coal, and all kinds of mineral wealth, so entirely undeveloped by
railroads that we call it “the Wilderness.” To open it up is the
business of to-day, and I sincerely hope to see it done soon.
Forty years ago George Shoemaker, a young tavern-keeper of more
vigor and enterprise than his neighbors, came to the conclusion that
anthracite coal could be used as fuel. He went to the expense of
taking a wagon load of it to Philadelphia, a hundred miles away, and,
after peddling it about the streets for some days, was forced to give it
away, and lose his time, his labor and his coal. He afterwards saw a
great railway built to carry the same article to the same point, and
enriching thousands from the profits of the traffic. But his experience
did not end there. He saw a thousand dollars paid eagerly for an acre
of coal land, which at the time of his venture to Philadelphia, no one
would have, and he could not give away.
I have thought that a retrospective survey of our wonderful
development might point plainly to the duty of the future. For if the
experience of what has gone before is not useful to cast light on what
is yet to come, then it will be difficult indeed to discover wherein its
value lies. It teaches me to devote time and labor for the
advancement of all Public Improvements, and I trust it may have a