The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger

The Race.—We do not propose on this occasion to indulge in a tirade against the immorality and recklessness of Steamboat racing, nor yet to enter upon an enthusiastic discussion of the whys and wherefores of the recent result, but we really think that the event was worthy of the journalistic comment in one respect at least. It has developed the existence of an interest in the boating business of the Mississippi, that few would have thought so wide-spread and intense. Not only Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis were in a high state of excitement on the occasion, but the same excitement pervaded New York, Chicago, and probably many other great cities of the Eastern and Lake States. Interior towns in Kentucky and other Western States were perfectly absorbed in the importance of the struggle.

We find all this really quite flattering to our city. Two prominent New Orleans boats in attracting such general and absorbing interest, show that the matter is one of importance, that in fact the navigation of our great river is a subject of the first magnitude not only throughout the mighty region tributary to it, but to the whole nation. It has a wider significance even than that; this general and sympathetic interest is a bond of union nationally. It is an interest in common, a joint source of pride.

Though boat-racing may be reprehensible, we think it far preferable to the presence of hostile fleets and the shock of iron-clads upon the turbid tide of the great river.