Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1838-05-16
DEFERRED ARTICLES.
From the Baltimore American.
EMIGRATION.


The Portland Advertiser contains
some very excellent remarks on the
subject of emigration, and asks why 1t
: that the sons of that State abandon
their native soil, to seek ha6itation
elsewhere? The same question may
he asked in other of the Atlantic States
besides Maine. In them, as in her, not
a few have been induced to abandon
the graves Of their ancestors, and seek
adweling in the wilderness. Is il that
they hope for subsistence witno1t toll,
or abundance without exerton? lfthey
do their hope is fallacious, and they
may depend upon it, will be met by
disappointment. 1t is true that the soil
Of the West is fertile beyond description
and that the products ofthe South bring
with them compensation far above a.
pything that fields which have been
eyhausted-we will not say cultivated
for centuries, can offer. But is there
nothing to make amends for this dispa-
rity Is there no charm 10 being sur
rounded by those whom we have known
from infancy in sitting under the sha-
dow of the trees that sheltered us from
the mondays sun when we were chill
dren, or in spending our days under the
same roofs that once protected those
parents to whose memory we are bound
by every tie Of affection and gratitude!
What have the gloomy forests of the
West, or the wide spread prairies where
no foot of a white man has ever trod,
to present, that can be compared with
The sweet companionship oil our race,
and the blessings Of civilization and in
innate social intercourse We will
grant. that he who goes TO the FAR of
west-of the fertility Of which, we
hear so much-may at the end oil a g.
ven number Of years, if he live, be the
master Of more acres, and boast larger
nerds and flocks than he who remains
in the old State but the possession
Of land is not enjoyment, nor are flocks
and herds the things among which man
most delights to dwell. Years may
pass and find him as they fleet along
growing richer every hour, and age
may over,ake him, the monarch of
all he surveys; ) but look over his life
and wha, blank does it often present.
To him the world is comprised in the
one word, self, and the kindliest SYM
pathies Of our nature are matters OF
which he hears as of strange things in
foreign land. Nor are the results al
ways such as the highly wrought an
tcipatons of the emigrant lead him to
expect. There is no sufficient reason
why, with proper care and well direct
ed industry, the hill on which his faith
e lived should not be as productive as
even the aIluvial soil of the Mississippi
or The rich banks of the Red River. 1t
isrue the amount Of vegetable growth
on them may be infinitely greater, but
then the low prices at which they must
be disposed OF, after deductlng the cost
transportation to market, are such
as to reduce the nett proceeds. In adj
dltion to this we must take into account
the probable loss of health, and the ex-
posure to the elements whereby the
span of life is shortened or marked with
aches and pains requiring the scanty
medical aid that can be procured at ex-
orbitant rates. The proposition may
appear startling one, but we do not
hesitate to express the belief, that, ia
king every thing into account, there is
not one in the hundred who is benefit
ted in pecun:ary point of view, more
shan he would have been had he staid
at home. In order to test this we would
put the following case, which, il it
could be fairly tried, would, we doubt
not, prove the correctness of our asser-
lion. Let an Industrious, judicious far
mar take fifty or hundred acres with
in moderate distance Of one our great
markets. Let him cultivate them as
he should, that is to say, by making a
fair return to the soil, in manure of one
kind or other, for what he takes from
It and carries to market-let him con-
fine himself to one half Of the extent of
privation to which he must be subjected
in new country, and take off his
earnings, and in fifteen or twenty years
he will be richer man, speculations
apart, than the man who would invest