The Yazoo Whig and political register. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1840-1842, 1842-05-13

rope vita hls I'VE millions Of followers, did not
travel faster than does our army Of agricultural
lets into the WesteFn cOunlFy.-And while the one II
oveErun the people Of the adjacent regions, ard i
compelled them 70 submit 70 the dictum Of iy-
rant the other OveFran a wilderness-beat down
the forests of districts thousand miles in ext mt,
and compelled them 70 submit to the republican
hing, the will comfort and welfare Of the people
One hall OF the history Of the world is a tabu-
lar seriee OF tyfannical iavasons, leaving waste,
bloodshed and devastating in their pathway
The history Of America isan account of an inva-
sion OF free republican farmers and mechanics into
the wlds OF natuEe-subBgating the forests of i
thousand vallieS, and the waters of unnumbeTed /
rivers, to the comfort and good of an innumerable
and happy people.
had intended, Mr.. President, to pursue very |
bret, though somewhat methodical analysis OF
this great and interesting gubject; but find, sir,
that shall be able scarcely to approach Il. had
selected few statistics upon which to form some
statements Of comparison OF the past with the pre-
sent condition Of the western county; but ind
that even cursory view, toUehing hare and there
a prominent point Of the great landscape, would
subject me 10 the writing of book, rather than
an evenings address. canuot fOrbeaT, however,
to touch upon two or three statistical points as we
pass along.
In 1890, period within the recollection Of
man Of middle age, the census of the western
country is easily told. Upon paper, save Kentuc-
KY and Tennessee, it is blank sheet; and those
states had At that time less than 1000 inhabi-
tants. The Edinburgh Encyclopedias, in the arti-
Gle headed "United States, in speaking upon this
subject, says: " In the decennial period from 1870
to 1900, the sOestern DOra had begun to I'LL ap!''
brief, though pretty good history Of the country
up 70 that time. Butin 1900 the western country,
including Kentucky and Tennessee, contained but
365, 900 persons; and now, two Of the States Of
the West, the IS dark and bloody grounds" which,
in $50, was first found by Daniel Boone; and Ohio,
4 l.. r Il r
the foot OF white man, contain as many lnhabl-
tants % did the United States Of America at the
time Of the formation Of the government. And
the western eountTy-which then numbered herds
Of buffalo and deer, with their savage enemies as
wild as they--nOw contains six millions and half
Of people. lowe, of whose political exittence we
have but heard by the latest mails, now numbers
as many inhabitants as did, in 1900, what is now
the third State in the Union, with a million and
half of people. But compare the pFesent,not with
the ages past, but with what we ourselves have
seen, is 10 compare something with nothing.
The agricultural products of these new farm
fields is no less astonishing than the number of
their population. The value of sixteen articles Of
agricultural product, as returned in the census Of
$780, by fair comparison with the prices current
at New York and New Orleans, amounted in that
year to upwards of 965 millions of dollars. The
agricultural product of the West is over three
hundred millions year. And il is worthy of es-
lpecial remark, how near the productive wealth Of
the western country has approached that Of the old
States. In agriculture, we are but about One-
eighth behind them; and to compare the agIicul-
tural product Of the neF States, which would in-
cude Maine, with that Of the old States, the for
mer is ahead of the latter.
As respects live stock, the turn out Of the west
is astonishing. If We value horses at $50, neat
cattle at 8, sheep at 3, and swine at So, we find
the value of these domestic ANIMALS, and poultry
which is returned in value, to amount in 1870
L a.,
: In the fourteen old States, $40, I30,933 OF
In manufactures, we have done comparatively
' little in the West; yet we find in the wilderness
Q S52,86 900 invested in that way.
5 In commerce, we have S87, 1884, 8l invested, a
Q gainst I62,467,3l8 in the old States. We produce
: annually upwards Of 100000 tons Of iron, an,
7 more than 80 millions of pounds of lead. But
promised not trouble you this evening with sta
tistics ! have said enough, however, to call fOril
> your most profound establishment: / have sal,
{ what the widest visionary dared not dream TWEEN
ty wears ago. To have written, even at that lat
period, prOspectively, such statistical crcumstan
Ices as these, would well nigh have doomed on
!, to the mad-house; and in the days Of witcherai
, he surely would have been hung.
: Behold now, sir, the means Of subsistence an
o the elements of wealth in this region Of country
f The earth produces scarcely vegetable, mine
a raj, or domestic animal that we have not in abun
n dance. The plastic hand Of Omni9otonce has no
= 8Dfetu out uetOE6 tue eye VI anu gwen
Y. the children Of men, a more beautiful country
q In soil and timber, part of the world 80 exier
lie siye can compare with it. The climate, for CON
4 fort and salubrity, is unsurpassed. And had Ii
1t people Of the old world. those Of the old States
10 but seen our magnificent rivers, traversing th
lie country in every direction, in almost countless
81 rety tens hundreds and thousands OF milesin e.
re tent they never would have digni6ed their creek
IA BAYS and inlets with the name Of Inland NaUigt
le ton. Our ONE GREAT RIVER, with its thousand II
Sc butaries, smoking at every mile with a foatin
&c warehouse andtraveing hotel, furnishes the wor
n. q most grand spectacle of inland commerce an
or travelling facilities. The rivers of the other b.
re misphere can scarcely equal it. And when v
ls- look back but few years 70 their condition al
ne appearance, q man who thinks is startled in
nd increment at the changing scenes which pass hi
Pc daily.
20 of Roll back the tide of time-not q centui
N or even toaanother age, but only TO wake !
Al the slumbers Of yesterday Take your pos
d, sition in almost any part of this immense r
lis gion, and what do you seel-What are Il
in scenes which surround you! The gree
zee curtain ofnature, untouched and unmoleI
ns ed, embroidered with the flowers Of Sprin
- marked in parallel lines By limpid streaT
No and speckled with the wild, unharvest
loT fruits Of Autumn, 10 spread out before VI