The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1853-02-10
From the New York Times.
COUNTRY CHANGES.

4
Five years ago, in towns, il a man ha
pig to sell, the buyer uniformly said, a
he took possession, "You will wait mont
or two for your pay;" and his request wa
granted as condition of the sale. I
farmer, in comfortable circumstances
would raise haIf-acre of potatoes, will
which, at eighteen pence per bashel, h
could keep his accounts square with TN
mechanics around him. Atth merchant,
he got every thing on credit; and, if h
was prompt man, about the middle o
winter he carted down bushels Of whea'
enough 10 pay his bill. The merchant
if he did business on large scale-had 3
long granary, which would hold "A thou
sand or two bushels, and into this came
sooner or later, the produce that paid hall
his accounts. This could not bo turned
into money with profit for several months,
Of course. The economical housewife liked
to keep her accounts s'off the books" and
SO, when she made her purchases, she gen.
orally paid in hens eggs, bundle Of rags,
or stocking yarn. A rich man would have
a charge against almost every man for
miles around, and a poor one found his
wealthy neighbor little less punctual in pay
ing up than his penniless co-laborer al
days work for five shilliugs day pleas
ant weather. The minister raised no
poultry, no potatoes, no corn, no garden
stuff, that he might get his salary out Of
those who did raise such-tor money was
almost cut of the question. The doctor, il
he was Yankee, took his pay in the
little necessaries of the kitchen, or in wood
land, when the bill was long. He bought
piece of wild land, for the express pur-
pose of working GU, the debts Of his poor
pstients, and the lawyer secured his fee
by mortgage on the property in dispute
before undertaking the case. The only
son who inherited farm was rich. Ii he
found the paternal acres in good condition,
he could send to New York wheat or corn
enough to make i, better or extend its bor
ders. Blu. such thing as buying small
farm on credit, and paying for it by its
crops, was ont Of the question. Shopping
was system OF barterng, and hard cash
was seldom seen excep, in the hands ofthe
nabobs.
Bat now has there come marked
change. Step into the store and you will
see whoever buys goods pulls out his pock
ct book and pays its price. Children
bring pass book to avoid mistakes, and
that is about all the credit that is given or
asked The dominic has to buy his but
ter Just like another man, and even editors
get, take, and give cash. Mechanics ask
more for their labor, and they get the mon
ey when the job is done. The farmers
look comfortable, and Il Bit shrewder with
al. You seldom fad one who has not
change enough to pay all his family bills
as they are contracted. Or ii you tnd
him with all empty wallet, he takes you
to the store, and the merchan, with whom
he deposited from twenty to hundred dol
lars when he sold his potatoes forks over the
needfuI. Without any great accession Of
capital, without the moving in OF half a
dozen families, the place is completely
changed. And, if You inquire how il
happens, any intelligent man in the place
coniesses that the same railroad which
burnt up their woods, killed their cattle, re
fused to fence their road when the Legis-
iature ordered it, aud to this day has never
learned how to accommodate the public
intentionally by bringing them within
few hours of the best market in America,
had done it all.
As it is with these towns so is il along
all the roads that radiate from cur great
emporums. A correspondent
of the Times speaks Of the Long Island
Railroad as running "through sandy plains
ninety miles, to terminus where there
is nothing, and beyond which there is
nothing" But the agitation produced by
the frequent coming and going of the cars
has begotten something, and greately i'm
proved the value Of what ,hero was; made
the sandy plains fruitful, and converted
their fruits into money.
The city grows by what it drinks In
from the country, and the coun,ry's rich
est deposits drift back by the returning
tram. Let citizens aud conntrymen unite
then and bid God speed to the rail,car
A SENSIBLE VIEw-What effect the
Ericsson vessels, if entirely successful, will
have upon the coal regions has been much
discussed. An intelligent writer in the
Philadelphia Ledger thus answers
The undoubtcd effect would be this, viz:
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