Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1853-06-30
VOL. 5---NO. 2S.---WHOLE NO. 236.

tunate lact, may nave feen the former
more sparce population of the globe
rendering the art Of culture not mates
Of pressing and urgent necessity. With
the exception of the Chinese, already al.
luded 10, no nation has been compelled
by necessity, TO regard with any grea,
solicitude, the productive powers Of the
soil. Again, the institutions of society,
and the tenure by which the soil has
been held, and the condition of labor has
had much to do in producing this result.
The feudal systeT. the laws Of descent
and entail. and those other customs and
systems which have prevailed. and still
prevail, and the consequences OF which
are still fel, in many couniries--under
which the soil has been owned by one
class and worked by another. come un-
der this head. The effect Of those sys-
TENS and laws has been to discourage
effort and Improvement; to degrade labor
and bru,ify the laborer; and to elevate
and enrich The landlord. and depress and
impoverish the tenant.
Blu, notwithstanding these and other
causes, have existed and still exist to
some extent, TO retsrd and discourage
Agricultural improvement. am happy
10 see of late in our own country and in
other countries change, light breaking
in. and signs more encouraging. Ad-
verse systems have been abroga,ed or
modified; human rights. and the rights
and claims of labor are being better un-
derstood and recognised. and science has
been enlisted. and is now pouring food
OF ligh, upon Agriculture in all its de-
par.men.s. This is especially true of
our own country, where the obstacles
are less numerous. and the stimulan,s to
exertion greater. Those fatal barriers
to improvement which exist in other
countries in the shape of their institu-
tions, their prejudices, and their customs,
do not exist among US, at least not gen.
orally, and in very modified forms.
Here the farmer owns the soil; here are
no towering and fro wning battlements,
overlooking immense domaine, and herds
of dull, servile and ignoble serfs; here
no landlord exacts rents, and no greedy
church plumbers in the shape OF tyshes;
here or farmers stand on their oUn soil,
under their own vine and fig tree, with
their own sky over their heads, their
own free air around them, and their own
glorious free institutions to lean upon,
TO support, encourage and protect them.
Here ownership and labor go together.
mutually assisting and sustaining me
another; here monopolies of land are no,
tolerated.; here the homestead exists:
here labor is becoming honorable; here
wealth is more equally distributed, aud
the superior rights and claims of capi.
tai over labor are far less regarded, in
fact are very nearly abolished, ,ushering in
the glorious period. when he who cre-
ates value in property by his labor is
placed upon something like an equal
footing with him who invests money in
it. Besides all this we have here our
free press, free opinion. and an admir-
able system Of popular education. Here
Legislation is favorably inclined to Ag-
riculture, and is daily becoming more
We have besides advantages of more
physical character, more than can find
time 10 aliude to. We have soil rich
and yielding an abundant reward TO the
husbandman: soil not worn out. steril,
and requiring frequent and expensive
inanuring. but existing in all its native
freshness and productiveness--a mine
of wealth, richer aid more valuable far
than the shining dus. of California
We have also everything else that nature
could furnish us-a fine climate. a little
too cold perhaps, for comfort; and sub
jeci 10 more frcqnent and sudden chang
es than we could desire; but yet well
adapted to the luxurian, growth and
perfect maturity of all the productions
natural to the region. We can also poin,
to our abundant quarries of stone; to our
immense coal fields, extending over hall
our territory; TO our iron and lead ore; to
our gy psum; 10 our sal, syringe, and to
our numerous streams. furnishing ny.
draulic power TO an unlimited EXTENT
We are also favorably situated geograph-
ically in the very heart of this great val.
ley, scooped ont here as il were on pur
pose, for the abode of the greatest Ag.
ricul,uial race the world has YET seen,
and in the very centre of that great and
distinguished nation, the United States
OF America, which is now rearing it's gi
gan,ic proportions alofs among the ma
,ions, and under whose ample shadow
we have always found. IN the main, ant
l trust and believe, always shall find
that security and protection which Agri
culture SO much covets and requires
We are also favorably situated so far a
the markets of the world are concerned
having the East-the opulent East
with her wealth; her overfowing popu
lation; her numerous wants; her busy
manufactures. and her wide spread CON
merce on the our hand; and on tho 9th
er. the West, with her new empire
founding; and the portals of those o.he
old empiresopening--and between thes
two extremes. with their growing wan.
and thei, competition having marke
and ready sale for the accumulate
treasures of our granaries and our caitl
upon a shousand plains.