The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-06-14

the edge. In digging for water, We frequently
meet with lime rock; the depth is from twenty
to fifty feet. The grass on the prairies here
| grows plenty large to NOW. AS to tame grass
es. there has but little been tried, except tim
othy which succeeds well. AS to swamps and
ponds, there are none in Southwest Missouri
The creeks are clear and gravelly; you can
see pin in ten feet water. There is plenty OF
building stone for any purpose. Coal plenty
within sixty miles of me, north or south, but
none nearer that we know of. There are no
! rich shareholders near here, but several who
own few negroes. The chances for schooling
children are very good in most neighborhoods.
We have preaching here of almost every de-
| nomination There are eight meeting houses
within eight miles of me, and preaching in one
or more almost every Sunday. The people here
are generally moral people, and many of them
religious. In the country you will see very
little drinking, or hear but little swearing.
GAS to the Kansas Territory, can only
speak from hearsay. 1T is said to be good
country, well watered and timbered. If you
will come here this fall, will go with you, and
see it. There is stage road from St. Louis to
Texas, that passes within five miles of me, on
which stages run three times per week. Apples
and peaches succeed well, and there is an alum
dance of wild fruit. / believe | have now an
SWereu your questions. as lar stS Il AIN dDle
1t is evident, from the above, that some of
the finest regions of the Union are rendered
vacant and unproductive, BY the overshadowing
and cursing powers of the Shareholders. These
laws may be changed, or abrogated, and better
ones made. The free men of the North and
East together with that immense immigration
annually arriving from Europe, can do it J
Shall freenen thus door, shall they still verge
northward, amid the SHOWS and sands of long
winters and rough, sterile soils? Shall they
make war on Nature herself, rather than carry
their institutions and civilization into the fertile
and sunny Southwest? So far as Kansas is
concerned. the gauntlet is cast, the struggle is
commenced, and it is feared that Yankee en-
terprise and courage will be entirely banked
and whipped out BY Missouri lawlessness. Yet
such prediction is at this time premature,
though it is difficult to account for the present
long silence of the Emigrant Aid Companies
on other grounds. Is it silence like that Just
before the flash and thunder from the bitches
OF Bunker Hill? Or has the field been aban-
doned to chance immigration and to the con-
troll of Missourans? The lover of Liberty can
not but look forward with much anxiety to the
contest Of the next few months.
Let the result in Kansas, however be es it
may, there must very soon be found an abiding
place for those millions of feet now pouring
into and through the East. This must be found
in the Northwest but little longer, and then
the Southeast will be flooded These imm.
grants being too poor to own slaves had they
the will, and being too spirited to become slaves,
their political weight must, sooner or later, fall
on the side of human liberty and free labor.
To hasten this desirable state of things, and,
as | might say, to accomplish it at ALL settlers
must go to the slave States in colonies or COM
panies. Having devoted some thought to the
matter, will even venture TO propose a general
plan, which perhaps may be worthy Of consid-
GRAFTON, alongside of those already before the
country. Any plan, to be successful, must be
fair toicard all parties concerned, and, must
pay those carrying it into operation. Settle
ments in Kansas arc much more needed
from the North, just now, than in any other
part of the Southwest; yet, should few colo
MES be planted in Missouri or Arkansas, like
carrying the war into Africa, it might have a
good effect on the institutions of Kansas Ny
plan is best adapted to a country where lands
are in market; yet it may perhaps apply to
Territories in some way.
PLAN.
Let company be formed, with capital of
So, 30, for the entry of l6 sections of Govern
ment lands, at 81. % per acre, in tract as near
ly square as possible. Said tract, if square,
would be four miles in extent each way. Let
one section, as near the centre as practicable.
be laid out for city, in lots from the usual
size up to two acres near the suburbs; let the
lots then acreage one acre, including streets
and allies. Let the stockholders now receive of
the lands, for the money advanced into the
common fund, at price above the entering
cost sufficient to pay the expense of locating
and entering, and sufficient to cover the cost
of the city section, so that when all the stock
holders shall have had their portion of land, to
replace the moneys advanced, the city section
will remain unappropriated. This is to be COM
mon property, in the hands Of trustees, who are
to dispose of lots in that way which shall most
encourage their occupation and the building up
of the colony's interests. The proceeds Of the
sales in the city to be a perpetual fund,
placed at interest, for the erection of free schools
i'll the city and colony, and perhaps for the
construction of roads and bridges ard other
purposes, for which cities generally tax them
selves. Such company would at once furnish
employment for mechanics of every class, and
work for various mills and factories, and it
would not be difficult to engage such to 90 along
without complicating the affairs of the company
with anything but the securing of lands. No
one member should subscribe more money to
the common fund than would cover, in the dis
trlbutlon OF lands, 32O acres--let the average
be 100 acres, and we have room on the tract for
90 families of farmers; and in the city, at first
Tor over 6GO families of merchants, profession
al men, mechanics, &c.-making a population
of over three Thousand, which, of course can
enlarge indefinitely by the division of lots and
farms, and the enlargement of city and COLONY
limits. 1t might be well, in the start, to limit
the largest farms to much less than l have
named, as those wishing large farms can obtain
what amount of lands they please outside of the
colony limits, and yet live on small tract near
the city, if they choose.
Notifications of such a general outline az
this, on larger or smaller scale, with more or
less stringent rules az to the quantity of lands
owned by each stakeholder, and the prices he
shall pay, can of course be imagined and car
| lied out. In many portions of Missouri, Arkan-
sas, and Texas, lands can be had in such tracts
at low prices, and III other States at prices high
err but yet moderate. They adopt such plan
as this, in Iowa. for building colleges, charging
$3.50 to the stockholders for lands entered by
the company at Sl.25-thus retaining one half
the lands for the erection and endowment of
the institutions.
matter like this should not be ne into
ostensibly for Ant-Slavery purposes. 1t should
be put forth, advocated, and executed, simply on
the grounds OF greater convenience and profit
in the matter of home hunting, and peaceably
settling IN the honest pursuits of life; since this
would be the true issue of the thing, on large
SCALE no matter what might be the flourish and
buster of those starting in the matter first.
Let it be distinctly understood, that good eli
mate and splendid soil can thus easily and
cheaply be reached, with no exposure of pioneer
life: And what ID to hinder the poorer and
niddling class farmers and mechanics from go
| ing into something of the sort next fall and
the following spring? The subject of Slavery