Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-01-22

If it halts, even, thousands suffer and are
pinched with the pressure its mighty weight
CARRIES; lift takes one backward step as many
thousand are crushed to atoms
Figures aside the demand for and the
price of labor have kept an even pace in Nash
vile with the rapid increase in the price of
property, till now now, the value Of property
threatens TO outstrip the value of labor, and
in that event, what does it avail the poor son
LOT Toll to be the landlord of his stately man
sion when his own labor is so much below par
that it can barely yield thin broth and lean
cakes g for two"
If the same cause which operated TO slack
en- the speed of our progress in the past, and to
break down our manufactures, still exists then
lit becomes US to become scholars to the Past and
Now, huge iron factories viii hardly spring mp
here tomorrow and march right on to success
will they 2 ESQ, why have they not done so
ere now. Look on College hill at the ruin and
there again, or why it ever grew tired and
stoppeda 1t had energy and capital, and labor
and raw material, and good demand. And
it can have all these again, and let me inquire
desire, may ask for your dry docks and boat
yards your heavy machine works and mann
moth wood works to make and work up the
walnuts you send abroad and buy backl
! All chic ar,roaot;o, ;S onlv hv of hint
and inuendo, finally inducing the answer to
the enigma so portentious to the future pros
perity of Nashville. There is but one solution
to my mind, and that may be told briefly:
| I6egiere Ndshoilge has been retarded tUenty
gears behind her groaoM By the high price o.
coal, and this one argument is sufficient to con-
vince me of this trutb,-the value of real es-
tate, of rents and labor, have suddenly began
and continued to increase as soon as the first
fair prospect opened of cheapening coal to the
city, and in proportion as this prospect has
grown into a reality, in the same proportion
has property advanced and trade increased.
/ am further assured that every man in
Nashville recognizes this proportion as being
true, from the fact that they even now look
to the day in the future when coal will be
cheaper; but whether that confidence is well
founded remains to be seen.
Cheap coal is the essential basis of the
growth and prosperity of all large cities; it is
the indispensable element-almost the sole re-
quisite to success. We can better afford to pay
high prices for food temporarily, than for coal.
1t is as much to the interest Of the day labor
er as the rich manufacturer, not because it sf-
fords him comfort and lessons his individual ex-
penses, but because it builds up other interests
which gives demand for his labor at remu-
neratiug rates.
The landed proprietor must have cheap coal
to sustain the value of his real estate, for it
furnishes the new conner means of employment
by which he can afford to own and pay for at
home.
Nashville must have coal at 10, IL IL and
Is cents per bushel, and she must have it soon
To get it at these rates is to the interest of all,
and to effect that object every man in the com
munity might we'll afford to contribute largely
of his annual income for the next FIVE years,
upon a reasonable guarantee of its final con-
summation.
How this can be accomplished shall ep :
deavor to explain. B.