Weekly Clarksville chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 185?-1857, 1857-04-24
THE LAND MANIA lIN ThEwEsTs

1
I al 55fit,G fe1Ess o1-1af' z 'lss. ad tHssseal.
i We are told, (says the philadelphia In
'tqnirer, that the mania prevails TO fearful
Ie4tent in the West and that unlessitheck-
ed some serious disaster Will inevitably
follow Millions Of dollars have. in the
aggregate, been invested IN this way, and
in many cases by individuals who have
/ postponed the payment Of their2j 2justaobli-
cations They have heard SOME marvellous
stories of the increased prices Of land, ,7cf
towns having started up sutdehlyiin what
a.few years ago, was comparative wildere
ness of large fortunes thus realized, and
hence they have become excited5 and in
some sense infatuated, and invested al
their surplus means--nay, means thatwerel
not suplus-and somewhat in the same
spirit of the individual who buys a lottery
ticket That in certain localities of the
West, and particularly in Iowa, Minnesota,
and Kansab, a great advance in the prices
of land has taken place, is beyond all
question, But while We hear, of these,
We hear little or nothing Of the vast tracts,
that are comparatively valueless, and are
likely so to continue for a long period to
come. at this moment. thousands and
tens Of thousands Of acres Of land may be
obtained, even in, the remote regions Of
New jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia,
for mere song. In the course of time,
they will probably come into play when
the population has become far denser than
at present. But, railways and roads must
! first be constructed, woods must be leyelled,
under brush must be destroyed, and the
spirit Of Improvement must approach att
least within a few miles of the respective
,neighborhoods We observe that some Of
our Western contemporaries are getting
alarmed at the mania to which we have re-
ferred They say that it. is injecting even
classes Of the community, tbat have cen
heretofore cautiods and sober -minded
Nay, that in some Instances, valuable pro-
perties have been sold or been mortgascd,
for the purpose of raising means to invest
in western Iandsl A sad innfatuati9h, for.
where ono speculation Of this kind win
result in success, fifty will be attended by
disappointment ana failure. For the hardy
advontureF who is fun of health and
energy, to gather up his little means, and
locate on some fertile spot within a few
miles of thriving town, determined to
earn his living by the sweat Of his brow,
is one thing. But, for the man of family
to dispose Of, or to mortgage the little pro-
perty he holds, under the delasioh that be
will speedily realize fortune through the
agency Of speculation in Western lands, is
another, as many, we boldly predict, will
discover TO their sorrow We therefore
venture to utter word of warming. This
system Of speculation is overdope, The
few only will succeed, while the many viii
suffer. Nay, we have already heard Of
Instances in which land thus purchased
has been found utterly valueless and was
sold by shark or spectators, who knew
at the time either that It was sterile, or far
beyond the profitable reach Of human in.
dustry, FOR many, years to come.
/ a.. .hH. sl. no n t-T.slsy ibd'sr
Our y NAvY-Acoording to a sl5'teEent
recently p2blished, We have nineteen men,
ofrwar in commission on squadrons, VIZ;
Home, threc c, numbering 80 men; Pacific,
five, 900 men; Mediterranean, three, 800
menj Afrioap, three, 800 men; Brazil,
two, G6O men East Indies, three 63o men.
We have, be sides, one on the lakes, and
three or four n surveying or other sPeeaigel
service, There are ten ships Of the line
thirteen frigate s, ninetocp sloops, two br5igsi
and nineteen steamers, many, however,
now undorgoin repairs or stu on the
stocks, The VIII ole number of officers in
active serice is 1898.
ray aAre those bells ringing for fre?'
Inquired SIMON of TIBERtus, "'No, in
deed" answered THE, "they have gotplen-
ty of fire, and the bellsaronog ringing for
water to match '
4. PAPER IN THE JNITED SrArEs--The
consumption of paper in the United States