The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1857-02-17
For the Gate CITY.
For the Gate City.
Osanty subscriptions 20 lsailreads.
To His Ercelieney james ~. Grimes, Coz
ernor Of he State Of loscd

ernor Of he State Of Iopd:
Continued.
| The present is emphatically an ago of i'm
provements. 'sThe good old way, the sim
/ pie plan" of an hundred years ago, may suf-
/ fee for those who have nothing to do with
the marts of the world, or who DO not feel
the throbs of the present intellectual activi.
/ ty. The stagnation system would suit Chi
ma. Were the people of Iowa content with
the civilization Of the+sst7 century, they
might subsist without ernsfimprovements.
Pork and hominy might stay their simple
hunger; homespun linsey woolsey, - nay,
skins, might clothe them.
ALLOW 20 Nature but what Nature needs,
Mans life is cheap - beasts"
/ This, however, will not content us. In the
march Of civilization the people Of this state
mean to be neither laggards nor lpiterers.-
The works which are needed to place US in
direct connection with the great markets of
the world, and to give ready access for the
settler to our unoccupied and fertile lands,
must and will be constructed. They are not
merely desirable, they are, to our people, in
dispensable. Among the people Of the state,
whatever other differences there may be,
there are no two opinions on that point !;
there will not be two upon any proposition
to hinder the honest accomplishment of their
views.
The four great roads from the Mississippi
to the. Missouri will be completed; the aid
OF the general government renders that GER
tain. But there are others designed to rem
ties and districts, and thus to diifuse the
benefits Of their construction to larger por-
ton OF the people, at the same time swelling
the traffic on those lines.
Other counties do not grudge the advanta-
ges which those intersected by the main lines
derive from the grant of lands. They ask
only the privilege of combining their credit
and thus making for themselves roads By
which they may in some degree, participate
in the benefit of those magnificent grants
Now resident proprietors are less liberal than
the general government, and it is believed
no, unjust that their lands should contribute
with the rest, If need be, towards enterprises
BY which they will be so largely benefited
These auxiliaries neither have nor can
expect the aid Of the general government
Other means must be found for them or they,
must be abandoned. Why should those
counties of from the main lines of transit be
hlndered from reaching them BY roads of
their own construction? Ii is idle to saw
that they must be made by individual SUBJ
seripiions and without other means. Such
position yEroEs their construction for a quar-
ter of a century. >.
The character of the emigration which has
flowed into our state is well known. |, is
not made up of capitalists or men Of surplus
means for the most part, but of men who
with strong hands and moderate property
sought piece of the soil in Iowa, where, by |
their own labor, they might make homes for |
and their children.
They are not the transient locusts who |
pass over new country only to leave the |
marks of devastation behind them, nor NOM
adie tribes, encamping here while the pas
iure lasts, but substantial, intelligent settlers
and filters of the soil. They did not bring
silver and gold, but they came with rcsolute
and earnest purposes, bringing a healthy
the arts, education, religion,-the
rue elements Of a state.
The people have CAPITAL in forms which
il the surest basis for credit
They have lands of unsurpassed fert lity:
hey can refer to your message to show what
esuits their industry has already achieved
They have enterprise to undertake and carry
through all desirable things, public or pri-
ate, which can be accomplished by labor
I is no empty boast to say that their sub
tantial resources to build and maintain
works of Improvement are unsurpassed by
hose of almost any other people. You,
ouTself, sir, have demonstrated that fact.-
But what they lack is CAPITAL IN THE FORM or
IosEY. In country where property is dis
ributed without great inequalities, there
will be few cases of great wealth, and hence
Individual credit will be limited, while the
ombined credit of single community is |,
bundant. Why may not cities and counties
vail themselves Of their own credit TO
ccomplish what is required by their own
interests? 1t would seem as if the people,
a those cases, possessed intelligence enough
0 determine by their own votes what they |.
1ouid do, without interference or super
ision 10y outside or hostile interests. /
hey are met by you in the first place with !
ne objection that it is ssinequitable to allow ,
the people Of one portion Of county to ,
fasten an Indebtedness upon remote por- ,
ton Of the county for other than leciti I
mate county purposes" Not stopping to
lquire what are legitimate county purposes,
whether the construction OF roads and |
ridges to facilitate travel and intercourse,
re such, or moi, Jet us examine this inius-
ce which you charge upon county subscrip-
ons. u
The construction, say OF railroad, bene-
Is the lands immediately adjacent, and in