St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-05-28
St. Charles, Iowa. May 90, 1857.
A Hint for Somebody.

At this time the grocers and pro-
duce dealers of this city are importing
pickles--cucumbers in brine---from
Connecticut, by the barrel; they are
bringing potatoes from New York by
the thousand bushels, and white beans
from New Hampshire, in quantities to
suit purchasers. We know that the
thousand acres by which Chicago is
surroundcd-acresn now lying unfenced
and idle-are much too valuable to
be devoted to so vulgar purpose as
agriculture, though we often hear in
quiry--what else are they good for
but we take the liberty of suggesting
that, if few hundreds of them--those
the most remote, say five miles, from
business-were fenced and devoted to
the production Of either Of the products
we have named, they might do some
thing towards supplying the home de-
mand, besides being, what they are
not, "a source of profit to the owners.
Perhaps, too, if agricultural opera
tions were extended some what, our
Iowa neighbors who are sending for
cattle from starvation, might have
more time, as the grain would be
cheapened, to devote to the specula-
tons in which they are engaged.
We make the suggestion for what it
is WORTH Chicago Tribune.
We thank you, kind sir, for the
"hint," and "the lesson thou teachest
us we will improve upon" The truth
is, that the "speculations in which
your Iowa friends are engaged are
carried Oh by men who come from
Chicago and the East. They come;
not to fence in farms and raise corn
and potatoes, but to buy and sell land
and eat out our substance-all the
while croaking and growing because
the honest and industrious pioneer
settlers, who came one year ago, have
not raised more provisions, laid in
more groceries, built more magnifi-
cent palaces and furnished them with
damask and satin couches, perfumed
with rosewater, that they may feast
and enjoy themselves while specula-
ting in, and giving an inflated value
to our lands, thus placing them be-
yond the reach of ordinary farmers
and settlers. When men can buy
their quarter section of land to-day
for $1,000 and sell it tomorrow for
$4,000, they Of course may be expec-
ted to import cucumbers from Con-
necticut, potatoes from New York,
and white beans from New Hamp.
SHIRE" rather than go to work and
raise them Were it not for the horde
of Gland sharks" which you, Mr.
Tribune, and others east of you, pou
in upon us, then most assuredly you
Iowa neighbors would not be com
PEELED to "scnd to you for corn to saw
tL~.--- II. ..i.a th.i. e.1.Ic from stai
vation." Send us agriculturists and
keep your "sharks " at home. Far
mers we want and farmers we must
have. No where in the world does
agriculture meet Such reward as
here. Potatoes in this place are now
selling for $l,75 per bushel. The cost
Of raising them cannot be over Is cts.
per bushel. Last fall they were free
ly sold for 25 cents, and were thought
te be very plenty but SO great has
been the influx of people since then
that the demand proves far greater
than the supply, and Of course the
price has gone up. Thus it is with
all other agricultural products, and
thus it will continue to be till specu.
lation in lands shall have exhausted
itself, and men are either willing or
obliged to earn their bread by the
sweat of their brow"