Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-10-13


 When acts to establish free banks or other banks of issue, are called acts to drive specie out of the country" then, and not till then, will such acts be called by the names they ought to bear.
 With such supply of gold as we have had from California, we could have made the mo. ney of the country exclusively metallic, and that without causing the smallest disturbance in trade, or interruptng in the least any ot the le- gitimate operations of banking We could thus have placed things on a solid baSis-on such basis as no events either at home or abroad could have shaken. Instead of doing this however, it has pleased Us to use this new sup ply of gold, as only an additional means of in tatmS our paper currency.
 While the banks have, from 1846 to 1857, increased their current credits in the amount of PIP millions, they have in the same period in- creased their specie in the amount of only It millions On the 1st of January, 1916, the gold and silver in their vaults amounted to S42, ,O12,095. Or the 1st of January, 1857, the amount was S583 349, ,638.
 In one sense the difficulty of maintaining specie payments was greater in 1857 than in 1846, be- cause in this interval the number of places at which the banks promised to pay gold and sil- yer on demand, was doubled; the whole num- Der of banks and branches being TOY ill 1916 and the whole number being 14lG in 1857.
 No one will wonder at what is now occur I .l.. simple facts, namely, that in the short interval of eleven years, 7O9 have been added to the number of our banks, and 272 millions to their current credits, while only Is millions have been added to their specie.
 The banks have caused an increase in our foreign trade; that we freely admit. But the increase has not been of the right kind. It has consisted in the exportaton of 258 millions of gold and silver, and of the importation, in place thereof, of luxures to an equal amount, which we might have dispensed with. Crops in Arkansas and Arkansas Lands U p to this time 1t Is not definitely known what the yield of our cotton crois will be- After most unpropitous season, ushered in by a cold late spring and closed with most unprecedented wet fall, we conclude that our crops will fall far short of any previous season. The loss of August and September u the pick ing season cannot be recovered.
 But the picture is not so dark, for with the shadows are blended lights. Our corn crops are most abundant. We have ample for our own use, and can supply all the immigration that can possibly flow into our State, at low figures. The tide of immigration is still direct ed towards our new and rising State and with even an increased ratio, we have sufficient wild lands to supply the demand for years to come. Upon moderate estimate, Arkansas contains FIVE MILLIONS OF ACRES OF COTTON HANDS, Our lands selGom fail to produce under one bale to the acre, and when we consider their remar- kable fertility, the conclusion to Us is irresista- 1 ble, that had we the negroes to reduce these rich lands to cultivation, that Arkansas alone could produce an amount of cotton equal to the present annual crops of the whole United States The estimates have never ranged higher than three millions, eight hundred thousand bales,
 
 of the world with that amount, had she the force to cultivate her cotton soils.
 Lands here are cheap, and it would be the part of wisdom for planters in other States, on worn out lands, to turn their attention, with few hands, to each plantation, to the raising of fine stock, the cultivation of grains and grasses, and thus renew and rest their impoverished 1 land; then send their surplus forces here to carve out fortunes on our productive soils Let the old men stay at home, if they love ease and comfort above lucre, and send their stalwart sons here to subdUe these wild uncultivated tracts Once opened, and it is but the work of five hundred dollars to the hand net, annually. This is the country for young men of enterprise and especially to build up rapid, princely fortunes In planting the ruling staple. The south is slumbering over her own interest when she neglects advantages like these, for it is such downright folly, for her to be employing her capital and her energies on sterile and unpro- ductive lands, when wild wilderness of the richest lands on the globe lies upon the west bank of the Mississippi, inviting her to come and partake of its wealth.
 Arkansas presents inducements to the cotton l planting interest that no other State can pre- sent. She offers for mere sonq, of rich re- claimed bottom lands together with other character of land adapted to cotton, and all fer tile beyond measure, 5,OOO,OOO acres !! The valleys of her navigable water courses are as rich the valley of the Nile, and all are reclaimed, or are in a state of reclamaton- Situated in the cotton latitude, the early frosts farther north, and the diseases and disasters. which belong to more southerly latitude, rarely affect the certainty of our crops.
 Let come what disasters will, that we know anything of here, the Arkansas planter will always make more than he can gather, and sell dom finish picking before February.
 As yet to the planters of the old States, who are content to cultivate lands which do not yield over half a bale per acre, Arkansas presents in- ducements comparatively unknown, and we regret the ignorance prevailing on this subject. Ten bales to the hand here is an average cron and cotton at twelve and half cents per pound will make to the hand five hundred dollars. and strange it seems, that men should cultivate lands in the older States, where from three to five bales will make an average.
 Still though the wealth of Arkansas lies un :, discovered and untold, yet at no future day. Tn the rush here of men of capital, from the .'1oi States, she gives every promise of rapid rise towa,, ,,, <.