New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-11-09

TIE wfsT uSDER CLOCD-HhRD TINES
FARMING THE BEsT BrsINEss-INDUcEaESr
TO EASTERN FARMERS-NOw THE TIME To
INMIGRaTE-TUE ". AND ". RAILROAD.
Correspondence Of The n. Y. Trsuas.
Iowa CITY, Nor. T. 1853.
This is the twelfth day of an uninterrupted sue
cessiOn of cloudy, drilling weather, which has
thrown a wet pail over everything in the line of
activity. Our roads are all mudorked, citizens
shut in, and farmers shut out Trade lsnguishes,
spirits drOop, hopes arc dampened, and every thing
seems clouded. Business has been duh enough for
many month past. but am told that the last
week was the dullest known here fer many months,
and appearances Justify the assertion. 1t is not
pleasant to chronicle the fact, but the West just
now full Of victims OF the " dolefu dumps" whose
Western fever has been ntermitted with chill
and whose whilUm sanguine hopes have been
incrus;ed with mold-damp Of disappointment.
To many trusting spirit, prairie land has proved
indeed dead level, decorated, perhaps with gOr-
geOus flowers but lacking fragrance and daily
losing their freshness One short year has wrought
mighty change in the circumstances and expert
ence of this entire Western country. Merchants
farmers professional men, capitalists, spectators,
aborers and all, have been brought up standing
each in debt to his neighbor, and none having the
wherewitha to pay. The crisis and the short
CROPS have made darkness visible (sOcally)' in
this one city alone and we know shat thousands
of communities are in no position to crow over u.s.
More than all is the certainty, which hangs like a
cloud over everything that it will take from two
to FIVE years for Iowa to wipe out the black debit
side of the ledger and set herself right with those
who have suffered from her speculative people and
her vile stay laws.
The lessons of the panic of 1857 are various, but
none is more palpable than that the farming COM
munity is, in the long run, the better-Ot class.
This has been proved. beyond eavi, to be the case
with Western farmers, and, to-day, the filters of
our fertile prsires are almost the only part Of our
population who seem unwrecked by the storm
which has been passing over the country They
are in debt 10 be sure, and undoubtedly have lost
greatly the almost rinOus result OF the past nn-
toward season--but they are now all sup and at it
again. giving every evidence Of energy, and hold
ing out encouraging prospects as to the more sue
cessfu results of next Springs labor. The pres
ent time is, unquestionably, the most promising to
immigration that has been known yet in the history
of Iowa. Money will now buy land at prices
which seem merely nominal as compared with
former rates. Farms improved. IN lots to suit
the purchaser" can be secured cheap and oil the
psraphernalia of agriculture, implements, stock,
&c. may BE- had at extremely low prices, for
uoneu One thousand dollars, now, can be invested
thus to better advantage than twice thatsum could
have been a year ago last Spring AS IS always the
case in the West, farmers want to own all the land
that Joins them, and too often find themselves land
ridden and in a fair way 10 be eaten up alive BY
Western interest. Many such are now anxious 10
be relieved of a part of their rolling prairies,
and on terms advantageous TO the buyer. The
West never presented greater inducements to East
ern farmers than at this this time and the coming
Winter will be- profitable season for those to come
"prospecting," who wish to be enumerated among
the money making denzens of Prairledom.
Merchandising can offer no attractions, and the
professional ranks are discouraglngly full; EN-
uloyees are far more numerous than employers;
labor is performed at very low prices and mechan
les fine work none too plenty. Our cities are all
fnll of the unemployed, who occupy offices on the
sidewalk and wear the iunereal expression OF un-
appreciated talent. There Is no room, aud vii be-
none for II Year or two, for any but farmers. For
them the whole West is one great omnibus-neyer
80 full but that more can be accommodated.
There is little local news stirring here. The
Mississippi and Missouri Railroad has not pro-
crossed any toward lis far Western terminus.
have heard that Iowa County, our next neighbor
ON the West, has concluded to withhold the bonds
voted to the road on account OF slight dlscrep-
ancy az regards the route. 1t seems the bonds
were voted with the understanding that the road
would 90 through the middle Of that county; but
the contractor or directors subsequently favored
Marengo lin the northern part of Iowa County, as
the best route. The - sOutherners" are wrathy,
and have demanded an election by the people to
decide the question, so that it is doubtful If the
company get any help at all from Iowa County
The management of the road is not considered very
sar.sghted, if even sensible, for the heavy men DO
WELD the scepter seem to forget everything but
themselves in carrying On their plans One evil
dence is the fact that although the road has ter
minated" at this point now nearly three years,
there has never been passenger ststlon-house
erected, nor any more convenient place to procure
tickets than an old baggage-car. Baggage knows
no shelter, and cross-walks are an unknown con-
yenience TO those whose means of locomotion are
their feet. Freight is reasonably We'll cared for,
but passengers have other privilege than that Of
paving four cents 8 mile for their - shake from
Davenport hither. hAWkEHE.