Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-05-29
HE WEEKLY MINNESOTIAN
= A / n II u AUL l.:
SATURDAY MORNING, MAY 30, 1858.
Tobacco, a Drain on our Purses---shaii
we not Stop its Importation by C""i'
waiting IL Ourselves!

Tobacco, a Drain on our Purses---shaIi
we not Stop its Importation by C"''i'
waiting Ii Ourselves
That the time has come when MlnneSotianS
should turn their eyes from exclusively gaz-
ing abroad for prosperity, TO consideration
of their own internal resources and to ben
eft themselves by proper application and
cultivation of those resources Is q truth
which we have heretofore enforced upon the
attention of our readers, and which cannot
be too often repeated.
We are the importers of thousand arti-
cles of consumption, necesstious and luXur-
ious, for which We have topay money abroad !;
which articles can be just as well raised
amongst ourselves, and so save for other
uses the capital which now exhausts us in Or
der TO build up other and foreign localities
We import our HORSES, when in no part OF
tie world can the equine race be produced in
more eminent perfection: for beauty, FORM
strength, health and hardihood, rivaling the
animal chiyalry of the globe.
Our pure dry atmosphere, and freedom
from slushy winters, and extensive meadows
and plains of grass, render Minnesota amongst
the most favorable of lands for the raising
and grazing of herds of CATrLE-yet our
work oxen and beef for our markets is sup
piled 10 us from Iowa and Illinois, and even
distant Missouri contributes largely to feed
Us in this particular. Ought we not to cry
shame on our own lazineSs and want of enter
prise, and still more, want of patient indus
Try. which permits such suicidal state Of
things to hinder our onward march towards
greatness
For SHEEP also Minnesota would be sort
Of paradise, where their health would be al
was good with the proper care; and their
sroE would fae under the Influence of Our
clear dry, cold winters, and afford rcmune-
rative crop which, if we even did not avail
ourselves of our own water-power to manu-
facture it FIR supplying the Valley below us,
could easily be sent to market almost any
distance, as affordng large values, packed in
small bulks, with comparatively trifng
weightS-yet, sheep-raising is almost entire
IL neglected Us a source Of cultivation and
revenue!
There are other items of profitable labor
for which our soil and climate are adapted,
but which, in the rage of speculation and OF
getting rich suddenly by other means than
hard knocks and resolute application to la
borous digging, have been disregarded or
overlooked until at length the crash has ar
rived, and we find ourselves dumped sudden
" upon the earth while our gas balloon of
prosperity has sailed off into the ether Of un
known regions.
But as we are upon mother-earth once
more let Us address ourselves to coaxing her
10 discount little for US for we'll attended
TO- this Is bank not lskely to break and rea-
dy to cash all properly drawn drafts upon it,
without demanding three or five or the ex-
penditurc of more than one per cent, the labor
of our Individual selves, as interest per month
for the principal loaned us
Amongst other articles of consumption that
we have not named, TOBACCO unqucstionably
forms no inferior amount Of that gross sum
of our importations, for which money-the
hard cash--is required from us in return.
A good many tens of thousands of dollars
would not cover the tobacco bill of this State
per year.
This being the case, does not sound politi-
cal and pecuniary economy point out tie po-
licy Of enleavoring to save this item of ex-
peniiture from in future draining our pockets
of their life blood?
There are however, but two ways to put
a stop to this DRAIN One is, by voluntarily
disseminating to use the wecd-to quit smok-
in- it. or chewing it, or taking it in the form
of snuff
This, it strikes us, would be the most SEN
sible course. 1t is the one we should prefer:
and which would make the largast saving to
the community. Tobacco is purely an ar
ticle of luxury and if it is necessity with
some, it is because appetite has become
abused and the brown poison has become
second nature, like the eating of arsenic in
opium chewing in Asia, or rum-drinking is
all over the world.
But we have no idea that this abstinence
plan Of avoiding the large waste of capital
our State is involved in every year in the
purchase and importation of tobacco, will
ever he adopted. That habit is second ma
ture,"s is a common saying but in tie case
of tobacco it may be said to be first rative
also; for the most hopeless Of all hopeless
tasks any physician ever tried is, inducing a
patient whom it is daily wasting even into
death, to discontinue its use we have seen
the attempt frequently made, but never yet
have seen success attend it.
This plan, therefore, may be considered
hopeless. The ether is, to raise tobacco
cure tobacco-and manufacture tobacco here
&a Minnesota, andi we acW buy the stuff, only
pay our money from one pocket into the
other; and give only to Minnesotians the
dollars those people abroad now abstract from
our purses to pay for the products of their
soil-the results of Men hbor-the fabrics
OF their manufacturing skill.
This is what parts Of Pennsylvania: and a
large portion of New England, particularly
in the Connecticut Valley, are now doing.