The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1860-05-02
Fer the Grand Haven News.
PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRY,

----- . ..r.
Messrs. BARNS: / was much gratifed
in the perusal of an article in your issue
of the lth inst, headed "Our Present."
in which the writer utters some very SEN
sible, wholesome and often reiterated
truths, presHihe relative TO sonc palpa-
BILE hindrances to the growth and prosper
ity of your village, interspcrsed wilhsome
excellent suggestions as to certain reforms
and "internal improvements" that might
be introduced 10 enhance your prosperity
as a village and enlarge its sphere of in
dustrial pursuits. Now there is an idea
in addition TO those advanced by the wri-
ter above alluded to, which, if carried out
practically, would not only enhance tho
growlh, and iticrease the business opera
tions in your village an hundred fold, but
would enable our county to rank in impor-
tance among the very first in our State;
and that is, greatly increased attention
TO agriculture.
The fact is, gentlemen, and there is no
use of attempting to dodge the truth,
numbering, stripping the forests of their
pine in the winter, and manufacturing aud
marketing lumber during the summer, at
ruinous rates, is the very bane that poi
sons and dries up every source of indus
trial prosperity in our midst; for the rea-
son that hundreds spend their time in the
lumber woods during tho winter at hard
labor, equal to that cnjoined by the Sc
verest discipline of our most rigid prisons
upon their convicts, from the first fall of
the snow until its disappearance in the
spring. And what is the footing of the
bill? AS an instance that will exhibit
fair statement of the case, take the follow
ing:
A contracts with B to bank 100000
feet Of logs during the winter; r at a stip-
ulated price, TO furnish A with "sup-
plies" for meh and teams at the "lowest
market price," to be dcbited to its nc
count; mon and teams are employed suf-
ficient TO accomplish the job according TO
contract and set to work; spring arrives;
the logs are "raftcd and run, scaled and
delivered" the books balanced between
the parties, and A finds himselfindebted 10
B in the sum of two hundred and fifty
dollars, though A at the outset fancied he
was going to make good thing of it.
And what is TO be done? b must be
paid, and, in large majority of cases of
the kind, the following summer is con-
sumcd in trying to pay this past indebt-
edness; and if circumstances are such
that it can not be done during the sum-
mer, the following winter must be devot-
ed to tho accomplishment of that object;
and B, in order to get what is already due
him, must adyance little moro 10 A, now
and then, in consequence Of which and
the discouraging circumstances under
which A operates, he finds himself as bad
or worse off the following spring. But
he must do something, and sticks to the
lumber woods, hoping some day to re-
trie,c his failure by some stroke Of good
luck that never comes.
Occasionally lumbermen make little
something in the lumber woods, but of
late such instances are rare, particularly
among the "jobbers." It is sad waste
of time and industrial energy. And I
am rejoiced that many of the old lumber
men are becoming tired, perfectly sick Of
the pine woods, and are resolved hcreaf-
ter, as soon as they can get once fairly
out, to keep out of the business, and turn
their attention TO the moro remunerative
occupation Of farming. This very same
numbering has crippled our prosperity as
a county wonderfully, particularly within
the past few years, by directing the at
tention Of many Of our hardy yeomanry