The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-08-03
'Hlleo Cnninrs IhGSy Snd ChslP.tS hslP 70 Mig er

Varied Industry n Help TO Hix er
Culture and Character.
The following elegant and forcible ex-
tract Is from recent essay by J. B. Steb-
bins, OF Michigan, q close observer and
veteran writer on questions concerning
internal interests and the true economy of
the West:
No country in the world is so well adapt-
ed to that varied labor and skill which
grow with and help increase Civilization
and freedom, as ours. Rich in abundant
and varied products, rivers and lakes, natu-
raj highways far inland, water-power m
every State, steam and skill TO lse II.
everywhere-sll combine TO bring produ.
Ger and consumer side by side.
All this would come naturally with &
true policy of government, 70 put obstacles
aside That policy can help or hinder
greatly, bringing thereby prosperity or
ruin.
A farmer, in Michigan or Wisconsin,
for instance, raises WOOL A waterfall is
heard from his',door, or the puff of steam
engine cutting lumber from the adjseeIf
forest; but bis..wool il taken to the sea-
board, and the cloth he wears and thetools
he uses, brought from some workshop in q
foreign land, thousands of miles away.
His wheat, corn and cattle go TO New Eng-
land or to Europe 20 be sold, ala0ags at a
price goverTed by foreign market. and he
gets that price less the cost of transporta-
ton and commission and the risk Of shin.
I0Teek. Spend half these costs in putting
the wster-wheel in place, whereby ths
stream might be his servant; or in MAKING
the waste power Of the steam engine turn
lsthes and WELD trip.hammers, and bis
wool is woven and his tools msde.
On Lake Superior, in Illinois, Wiseon.
cOnsin and Missouri, in Ohio and Ken
lucky, we have vast mineral wealth-cOp-
per, lead and iron.
Why should not the West make its own
iron and steel, and send abroad fine ousIf-
ties for specisl uses ?
The Northwest should manufacture,
too, the wool it now exports so largely.
No country, exclusively agricultural,
ever grew permanently rich. To tska
from the earth and not wear it out, the
farmer must give back. Let this be done.
and crops increase with the growth of pop-
ulstion; neglect this, and when decay
shall come to the best land is but q ques-
tion Of time: come it will, inevitably.
We can not have the best farming until
We have the best manufacturing, in varied
forms and materials, each an indispenss-
bic help to the growth and psrfectness of
the other.
Give US both, and the blending of those
varied experiences and Vocstions, the
meeting and mingling of these many life
currents, tinged and shaped By such wide
mastery of man over Nsture's forces and
materials, IS full Of benefit. It is eiyilizs-
tion, culture, wealth of soul as we'll as
purse. To the farmer il is increase of the
product of his acre, economy of exchange,
work of hand or brain, for whatever eft
OF power or character his children may
possess, instant and constant call for a va
riety of labor, and al the while the thrill
OF inventive genius pulsing through the
serene quiet of his life In the fields, saving
it from all nsrrowness or stsgnstion, that
be may more enjoy Natures beauty and
the better make her forces serve him.