Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-04-30
THE ,aEAAIs OF popiyg.sTtay wEsr.
WARD.

WARD.
1t stated on the basis of reliable a. atistics
OF railroad travel furnished at Chicago, that
even at this time, aud little earlier in the
season, when travel is comparatively light,
that the number Of persons passing that point,
West, over those who pass East, IS between
three and four thousand each month; an aver
age which will probably be increased by the
approach Of warmer weather TO ten thousand
per month. Remembering that Chicago is
but one point in the many lines Of travel to
the West and that accounts reach us--further,
that the average of families who enter Kansas
to locate themselves are about TWO hundred
per week, which, giving only five individuals
to each family, would number over fifty thou
sand per year, and we then begin to see and
appreciate the sources of that rapid growth in
population and wealth which, in every decade,
Is building States here and there in the remote
West, such as rival the States in this quarter,
the growth Of centuries,
Contemplating all this, and remembering
the priyations and myriad disabilities which
greet the earlier settlers in all those far off
territories, considering the actual suffering,
the dangers waiting upon the new corners from
conflicts with savages dispossessed Of their
hauntS, from disease, and too often from the
lawiess and unsettled condition Of society. and
Is it not marvellous that ever advancingan in
creaSing armies of emigrants crog! upon each
other S tracks, as all restiessly seek novelty in
new homes so far away from the comforts
amidst which the majority were reared?
There must certainly be an unwonted fasci-
nation in this life of adventure in the far
West, Of which the staid communities in this
quarter, prac ically know little or nothing.
Content in the older States-as most persons
are-to merely vegetate as it were in the ham,
let or home, where born, the wonder is that
these old communities can afford so unceasing
a supply Of recruits fer the Rocky Mountain
region and the slopes of the Pacific And vet
the movement goes on; expansion there, with
no perceptible contraction here; until the won
der rises to amazement at the growing great
ness of people, who daring everything, seem
to believe there can be no limit in their march
toward greatness and empire.
We scan all this; we marvel at it; and again
and again we debate with ourselves whether
some method cannot be devised to turn some
of these currents of population, of industry
and capital hitherward. The thousand advan-
tages already in our possession, and which
these restless seekers after homes might share,
and a few Of which we will name, cannot be
had, for years, in the far west Whilst here
we are already supplied with railroads, turn
pixies, bridges, schools, churches, with cheap
and fertile lands well improved, the settler far
yonder may have to wait for years before his
own heavy contributions Of labor and capital
will suffice to furnish him with these aids to
progress and Improvement; whilst meanwhile,
his family must wait patiently for the needful
return for all this.
And what the real weight of some Of these
disabilities may be, we can have an idea, when
late statements make it plain that it takes
three bushels of wheat or its value to get one
TO market; the value Of farm labor being thus
brought down to discouragingly low rate.
And when--as in portions Of Texas-it takes
four bales of cotton to carry one to market;
Or when, as in other portions of the region
west, the corn raised by toilsome endeavor is
found to be the cheapest fuel, these settlers
who have accepted the disability of living re-
mote from cheap transportation must remem-
Der with longing hearts the old homes in States
like our own. where every bale of straw, or
husks even, brings its highest value in cash.
and where, consequently, the farmer sees the
reward of his tolls as his work progresses.
10 be sure, there may be compensation for
much of this in the consciousness or belief
that if not he himself, that his children NAV
reap the reward of all this self sacrifice; the
ambition may be all absorbing which proposes
the settlement of his children upon farms
around him At least, that is one of the
weaknesses i'll the case oftentimes. But in
country like our own, how does the man know
who has moved to Kansas for the purpose of
finding scope and verge enough for his family,
but that the moment his children are old
enough to break away from the home circle,
one may be straightway bending his steps to
Oregon, others to Utah or California?
We of the older States see all this, specu-
late idly upon it, wonder at it. And still the
question recurs-cannot Maryland with its
manifold advantages suffice to attract hither
some portion Of those streams of population
which in the nature Of the case must for a long
time fare badly in those territories and States?
We of Maryland had at the last census added
to our population in one decade one hundred
and ten thousand souls. What we have lost
by the upheavals Of the late conflict, we have
no means OF knowing at present One thing.
however, we do know; and the bare announce
ment Of the fact should startle every public
spirited citizen Of The State to some exertion,
some endeavor to turn stream of population
hlther, and that is-that single person here,
the new Commissioner of Emigration has had
conhded to him for sale, some two hundred
and sixty thousand acres Of Improved farming
lands in the State. We repeat it, this is a
startling fact; and now if we do not take some
active measures, if our people do not see the
necessity of some special endeavor to set forth
our advantages, such as may enable us to win
our share OF the nation moving populations.
Ii we sit down quietly to see year after year
those great currents of population surging
onward past US; to Kansas, to Utah, Mon
tana, Colorado, and so on, we may still drag
our way YEARLY and slowly onward, making
progress, indeed but left SO far behind at last
IN the race, that our influence as a State will
be all but lost in the mighty growth of newer
communities.
THE GREAT NATIONAL FAIR.
those who are disposed to aid in one oft