Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-07-17


among Us, whether for wages, hired on
z any system of shares or cropping" 81
+ the hiring out of land for stipulated price
per acre, all are Inadequate. uncertain,
: unsatisfactory, ultimately injurious and
? permanently inadvisable, since with un-
certain tenure of his land and home, the
! renter can have no indueement 70 i'm
prove or save either, at even the smallest
1 cost to himself, and though it might TO
some extent add 10 his own comfort or
( profit, and with a migratory life Of an
/ nual temporizing, he can have no inter-
est III society, schools, churches or cOun-
/. try, whose benefits can come only with an
T established stability; and apart from
these objections adduced, there still stares
? before u- the patent, painful fact, that
despite the most earnest wishes we may
have for either of these classes Of labor
or any other, we have peither.
And again we cannet overlook the fact
, that elsewhere End ia all times, the
? wages Of the laborer working tbs whole
possible time, has been barely sufficient
+ to maintain himself and his dependents,
r while here working leisurely portion of
J his time, he unduly thrives at the ex-
pense of land or its representative nor
can we fail 20 see in this abnormal state
of things, that labor which is but an
, ephemeral dependency of earth, is not
brought 10 its full capacity Of develop.
mcnt, but fattens on the consumption,
( exhaustion, waste Of the true material of
prosperity, for in the grand economy Of
nature, labor is but income while land is
capital and sequent TO these consideFa-
tions we must accept as fact, that to
make agriculture profitable or even con-
tinuously possible, a country must be SO
filled with labor as to make it at least
always procurable by the farmer-in
such competitive quantity, as to be man
ageable and free from crisal strikes-and
with such lowness Of wages as to leave TO
the farmer 8 preponderance of chances
in his margin of uncertainties.
There can be 10 fear that labor as an
entirety can suffer by this plentitude,
no fear that it can ever produce 1.-THE
OF the toll, prtvation and suffering we
now incidentally seek to alleviate, either
directly, or by the suggestion OF future
outlets of relief and in our remarks,
however it may be attem 3ted to garble,
distend or pervert them, there is no ar,
rayment Of land against labor or the
I laboreTs' claims; we propose none, adj
/ nit none, but we must see that the inte,
ests of little minority of labor is, by il
very paucity, preponderating too heaVhf
. against US. To permit an OpfresSi-
its strength is lost, il as contrary 10 Ihis
son as to encourage our house to toRnt
I about our heads because its old fouLyyn
tiOns will no longer bear it, and WetIe-
] propose to suggest the selection ! of
adoption Of such labor as by that sethe
ton will be most benefited and benau- /
ting. ses. T,
: Is reason, humanity, charity, unssIy
ling TO equalize the distribution o. f6ers 4
to adjust the universal balance G ed 10
land and labor, with a care OF FtT; esi- /
/ harmonic capital with labor and 6enble 4
both; to accomplish the end even high. I
+ and more pervasive than worldly profit
/ to oursel ves-the inestimabie benefit of
I increased supply of needed products-the
/ increased civilization to be evolved, the
I relief to the t0iling suffering millions Of
I the Old World, only yearning for that eX-
paDse of opportunity whose very waste
{ is quilting us2 De we hesitate which of
+ the two sacrifices shall be made-land to
I the transitory interests OF labor, or the
T seeming interests Of petty section of
( labor, to the eternal interests of land?
/ Tgnantry.- for and against this
| there is much to be said by both land
lord and tenant, and We pqrpOsely ad
vert 10 this head sparj frOm the PeriOdi-
cal hiring of land for stipend or for
shares, TO distinguish it from the unsta-
ble system of migratory renters, and be-
cause from reading of " English ten f.
antry, prosperous and happy, there |
seems to have been adopted delusion /.
that tenantry is some distinctive system /
or science as yet unknown to Us, and I
free from the objections Of each of our (
systems of applying labor to land-an .
underlined solution of the problem Of our
difficulties, which needs but to be ac- .
cepted by US.
Tenantry is renting Cover it with .
whatever sOphisms we may Of technical /
distinction-invest it with whatever illu- /
siOns We please of romance, and hang to [
il whatever hopes we can, that it is 1
something else and something to save US,
10 its naked self it is cropping, and in its .
naked fact it is hiring, for it is the pro-
curemeut of service, or the product OF |
service in exchange for capital or the
use Of capital, and its profit to him who /
employs IT, depends entirely on its abund-
ance, for its abundance insures every I
other excellence.
But suppose tenantry to be all our
bouyspt fancies may be pleased to paint .
it, we cannot fail to see that We have it
not, nor can take Il at q grasp, for any
system of it to be endurabie, must be
adapted to the country aud its belong
ings-must be a time-perfected c0mpro
mise Of the e1igencies Of an hereditary
or successive descent Of land, labor and l
proprietOTship, and Of selt-absorbed train
ing and adaptation, p0ssible only in long
holding system of entail a Vagsalsge Of
fact, however little it may be law, it
must have been developed by long pas
SAGE through abuses-must be attained
through those slow graGations, which,
by the most Improbable succession Of
impossible circumstances, cannot giUe as
a system Of teHdHtry or eUeR its BJ8teriat
until iCe shall have lost our lands.
Having attempted to discuss the suit
ableness or the uusuitableness Of the
different lab0F and its systems, we are
forced to the admission that We have
none, and We trust We have only 10 point
to the inevitable consequences Of a con-
tinued dearth of it, as contrssted with
the immediate effect on the home and
agricultural value and on the selling en-
hancement of our lands Of the multi
plication Of effective population among
Us.
Our lands are unused, proiitless, ex-
pensive, preponderaDt, overwhelming.
We have so little labor that we are
poCr--we have so much land that We are
poor and like the miser who buys no
purse,-we stretch awhile our falling
palms over uncurrent acres, whilst grin
ming strangers wait their fall between
our fingers.
With all oar reasoning Oh whatever
premises based-OHr faith that We will
somehow be provided f0g-Our hopes of /
miracles for our especial deliverance-
there 1aunts blazenly bsfore US the
present want and the coming naked
necessity Of labor efficiency place its
distinctive title under whatever special
nomenclature we may plesse) and in .
vain we look for its approach from any of !
the sources passed before US. The north
however able to spare it, will not furnish |
it-nor has the ihrifty laboror of the /
north been 50 thFiftless that he has failed ,
to make a home he is lOath TO leave, nor I
is its OScil}atiRg populace Of sufficient
Importance 10 be considered. /
Ia the long, cold winters Of the north
in Switches prairies and in forests SEEM
ing To them impenetrable, and in the
sunniest heat Of our farthest south, colo I
nies have as if by magic, made Arcadias {
and oases; have we known any to fail !?
Then why not here, central, possessed Of {
an average Of the advantages of both I
extremes and of advantages unknown to i
either? The answer is with ourselves. {
Conspicuously possessing the attributes /
we would seek in colOnists, we find the Z
agricultural Germans, and we might as (
well expect our restaurateur because Of {
being a Frenchman to be a teacher Of his I
language in its purity, or a maker of kid )
gloves, as to cite the feeble, untimeiy, I
misjudged and misdireeted attempts to Z
make farm hands of the promiscuous !
Dutch and Germans cast to US, whose I
very separateness and unpTeparatiOn I
should at once mark their worthlessness
or worse; honest, hardy, industrious, J
skilled IN his calling, smiable, sober,
temperate, frugal, as certain to remem-
beY as slow TO learn, loyal to the govern
ment that protects him, true to the en-
ployer wGo deals fairly with him, faithful {
to the calling he can do best at, and with
all these qualities so part OF his nature
so fixed by custom, reason and neees-
sity, that he will not soon lose them
more disincliDed to adopt the vices than
to imitatethe virtues with which he may '
be thrown, tenacious of his own rights
and customs as indisposed to subvert ]
those of Others, taught, by long necessity,
but urcrl- thrift orc tho reel r,rolrr I