Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-06-10

THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.

seh 1rOa missouri.
THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.
hARRrsoNvILLE, No. May 18th, 1869.
1t has been truthfully said that the 18th
OF January was the most eventful date in
the history of Missouri The shackles of
slavery that had so long bound and de-
graded her, fell to the ground, and she
was ushered into the sisterhood of free
states. The patriots and philanthropists
reJoiced at the sound of Freedom, for
with it also came an assurance that q new
and better era had been insugurated. The
Missouri compromise" fastened slavery,
and that as legitimate result, degraded
iaoor, palsied enterprise, created unjust
social distinctions, opposed progress, and
finally plunged the State into civil war
The desolating torch was severely felt,
especially in this portion of the State,
bordering upon Kansas. Jayhawkers and
bushwhackers spread desolation wherever
they went, and for time they alternate
ly held control of the country. To cut
off the supplies furnished the bushwhsck-
ers by the citizens of the counties adjoin-
ing Kansas, and TO guard against the pos
sibiiity of their being bushwhackers,
in fact, while they pretended to be neu-
trail in politics
General Ewing issued peremptory or
ders for every person to abandon their
a..
Kansas.
The order was obeyed. Farmhonses,
fences, furniture, and everything else that
was left, was at the mercy of the SOL
diers, many of whom were from Kan
sas
The painful memories of past outrages
perpetrated by border ruffians, prompted
and Infatuated the Kansas people to acts
of violence, if not disgrace, in the des-
truction of the property thus abandoned.
Fences and farm houses disappeared like
dew before the morning sun, and the
county was made desolate.
When the war was ended, the people
returned to their lands. But they were
generally homeless and penniless. Land
was all that they owned. Their slaves
were gone. They had no further use for
the large farms that they formerly worked
with slave labor. The land was offered
for sale. Purchasers soon offered, for no
where on this continent are better oppor-
tunities for farming offered than in this
region. New buildings and fences were
made and to day the region made so desc
late by the war is more populous and the
enhanced price of its real estate makes it
more wealthy than it was before the war.
even if the value of the liberated slave l.
reckoned in the estimate.
Hore than half the people in this conn
ty have moved here since the war. Emf
grant wagons and the railroads are con-
stanriy adding to the number. Every
new conner san find land or employment
Fine rolling pralIies, with soil as black as
peat, and deeper than. can ever be turned
with plow-share, can be bought at from
five To forty dollars per acre, depending
upon its location, improvements, &c.
/" Raw land" or land unfurrowed and
unbroken, can be had at from FIVE TO ten
dollars per acre. This can after be taken.
fenced, plowed and sowed to winter wheat
which will produce a crop that will pay
the price of the land aud all the expense
incurred in raising the first crop. This
is showing the sunny side, and presup-
poses that the season will be favorable,
the crops good, and the price Of wheat
high. But on the other hand il should be
known that in this region crops are some
times destroyed by continual dry wea-
Their, at others by severe hail storms or
eyra--hoppers in summer, or by continued
rain in winter. Tho present crop was
much hurt by the rain Of last winter
The person in New England who emf
CRATES to this place will find much that l.
unlike the land be left behind him. In
stead of schoolhouses he viii find bar
rooms, saloons, and an Exchange" where
many exchange life Of sobrieiy aud a
good home for one Of drunkenness and ma
house for himself or family. He viii here
see crowds of loungers who spend much Of
their time at bar-rOOms, and discuss the
merits and dement's Of the parties en-
gagged in a recent quarrel or shooting af-
fray" or vent their spite by ''cussing the
Niger" He will find bad roads, dirty
houses called hotels, men too lazy TO work
that run them. poorly cooked food on the
table, dingy sheets upon the bed. bed
room doors without bolts or locks. and
only one thing about the house that en-
titles it 10 a first class, and that IL the
high prices charged u.