The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1869-02-04
Tennessee and Iowa.

Almost all the papers are now in
viting attention to tho magnificent
condition ofIowa. Her population
at the commencement Of the war
was rated at about 856, 900. $4,000 of
her gallant sons rushed to tho front
to rescue the nation from the peril
Of rebellion, and on many battle.6elds
they covered their State ind thetii>
selvee with glory, d glory which was
never dimmed or. furnished. Now
the population is placed at 100000
as the lowest figure. Four parallel
lines of railroad are completed, or
their completion assured, stretching
ACROSS the State from the Mississippi
to the Missouri, while these are in.
torsected by numerous cross toads,
affording ready outlets for all the
bounteous products Of soil unsur-
passed in fertility as her andulating
prairies are in beauty. She has only
two cities with a population reaching
10000 and only four Or Ave more with
10000. With all her present popula.
ton and its marvellous increase and
bewildering promise, the State debt
is never over $500, 200 and never can
exceed this, because the Constitution
forbids it. Iowa had 10000 irhabi.
tants in 1886, while territory at
tached to Wisconsin, and only o.
600 when erected into State in
ts4B.
Tennessee is more than three times
the age Of Iowa with q climate as
much superior as Italy is to Sweden;
with much soil of equal fertility, and
much more adapted to crops which
can never mature in Iowa, but which
are vastly more profitable than any
cultivated there. She has more and
better rivers than Iowa; timber much
superior and more abundant; a min
eral wealth which would be fabulous
in Iowa; railroad system much old
or and far more costly, yet, with all
these advantages OF age climate, crops,
timber and minerals, Iowa is almost
out of sight in the race Of wealth and
prosperity. Whence comes iii?
Freedom, intelligence and enterprise
have done it. Iowa welcomes the
emigrant without any questions con-
corning whence be comes or what
are his opinions. She opens her arms
and affectionately embraces him.
She allows him full freedom of
thought and of speech. She protects
bis home; his school house and his
church. No sneering pretenders pass
coldly by, affecting ridiculous supe.
riority which has no foundation ex-
cept their own boasting. No masks
ed bullies and bravadoes prowl at
night to distribute orders conveying
the alternative Of fight or DEATH
Her laborers sleep sweetly and safely
after the daily toll, and when settling
day comes the ledger and not the
pistol decides all differences.
Thus acre after acre is reclaimed
and made productive, until stacks
multiply and granaries burst with
tullness. Warehouses in vain strive
to receive the abundance and cars to
bear it away. Railroads grow rich
with stocks and dividends, for they
are everywhere thronged with out
going emigrants and laden with in
coming freight.
Will Tennessee never learn o les
son? Will she never learn that a
whisky drinking, poker playing, ne
gro killing and land exhausting pop
llation is not that which makes
States wealthy and prosperous? Will
she never learn thatin,lustry is worth
thousand times more than chivalry;
that modest merit which quietly
strives and silently succeeds is vastly
superior to the clustering brag which
shouts itself hoarse only to attract
the worlds attention to its ignomini-
GUS failures ?-Nenphis Post.