The Portland daily press., 1869-05-25

Tuesday Morning, May 25, 1869.
Letter from the Northwest.

| Knowing as / do mich of the material in
terests and resources, and commercial and
manufacturing Importance Of Maine, as well
as of the energy, industry, intelligence, econ
omy and general prosperity of her people,
with whom my lot was cast for full quar-
ter of century,-and having had for the last
few years opportunity for careful observation
and intimate acquaintance with the soil, pro
ductions, modes of business aud people of
several of the most important States of the
SO called 'Northwest,' have thought that
series of brief articles, comparing the two sec
tions, showing something of their simllaritles
and dissmilarities, their "stylcs" of business,
standards of action, degrees Of prosperity, edu-
cational, social and other advantages, etc,
might not only be interesting to the readers
of the Press, but possibly do something to-
ward correcting many popular errors, and dis
pose some who are doing well to "let wei
enough alone" l trust, however, that in
what | may have occasion to write, l shall
not find 1t necessary to make another. single
sentence quite so long and breathless as the
one with which bave opened.
My present point of observation is not less
than seventeen hundred miles from the beau
tiful Natural seaport" the metropolis of the
"Dirigo" State, and such distance is alto
gether sufficient to lend much enchantment
to the view with which your people particu-
larly on some dismal, drizzy, foggy day, with
unpleasant "east winds" prevaiingly, regard
this region, Of proverbially clear sky and dry
lofu nh Of oIaox,
bread. When this distance is bridged by ac-
nal trayel, and the "Down Easter" looks at
the frontier States Of the West face to face,
much Of the enchantment connected with a
longer sight dissolves, and he finds that here
as there industry and economy alone are sure
to win, that thrift results only from determin-
ed, persistent effort, and that no more here
than in his own State do fat pigs run about
the streets ready baked, with carver and fork
sticking in their backs, squeallng for some
body to eat them.
If some diseases are comparatively light or
scarcely known here that are both common
and formidable in the East there are others
to which your people are but slightly exposed
which levy terrible contributions upon hu-
man comfort at the West Doctors, "drugs
and medicines ale quite as common here as
with you, while the sexton thrives, and "God's
Acre" finds as ready population as any
where in the olden States. The idea that it
is necessary to shoot man to commence at
burying ground in the West, is 'played OUT
and such Craze appendages of settlement
come forward rapidly and in natural order.
If wheat and some other products Of the
soil grow here in wild profusion, SO DO not
school houses and churches, (outside of large
and ambitious towns,) and other monuments
of social and intellectual progress. If "igno-
rance is bliss" the people near the frontier
who seldom see newspaper and enjoy few
educational advantages, are in a decidedly
blissful state. If you have fogs, january
thaws" and "cold snaps" we can fully match
you in sudden changes Of weather, and give
you a record covering one hundred and ffty
degrees of the thermometer, reaching from
one hundred and four above, in July down
down, clear down to forty-sir degrees belo,v
zero in January!
We can show you the most delightfully."- re-
freshing nights in summer, following terribly
hot days, when the first of the evening one
is tempted to strip to the skin and ssit in
his bones" but before morning anxiously
pulls the blankets around his quvering flesh !;
and while such nights ara confessedly con-
duciye to repose, and"woo natures sweet re-
storer, balmy Sleep" they and the exposure
to which they tempt, are equally conducive
to another result, almost sure to follow
though sometimes months delay yed-rheum-
attic pains, in which every bone seems to be
at variance with its fellow. Lightnings and
thunders, tempests and tornadoes, accidents
and sudden deaths win come here as else
where, and the common ills of life seem to
fall as plentifnlly to the lot of mortals in this
fresh, new land as in that of the fathers.
If the farmers of Maine find it more econ
omical to buy than to raise their own bread
those of The West find it necessity of this
country to buy their. own fuel If the farm
ers of the "Dirigo" State are troubled with
too many rocks, they can build them into
substantial walls, saving the cheaper but less
durable wooden fence, while the farmers OF
the Prairie States can't get rocks enough
even to wall up their wells and cellars, and
are obliged TO go from five to fifty or even
more miles, at heavy expense, 10 procure
material for fencing.
Say what we viii, this is world of COM
pensations; and while the greasy Esquimaux
has always plenty of train oil to eat and a
fish bone wherewith to ornament his nose,
and is happy in having no unsatis6ed wants,
and the people of this great and glorious
West luxuriate on "hog andhominy," and
have wheat in the granary to spare, even the
poor people of far-of Maine have plenty Of
potatoes, beans, apples, fish, flesh and fowl
and abundance of good cred herring" and
the surplus of these staples offord the means
to purchase wheaton -four sufficient for Cruel
for the sick, and corn and other meal for
duff and dumping for the common people! !!
How thankful should you be that the good
Lord has been so provident; that He did not
quite close is Hand while passing over your
land that He might open it inordinately wide
here, thus leaving you destitute, but that,
under His wise economy, He has made it
possible for even you to comply with the old
ordnation,.b by "eating your bread by the sweat
of your face"
This communication, / am aware, has no
particular point, nor was it intended to have
any, or to be more than crude introduction
to some thoughts to follow, which, the reader
will join me in hoping may prove to be better
digested and better systematized. have not
a word to say adverse to the West. 1t is a
noble, a glorious country, but am not dis
posed to exalt it at the expense of older por-
tions of the Union, or to foster the impress.
sion that all of Heavens bounties have been
reserved exclusively for this region, while the
Eastern states, and particularly those of New
England, are scarcely worth preserving even
as relicts of the past.
1 am confident that the people ofMaine oc-
cupy Que of the very best States OF the Union;
one of more uaried resources than almost any
state of the West, and that while her people,
if contented to remain at home, may become
both prosperous and happy, yet by breaking
away from all home attachments, early asso-
Citations and social advantages and transplant