Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1871-11-11

I DuL II OCCuLs W NAAlAN AAAAo NAN yAN1-
sed condition springs. from the want
of power in our people to adapt
themselves to the radical changes
which the war has made obligatory
upon us, and from the want of pro-
per legislation. We are trying the
experiment of living in the same
style and indulging in the same ex-
travagances we did before the war.
We are trying to live without rigid
attention to business. We complain
of the labor, yet do not try TO control
the labor. We want q machine
that viii run itself. The fault lies
in ourselves. We must either hold
the plow or drive. If our farms are
larger than we can cultivate proper
ly, il would be better for US and our
children to give them away, than TO
keep so much capital idle and pay
taxes upon it. Land left idle fer
sixteen years will eat itself up at
simple interest, to say nothing OF the
taxes paid on it. At compound in
terest it will deYour itself in eleven
and three-fourths years. Add to
this the tax for the same time, and
we may safely say that every acre OF
land left idle for ten years costs the
owner, in interest and taxes, just
double. Here is a leak that will
keep any people in the world from
being prosperous. We are carrying
too mnch dead weight.
| There are in the State only 26, $780,
600 acres of land and the census of
1860 shows that we have 22,OOO, 600
acres ofunimprovedl land that is ~
ing idle, and which is contributing
nothing to its owners and but little
to the State. Every ten years we
pay for the privilege of keeping this
land, worth say two dollars per acre,
the sum of $44, ,OOO, 900, or s., 100000
annually sum sufficient to pay the
| ordinary expenses OF the State gov
ernment and leave nearly $4,OO0,O0O
as an annual sinking fund. Now,
my, fellOw-citiZens, why are we, In
| our straitened circumstances, throw
ing away, every year, this enormous
| sum of money! Why are we ike
| the dog in the manger, neither max
| ing use of this land nor allowing
! others to do so. Is it the result of
education, or the want of fore
! thought? With so much dead cap
ital, can we hope to be prosperous.
Suppose this capital were invested
| in manufacturing establishments Tor
working up into marketable pro-
ducts the raw material that lies
slumbering in your hills; or in har-
Messing the dashing rivulets that
rush from your mountain gOrges in
countless numbers, or in building
railroads, those lines of life, that dis
turb the silence of sixty centuries
and make the gloom OF the forest
give way to the glory of the field, or
in advertising to the world our nat
uFal wealth-suppose, say this
were done, how great and how glo-
rious would be our position among
the Statesi Providence has given us
unusual advantages. Here in this
State we can grow in unlimited
quantities all the most desirable pro-
ducts of the earth with comparative
ly little expense. Here we have not
the frigid winters of the North, nor
the burning summers of the South.
Here we have rich soil with salu-
brious climate. Here we have a va
riety of undeYeloped industrial re-
sources that no country in the world
can surpass, if equal; ores and tim
Der; waterpower and fertile lands;
splendid scenery and rare mineral
springs. Every @beast of the field''
and every product of the farm can
be grown successfully and profita-
bly,. -
Then why are we not more pros
porous? Why do we languish in
comparative poverty, while other
States not half so gifted by nature
move straight forward to greatness, |
wealth and power? l tell You, my
friends, that in addition 10 the dead
capital we are carrying, we have no
confidence in ourselves. We distrnst
everything and everybody. We
have no faith in the future of our
State, and this our people must de- I
velop before they can expect capital I
and labor to come amongst them. |
They must go to work; they must
beautify and adorn their homes, and |
let strangers see that they are them
selves satisfied. They must cease to
look beyond their own borders for
everything they wear, for the cradle
they arc rocked in and the coffin they
are buried in. Scarcity of capital is
not the cause of our PROSTATE con-
ditiOn as much as want of confidence.
This last Is working us more harm
than drouths, pestilenee or war.
Look at any bank statement in any
of the counties of the State and see
how much money is lying idle
through lack of confidence in any
industrial enterprise begun by our
citizens. Ranged in the vaults, are
the fanciful boxes where capital lies
locked up in United States bonds,
that could be much more profitably
used in working up our raw mate
rial. Our first need is confidence.
Confidence at home and knowledge
of our resources abroad will induce
immigration. No stranger viii will
ingly make his home in land where
everything is uncertain and incon-
slant. Everybody here wants to sell
his land and go somewhere else.
Why? Is there any other country
that can surpass Tennessee in natur-
al advantages Work and conf
dence are the great necessities ofthe
State. The languor and inaction of
death are upon US. We must shake
them of at any cost Dependency
won't do it; it never did and never
will win. NOScituT &c SOciiS, is a
law as old as man. Industrious, en-
/ teprising citizens will not go where
| the people are wanting in these
! qualities. And unless they have
| these qualities they would be of no
| advantage to this State or any other.
/ Immigrants per Sc, are not desirable.
1t is the work, the industry and en-
terprise, the thrift and capital and
muscle and bone they bring, that
add to the wealth and greatness of
I States and make them desirable
! The loss to the people of Tennessee
| from the war was very great. Not
less than $367, 100000 were taken
from them. This loss must be re-
placed, but it cannot be replaced
/ without work. We have been
thrown behind in the grand march
Of material developments; but with
well directed industry, with concert
| of action, with patience and perse-
verance, assisted by wise legislation,
we may yet come forth from the
crucible, purified, ennobled and in
/ vigorated by our very calamities.
To the soil we must first look and
the products of the soil must be con-
Verted by manufacturers into fabrics
still more valuable. We need men
to do this. We need to have pop
ulation sufficiently numerous not
only TO cultivate our waste lands,
but to manufacture every pound of
cetton into textile fabrics; every leaf
of tobacco into chewing tobacco, ci-
gars or snuff; every piece of timber
into wagons, chairs, tables, and 9TH
er articles of necessity; every pound
of iron into plows, hoes, axes, and
other utensils. Our provisions
should be consumed by our own
population, and only manufactured
articles exported. We cannot an
nually export our raw material
4 without ultimately daSfrOvino the