Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1871-07-01

the most malevOlent falsehood could
beget; and though the well-to-do
emigrants of the continent are Offer
cd farms gratis if they would come
to your State and occupy them, few,
in my judgement, would come, tDbIle
these pTejudiceS remain. You would
first have to disabuse their minds of
many O false impression. This pref
udice Is the result of years ofsystem-
attic Misrepresentation and SANDER
which we have suffered there. IT is
only one of the grievances of the
South. The intensity of 1t, the alb
surdity of 1t, is simply astonishing,
and such as no one can form any Just
conception of, who has not been
abroad and mixed there in society
enough to catch the tone of the pcO-
pie.
People In Europe have been taught
to regard us of the South as a lawless
set and q wicked people, prompt to
violence and apt at insult. The most
erroneous impressions have been
made thOre with regard to our man
ners and customs, and the healthful-
ness of our climate, etc. Before quit
ting Europe, emigrants are made to
believe that labor is considered really
dishonorable in the South. | have
heard it stoutly maintained, by gen.
tlemen of extensive reading, that the
climate of Virginia, Tennessee, and
other Southern States, is so deadly
that outdoor work is certain death to
thOwhitc men. With such notions
about us in their minds, do you think
the working men Of Europe are like
ly to seek homes among us? These
notions will probably continue as
long as you sit still and make no ef-
fort to remove them, or to vindicate,
yourselves or your State.
Now, by way of illustration, let us
suppose that, with State aid and
county cooperation, the land owners
in each one of the eighty-four coun-
ties of Tennessee should set to work
in such right good earnest that, dur
ing the next two years, 200 well-tO-
do families, 1000 souls in all, should
be induced to come from abroad and
settle themselves among you. Let
me sec what it would come to. In
the first place the wealth of each of
your eighty-four counties would be
increased 81, 100000 by the presence
of these new comers, and the old res
idents would have to pay taxes on ST.
100000 less than they do now, and
this, including county, State, FEEDER
al, school, and other taxes, count up
not a little sum, as you well know.
In the next place, your new COM
ers would have to pay taxes on the
land that he buys or rents from you,
and SO relieve you of burdens to that
extent,
Again, these thousand new com
ers would spend in your county, in
money, or in services, the equivalent
of money, something like 100000
the first year, and smaller sums an
nually for several years, until they
could get their farms fairly under
way, and themselves sufficiently pro-
vided to become producers; and of
these expenditures you would get
the lions share.
Finally, the new c0mers, by their
presence, their labors and their i'm
provements, would greatly enhance
the value of real estate. 1t is by no
means an over.estimate to assume
that by the time the first payment
fell due, after the long credit that
ought to be given, the value of your
own lands would be increased to the
extent of several dollars an acre. In.
deed, if the plan were adopted by
the landowners of the State gencr-
ally, and successfully carried out,
your children would see real estate
changing hands in figures at which il
is now held in Delaware, Pennsylva-
MIA and New Jersey. 1t would not
be unreasonable even for the middle
aged among you to expect to see that
day. Each Of the eighty-four coun-
ties of the State introducing the'next
four years two hundred families
from abroad, averaging five souls
eachl Why, in round numbers, that
would be the Introduction of $4,000
new citizens into the State, and an
addition of $S4,0O0,000 to its wealth.
In little while, and as soon as you
put the tide in motion, these people
paying their own passage, would
come from the old country to Ten.
nessce, direct ria the Chesapeake
thus placing at Southern doors, al
their own expense, empty ships
ready to carry your produce back a.
low rates of freight; and so you
would have the boon of direct trade
which you and the whole South have
coveted 80 eagerly and SO long. Es
innate for yourselves, gentlemen, thu
value of that.
Besides oil this, | can well conceive
how that in certain branches of in
dustry, the skill of one man out o
the 1000 foreigners for each countJ
would, in benefits to the community
amply pay for the fetching of tn,
: whole of them. AS, for instance,
German, or Frenchman, skilled il
the cultivation of the grape and tn,
manufacture of wine, or i'll the ma.
nipulation of the silk-worm, and tn
fabrication of silk, or of the beet ant
sugar, OF of the olive and oil, or ap
in the raising of poultry, or in tn
business of the dairy, etc.; for tn
climates of Tennessee arc congenia
t and admirably adapted to all ofthese
: There is no mistake about it; the in
dustry of your State is becomihI
, more and more subdivided and on
people are every day recognizing
more palpably the mighty muckI
which many mickles make. Yol
| want experts among you in all thcs
I branches, to teach you and "shoV
! you how" by example.
There are no people who hay
such q mack as the French in puttin
: little odds and ends together an
/, turning them to account, or who ar
! more thoroughly "up" in all th
| "mickles." The eggs and chicken,
9 the geese, ducks and turkeys sold an
: nually by the French peasants ar
worth twice as much as your cotto
{ crop. The gross sum received /
France in account of these is reckon
. ed at $50,OOOOOO a year.