The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-06-23
COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE, JUNE %, 1871.

| sec are as favorable to cultivation of
the grape and the manufacture of
wine as they are in France and Ger
many. The mulberry and the worn
for silk would find more genial cli-
mates and favorable conditions here
than there. So with the beet and its
sugar, hops and beer, olives and oil,
for where figs grow the olives
thriyes. s.'as-4
Water power of vast extent, and
mill sites of offering manufacturing
facilities Ofthe most desirable nature,
free from interruption, alike from
the frOsts of winter, and the droughts
of summer, abound in all parts of the
State. But there they are; the one
vacant, and the other running by to
waste for the want of capital and
labor. .- s.rsI --r. a-
If we look below the surface at the
treasures that are contained there We
shall find that the openings for capi-
tai and labor, and the fields for en-
terprise below the soil are quite as
rich with promise and as inviting as
those above it. t-r,
But let US return to the plan for
bringing emigrants from abroad Into
our borders and follow IL up little
further. Forty acres of land on long
credit, or rent for a few years TO a
- Of five-the introduction of
TWO huDCfTUd ieIsasfic,s S4z=-i,-si .-,ver., ~,
TO each county. Why, that calls in
the aggregate for only 6,720, 900 acres
out of the 52,O00,0 600 of unimproved
and waste lands which the census
of 1860 tells US were lying idle in Ten
nessee. Reserving each one to your
selves n farm of ninety acres, which,
not including woodlands and waste
acres, is as much as you cultivate now
on the average, would leave enough
space in the whole State for upward
of ,, ,4S0, 900 farms, Of forty acres each,
and houses for more than 1900, 900
newcomers to follow the 81, 600 that
it is probable you should aim to start
with
Nor is this all. BE neighborly; re-
ceive these new corners with hOspitali-
ty; treat them kindly; encourage them
by the benefit of your own experience as
old residents. Send them q helping
hand whenever you can, and assist
them to do well. By so doing, you
make every one of them missionary
in your cause, writing and preaching
up to kinsmen and friends in the old
country the advantages and blessings
of their new homes, thus keeping up
for you, with increasing force, the tide |
of INN igration, which you and you |
alone, in our day and generation, have |
the power to put in motion.
Now, for the per contra. What |
will you lose by this plan? You will |
lose for some years the uses of forty |
acres of land, which is now lying idle; |
which you have not the power to cul- |
tivate; which you cannot rent or sell,
and which is imp0vishing you to keep. |
In other words the plan suggested is |
so rich with promise that you can't |
lose and may win.
These people will come TO you per-
haps not with the accents of mother |
tongue upon their lips, but with a |
language, social habits, manners and
customs not your own, aud peculiar |
TO themselves. Therefore encourage
them to come in settlements; give
them in fee simple and at once, as fast |
as they ceme in settlements OF not less |
than, sites for Villages, churches |
and schoOlhOuses.
Suppose that in 1865 you had pro-
ceeded to organize some such effective
plan for the encouragement Of emigra-
lion, by Offering 5000 acres in each |
county, in 10000 tracts, upon easy
terms, you certainly would have got
some immigrants. Do you think you
you'd have been worse off than you
asU nnwo On the contrary. would
your lands have been as unsaleable as
they are at present? As it is, instead
of Increasing, think the value of
your land has deCreased-that il, they
are not worth a. r1uch now, in 1871,
as they were in 1860. The census
gives the cash value Of farms, by
counties, in 1850. The average then
for your State, was about S270, 900, 900 /
-sl3 the acre.
The wealth of tie State is in her !
own bosom, and that belongs to you.
If you can dispose of portion Of your
surplus acres at fair prices you VIII |
be placed again i'll a position which |
will enable you TO exercise the influ- |
ence and control that you exerted for |
such great and noble purposes before; !
and do not zee how you can so dis
pose of these vast possessions in your |
lifetime, unless you can induce capi- |
tai and labor TO come into the State |
more rapidly than they are, or have !
teen doing since the war. Unless you |
do this, you will lose control OF the !
State, ami your children be made
hewers of wood. They will no longer |
be the men of Tennessee.
The most ready way Of doing this
is to advertise and make known TO |
those who are quitting the old conn
try, before they quit, the advantages
which Tennessee and Tenuesseeans
are prepared to offer them ifthey will
come to you direct. Tell them Of her
undevelOped resources and their eX-
haustless character. Tell them what
facilities you are prepared To offer,
what inducements you are disposed tO
hold out, and what encouragement
your State IL ready 10 give. BE not
niggardly, either in promise or perfor-
nance, and my word for it, you'll
see many OF your counties blooming
again like the rose.
NJ. i. MAURY.