Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-02
LARGE eEa .,..!., E.a..S.seRAr1en 70.

4 II
LARGE GEEsMAW ENEHHRATT0K re-
AHLERECA. - -
A letter from the Berlin correspondent of
the Manchester Guardian gives striking
picture of ''social movement now going
on in many parts Of Germany. The spirit
of emigrsting to the New World is deyel-
oping itself to an extraordinary degree.
Large masses of the rural population are
swarming across the Atlantic; villages are
half-emptied, and forced sales of property at
fully twenty-five per cent. below its real
value testify to the eagerness Of owners to
hurry away to the western land of promise.
1t is rot the pressure Of poverty or over
population which is producing this extra
ordinary exodus, for in districts where the
wages are best the emigration is most extern
sive, the reason being that the sum required
for passage money is there most easily
saved. The correspondent nevertheless
seems to think that the solution of the
difficulty must be an economic one, and
proceed by a still further rise in the rate of
wages. The price of land in many parts
has of late years been Fictitious, the amount
available for working capital has been too
small, and wages have consequently suf-
fered. In the face of the existing depopu-
lation many Of the present owners will be
ruined, land viii come into the market on
cheaper terms, and the new owners will
consequently be able to offer attractions
which may even cOunterbalance the in
ducements to emigration. These consider
ations, however, are Of a general nature,
and do not explain the restlessness of the
population at the present moment. Others
attribute it partially to the exciting infu-
ences of the great events which Germany
has just gone through, making men discon-
tented with their old humdrum life, and
filing them with the desire of more vigor-
Gus action and q larger horizon. 1t is also
to be noted that the great majority of these
emigrants are skilled mechanics and arti-
sans, and as such can scarcely fail, at an
early day, to exercise an important infu-
ence upon the labor market here. The
Guardians correspondent writes as follows
BERLIN, May At is a rather curious
fact that just at this present moment, when
the fortunes of Germany appear to have
reached the top of the wheel, the number
of her sens who are DESTROYS of leaving her
and of seeking home in the Far West is
greater than it has ever been at any former
I'D % 70
ing very serious dimensions for some parts
of the kingdom of Prussia, but more espe-
cialiy the provinces of Pomerania, West
Prussia, and the more northerly districts
of POsen. In most of the villages in the
first mentioned province many Of the peas
antS houses are either empty or being
pulled down, and the small proprietors are
selling for % per cent. under recent values
in order to realize quickly and reach
the land of promise with the least pos
sible delay. Little holdings which only a
short time ago were very much in demand
are now mere drug in the market, and it
is difficult to find purchasers at any,price.
A Pomeranian landowner writes that his
own village, which is only very little one,
had lost 20 of its most able laborers on the
1st April, and that another village in his
neighborhood had already lost all its inhab-
itants except three families; but these in
tended to follow the lead in a few weeks.
The place would then become "deserted
village" in the strictest sense, though not at
all like that of Goldsmith's "Sweet Au-
burn" as the desertion is not occasioned by
the rich mans vanity of park, but is d.
rectlV against his wishes and interests
BE would gladly keep his poorer neighbors
with him if he could, for with them his
wealth will emigrate too. 1t is easy to OBJ
tain ocular demonstration of the height of
the present emigration fever by paying an
evening visit to the Potsdam or Hamburg
railway station. At the former have often
seen hundreds Of emigrants encamping on
the bare boards, sitting on their luggage,
surrounded by the wreck Of their house
hold gods, and soothing their babies, while
waiting for the next train for Bremen,
where they will embark for America. The
first instructive feeling at such a sight is one
of pity; but it is certainly very much mis-
placed as the emigrants are for the most
part extremely happy in the hopes that
have prompted their step, and which in
most cases are fulfilled. This ever-increas-
ing exodus is a great misfortune for the
country-at least for those who stay be-
hind in it--as it involves a great loss
of national wealth; but for the emf
grants themselves the gain is not incon-
siderable. This is proved by the fact that
the emigration fever generally exhibits |
itself as an epidemic. One man caught by
the agent and sent out becomes a decoy |
bird for a whole village, perhaps a whole |
district; and the accounts and money |
which he sends home in a couple of years |
will draw all his family and half his &C
quaintances with him. The argument |
which will first suggest itself to the political |
economist is that if the landowner wishes |
to keep his labOrers be must improve their |
position by giving them better wages. |
Facts, however, are directly opposed to this |
theory, as it is precisely from those parts Of |
the county in which the laboTers are the |
most literally paid that the tide of emigra-
ton sets in the strongest. The reason is the |
higher the wages the sooner has the laborer
saved the sum required for his passage and |
first settlement III his new home; and when
that is accomplished he is off at once. In
this manner it his actually become the
landhOlder's private interest not to treat his
men too well, lest he should furnish them
with the wings for their flight. Such mo-
tive for keeping wages down is, of course,
a very low and immoral one; but it cannot
fail to exert some force. On the other
hand, it cuts two ways, as it makes the con-
trast greater between the laborer's own po-
sitiOn ard the pictures sent back to him CT
that of his old friends who have already
crossed the Atlantic. If again, tbs po-
litical economist should urge that
there must be a certain limit, or
rather amount of improvement in
the laborer's position which would
induce him to remain at home, the answer
is that to reach that limit would involve
the payment of such wages as would COM
pletely ruin the landholder. This brings
us to the real seat of the evil, in as far as it
can be considered as one. The price of
land in Germany-at least in some parts
of it-lateIy has been too high. A very
large number of estates have changed
hands, and the sums paid were such as not
to leave the farmer a sufficient margin for
working capital. This is all the more I'M
fortunate because by far the greater part of
the land is farmed by its prOprietOrs, little
and great, and not leased to tenants. In
order to find the original purchase money
and retain enough capital for working ey-