Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-09-27
nIInnEE TFNEESSRE

Correspondence OF the Union and American.
The great want of our section st the
present time is an increase of eaterprising
labor. The large profits which accrued
from business operations during the war,
! directed the tide OF population toward the
| centres Of trade, and induced many who had
! been satisfied with the slow, but sure re-
ward of agriculture, to engage in mercSn-
tile and professional pursuits. In conse-
| quence, the cities are now thTonged with an
! ambitious population, striving for wealth
and position, while the country places are
| deserted of young men, whose labor would
| contribute to the material growth and pros
perity Of the nation. The producing class
| Is, proporLiOnsbly, decreasing in numbers
| every year, while the ranks of consumers
are comparatively increasing in g rapid
ratio. The per centsge of increase of pop
ulation Of the cities, when compared with
! the rural districts, during the last ten years,
shows most clearly the attractive power of
the former. The facti apparent that those
pursuits which add nothing to the wealth
Of the country, are eagerly sought; while
\ those that really contribute TO its welfare
are avoided. The ambition for riches has
taken possession of the minds of young
men, who see nothing attractive in agricul-
ture, and no satisfactory rewards in me-
chanic art.
A change must come If our people desire
a permanent prosperity. The young men
| of the country must devote their time to
useful industry. Let them remember the
| sage counsel of Horace: "Vitdndd est i'm
| prObG Siren DeSidiq" They should re.
member too that slOth is not the only cam
ker which e. IS up the energies of the soul,
I but that in the rum shop and in the haunts
/ OF vice there Turk foes more fatal than the
| Libyan Enchantress, Give to this war
wasted country the same devotion in the
! paths Of peace which your elder brothers
/ showed in the sublime hour of battle, and
| soon the voice Of SANDER shall be choked
| with shame, and Southern genius and labor
| shall resume their place at the helm, guild
| ing the deSIinies of this great country for
the common good of all who dwell in it, as
they have ever done in days gone by.
The interests of Middle Tennessee are
the centre and the source Of the well being
of other portions of the Stste. Its devel-
| opment will be theii growth. Its prosperi-
~, their wealth; and when the hand of in
dustry touches into life any dormant ele-
ment OF power which nature has hidden in
her helds or mines, or rivers, they grow by
Its activity and move under its impulsion.
Middle Tennessee!-The very name calls
| up vision Of transcendent grandeur.
! Mountains filed with ore; valleys instinct
with fecund life; lands generous with
wheat, corn, etc; the snow clad fields of
| the North shading into the dusky yellow OF
the parChed and thirsty South; the freezing
blasts Of Canada melted to genial breezes
| In the warm embrace of the fervent winds
Of Georgia.
Cheap lands and Astounding bresdstufs
/ will secure its future. Ere long thousands
| OF people will inhabit it. They will till its
fertile soil; they viii work its fruitful mines;
they will manufacture its raw materials;
they will bring every force of nature into
cooperation with every appliance of art,
and use both with every device of human
! ingenuity and every effort of human indus
try in the development Of its unrivalIed re-
sources. They will sweep away every en-
barrassment caused by protective sytem
and they will demand every improvement
| IN the burden OF taxation and In the bene-
hts of currency which the most enlightened
and sagacious civilization can suggest.
And l would fam believe that in the
midst of this splendid material advance
ment they will never forget that in the eyes
OF God and humanity they are charged with
the preservation of free government, and
with the maintenance, as its best guaran.
tee, of the confederate system of our IA
! theirs. G1ArrrTrs
TullRhoma, Tenn, Sept. %, 1872.