The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-06-18
'ERMs $500 PER ANNUM, In ADVANCE.

traeted thither by the glitter and exciting
lie incident thereto, to 90 into the country
anu ouy farm, or work on farm, and so
proVideS moral sewerage to empty the slums
OF these overcrowded cities, he does a good
thing. And since agriculture furnishes an
eminently conservative element in modern
civilization, and since moreover the natural
tastes of most men rather shun IL in favor of
other and more seductive callings, he qlgays
does good thing in this sense, who presents
its claims in an attractive light, and so helps
to overcome this prejudice. All this is well
enough.
But the matter nOw under consideration is
physical prosperity-advance in material
wealth-the encouragement of material in
dustries. And not to weary the reader with
self-evident propositions, it may be said at
once, that Maine is not naturally an agricul-
tural State. Proof-there is no labor per-
formed in the State which yields so meagre a
return to the laborer as farming. What
then? Evidently this-if we would retain at
nome our own population-and be it here OBJ
served the portion of it we now lose is the
best portion, since it is chiefly the most enter
prslng and intelligent who emigrate-we
must substitute for agriculture something
that viii pay better because better adapted to
our peculiar situation, and in this way keep
at home this treasure-fasten it, anchor it,
here upon our own soil, instead of allowing il
to drift away to the far West or elsewhere.
WIN what religious concern do we not guard
in all manner of rock-hewn, iron-bound
vaults our money treasures. And if no
means had been yet contrived to make them
safe, so that they were daily and hourly slip
ping out OF our hands, what an uproar, what
a tumult, there would be then; what plans,
costly or otherwise, to find a remedy. But
when the producers of all this wealth we so
prize are stolen away from us, we sit with
folded hands, languidly hoping that Spriggins,
or Gogglngs, or somebody else, will some day
or otner appear to stop this grand larceny.
VI Ii Dy some census returns or other like
matter, we are for a moment aroused from
our slumbers, it is only to turn presently over
again for a little more sleep. Excellent, most
excellent! am sOrely tempted to wish that
women were admitted to the ris hit which in
certain quarters is so claimed for them They,
am sure, would see to it, that this robbery
should cease-cease on the instant.
Men-then we must have But they will
not stay with us for mere coaxlng. 1t must
be made their interest to stay here. We must
lind employment for them as profitable as
they can procure elsewhere, or elsewhere
they will go. Now how is this to be done?
Not certainly by abandoning the cultivation
OF our fields altogether. But by the exercise
OF little discrimination, so that the manu-
featuring resources of the State shall be pro-
portionally recognized. and then developed.
The farmer himself will share in the general
benefit, for not only will the market for his
products be brought nearer to his door, but
those stalwart sons of his will "settle" in his
neighborhood, and help the old man through
tight place, so that he will not be compelled
to put away" that fine young colt at half his
value, or so that he can buy the farming i'm
plement he so much desires, and for not hav-
ing which he is so ridiculed by some smart
city orator, at an agricultural convention,
who knows all about accommodation bills and
all that, and so generally gets what he wants.
Is it not something wonderful, by the way,
that farmers having so long been the recepta-
Gle into which is emptied so much good ad-
vice, should still remain the poor, benighted
creatures we all know them to be? have
sometimes asked myself whether some OF
these smart folks who love to talk in this way
about farmers, going to one of these farmers
who happened to be out of debt, thinking to
buy that fine young colt aforesaid for about
half his value; whether say, they would not
come away with the biggest kind of a flea in
their ear But l am wandering httle-I
suppose because have got the State at large,
instead OF two or three towns, to talk about.
return to my text-mGn, them we must
have. And while have no wish to bring
the Presumpscot project into competitive
comparison with any particular railroad prof.
ect now contemplated, l do not feel under
any obligation to weaken the general algu-
ment by Withholding the inquiry as to wheth-
er railroads or manufactures are best calcu-
lated to supply this want / ann speaking Of
And the answer to such question seems
plain enough. In proportion to the amount
OF capital invested in them severally, there
can be no doubt that manufactures furnish
employment for vastly larger number of
men than railroads do. If, for instance the
privilege now under discussion should be i'm
proved by an investment OF, say, one million
dollars, nobody would think it extravagant
to expect that employment would thus be
found for at least five hundred men, which
number by process of accretion which al
ways attends such enterprises, would steadily
increase, as the movement thus advertised
should attract more and more notice. But
the same amount invested in railroad would
not support anything like that number to be-
gin with, nor would the same ratio of in
crease be expected. As to this identical
point then of retaining at home men who
now go abroad, manufactures have the ad-
vantage. And if the three towns chiefly in
terested will only be as wise in their day and
generation, as their citizens are when acting
in their individual capacity, they will have
both railroads and manufactures, each in
their fair proportion, so far as they can have
them without oVerstraining their credit
ENTERPRISE.