New-York tribune., 1875-11-13
ON THE CHEUTkG

The place after all to buy and own land,
and live and have mills, and be flooded and
devastated and all that, and get paid handsomely
for IT. is on the banks of the Chemung Canal.
II used to be profitable to live in the neigh
borhood of Mount Nesuyius and have your
property destroyed, and all your family over
whemed by an eruption, aud then go around
with a subscription paper informing an eager
and sympathetic public all about it, and offer
ing an opportunity to the philanthropic to make
GOOD the losses. That was a business too
which did not require any talent except
that of silence. a great many persons
were engaged in it who never saw Mount We
suyus and never had been visited by any erup-
ton other than cutancous, but they professed to
speak nothing but the purest Italian, and they
showed the subscription paper with an energy
worthy better cause ;and report said they found
it an easier and more lucrative pursuit than
carving hod or driving mule. But That
is of the past. The thing to do to-day is to
own bit of property on the line of the Che
mumg Canal aud pray for ram. n little rain
makes a freshct on the line of that CONNER
cal artery, and freSbct breaks down the banks
and mandates the land and makes q
few bushels Of corn with which it is planted
worth great deal more than the original
cost of the estate. And you don't have to 20
around with subscription paper to get it
either You just make an arrangement with a
statesman or firm of statesmen of the sort
that do business in the lobby one year and in
the Assembly the next. agreeing to give him
or them half or Il third Of the gross pro-
cccdS. and he or they 20 right 70 the Legi>a-
turc aud get just a. much money out Of the
State as yau can stretch your conscience TO
swear to rs actual damages. And You need
not 90 TO any trouble to hunt up the states
men. Tie chances are five to one that they
Will call on You TO talk business before the
lrcshct has subsidized
Now there was "Jm Locke; :" he owned
land along the Chcmung. There came n rain
and a frcshlt, and his land. especially twelve
acres. with corn on 1t six inches high. was
flooded Two statesmen named Hill ard Smith
went to the Legislature aud got out of the
state Treasury S11.4lj 65 damages, which,
according to the testimony, was great deal
more than the land was ever worth. The
statesmen took over five thousand dollars of the
amount rs fees, and gave "Jim" the rest.
".Jim Locke we regret to say, behaved
painfully Ddu ABOUT IT, anu MI. u. L..
Smith Of the firm of statesmen re-
marked to him, in the letter inclOsing his
check for :SG,l30 49, that he would never have
got a cent had it not been for himself and the
other statesman, Mr. Hill. And then said Mr..
Smith, with a severity Of manner which it
must bc confessed " Jim" partly deserved. 81
should have thought jim Locke would have
"bcen grateful to Ms" Among Jim Locle's
losses 10y this devastating flood were six tons
of iron spikes, &c, and the iearfuneSs of the
disaster may be imagined from the fact that
when the waters rcccded there was never a
spike recovered. The State of New York,
however, under the advice and counsel of the
satoSm referred to, paid jim Locke for every
spike and every pound of iron. There il moth
ing mean about the State of New-Y0rk when
she listens to the advice of statesmen like Hill
aud Smith, or has in hand the case of man
whom unfortunate disaster followed fast and
faster with Chcmuug frc,hct. Jim Locke
was $1,000 richer for the FIRE ,hct, and the
statesmen who procured the award bettcred
their fortunes to the extent OF over $1,000.
And 80 we say To any person who thinks of
being overwhelmed by an eruption of Mount
Yesuvius Don't do it. Rather buy land on the
Cbemung. Twelve acres OF land planted with
corn in good season for fcshets, and with a