Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-08-29
HE HAS BEEN THERE.
Tennessee as Compared with Texas
and Arskansas-A COnsOling Letter 20
UnappreciafiTe Tennesseeaus.

Tennessee as Compared with Texas
and Arskansas-A COnsOIIng Letter 60
UnappreciafiVe Tennesseeans.
Letter to the Gallatin Examiner.
I humbly ask space in the columns
Of your good paper for these lines as
they may benefit some of the people Of
your good county who are looking out
for home in the Western States. I
will commence with the last named
State. / left the county of Sumner in
October last to seek my fortune IN
more genial cline. That cline was
Texas-the great Lone Star State-de-
signed to be the foremost State of the
Union (as these individuals, or railroad
companies tell u.s. Companies who
have land to sell are the ones who tell
as of these great "bear tales" about
the unsurpassed resources of Texas.
The name Is obnoxious to me, be-
cause it is composed of every grade Of
men every nationality can afford. They
tell us Texasis the place to get cheap
home, is fertile of soil, produces well,
etc. L acknowledged the land is very
good, but you cannot make a crop once
in five years owing to the dry weather.
And then there is scarcely any timber.
You have to get wood from eight to
twelve miles from home for fire pnrpo.
ses. The land is not cheap IN the civil
lized parts Of the country. You can
get land very cheap away out on the
frontier-on the lonely plains and
deserts, where an Indian cannot live,
much less men who are raised in a civ
iiized country. So you see they decoy
men 70 emigrate to Texas and get them
out there, knowing they expended their
all to get their land Of milk and honey
as they would have us believe; and,
consequently, they put them on
their farms, give them Just what they
please, do with them as though they
were slayes-and think they are-be-
cause they cannot get away men who |
have families. are obliged to remain, j
because it takes four ii mes as much TO |
take them away as it did to carry them |
there This is not the case with all; |
but the majority are nothing but slaves.
How can advise any person to leave |
Middle Tennessee, which is a perfect |
paradise, comparatively speaking, to
Texas. / had rather own an old peach /
orchard IN Sumner county than one
hundred OF the best acres of land Texas
has or ever viii have.
I arrived IN Dallas, Texas, in No /
vember last and found it was over-run
with emigrants who could not get en-
ployment at anythmg-brought there
by these men (seducers as call them |
and the city had actually to sup
port eleve or twelve hundred of them.
This looks like living In Texas, does it
notP / am carpenter by trade-came
out here to coin money by getting from
three to five dollars per day! But 10!
my happy anticipatiOns we're blasted l
could not get employment at any price
tried most everything, but invariably
failed. So / absented myself as quick
as possible. I do not wish to clothe
Texas IN obloquy, but if the cap fits
let her wear it. l have travelled through
Texas and this is the case where 1 have
been. l could write a great deal more
but do not wish to burden you with too
lengthy a correspondence.
ARKANSAS.
1 have not much to say about Arkan-
sas. She has some very fine country,
but a swamp frog would die with chills
and fever. The prairies of Arkansas
are not productive; therefore they are
not settled. The negroes master por-
tons of the country and are very over
bearing. But as choice between evils
/ would take Arkansas in preference to
Texas. 1 am now In Shelby county,
near Memphis. When l arrived here
1 returned THINKS to God that I had
been delivered from the greatly over
rated Texas. To the people who are
about to leave l say remain where you
are, for l know you cannot better your
conditions but make them great deal
worse. In Sumner county you are in
dopende4t, because you make what you
consume. You raise your own meat,
your own grain, your own working
stock, and your own cattle This ought
TO make any people happy.
Sumner county IS the most indepen-
dent and wealthiest portion of country
/ ever saw. She has bodies Of as good
lar d as any IN the United States, l. e.,
TO the culture of corn, what,
all kinds Of hay, and various
other articles Of production. saw no
land that excelled Sumner county land
in point of fertility. and the amount
raised per acre. am proud to boast
of her as my native soil, both IN point
Of wealth and the intelligence of her
citizens. Tennessee stands to-day %
one of the foremost States of the
Union, If not the first; because she has
no peer. She has, after great exer-
tions, thrown off the yoke of tyranny
and shook the tatters Of poverty from
her robes, and raised the banner of
peace and prosperity on her shattered
May the past sink back
into the deepest oblivion, and may
good government" be written IN
golden characters upon every page Of
her future history. l am proud to say
she is ably represented in the United
States Congress. 1t is hard to tear
her down. She climbs ike mountain
goat, and when she once gets TO the
summit she will remain.
u HATTunF |