New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-02-02


1t is not an agreeable piece of informa |
tiOn, this which General Hazen forces upon |
us 90 pereistently, and with an array of |
evidence too etrOng to be questioned. He |
insists that "the region of country between |
the one hundredth meridian and the Sierra |
Nevada mountains, all the way from Mexico |
to the British possessions, is practically |
value]ess for agricultural purposes" and
having made this startling statement he |
goes on to prove it, or rather he keeps on
proving it, for he returns to the charge
again and again with fresh reinforcements
Of witnesses. It. hurts our national egOtsm
to be told that Uncle Sam lie no longer ''rich
enough 20 give US all a farm" We have
bet n in the habit of looking with satisfac
ton upon the wide blank spaces on the map
of the United States, and Of carving them
out into fnture States, rich and popu-
lous like Wisconsin or Missouri, dotted
with to 4ns and cities and covered with
q network of railways. Not for CEN
tury to come, it was thought, would the
political economist have other advice to
give to industrious young men seeking
broad field for their energies than to go
West, and the prefer of free LOmestea ads
would, it was confidently believed, long
serve to attract to our shores the stream OF
European immigration. Now we are called
upon to reconstruct our ideal future map,
aud to leave the vast area between the
present picket line of advancing settlement
and the slopes of the Sierras-a region
about equal in extent to that between the
Mississippi river and the Atlantic-pretty
much as it now exists. There will be, Gen.
eral Hazen tells US, few more mining
camps in the gorges Of the mountains,
few more pastoral colonies along the river
valleys, and here and there an agricultural
settlement in localities where water can be
had for irrigation, but that will be all. The
maucaises te,res Of the early French voy-
ageurs, which they placed in what is now
Dakota, extend, it would appear, over fully
one third Of our whole national domain.
The fact which General Hazen again puts
before the public has long been known to
army oficers, miners, explorers, and others
who have traveIsed the heart of the con-
tinent, and was probably much better un-
derstood by the country at large fifteen or
| twenty years ago than now. The overland
| Journey to California was an affair of weeks
or months, and travellers who made it got
correct and lasting Impressions of the re-
| giOn they traversed. Now. peOp'e are
whirled through from Omaha to San Fran
| cisco in Pullman care, and about all they
recollect of the journey is that they ate
antelope meat at some of the stations, saw
few prairie dogs and perhaps buffalo,
| take q look az the MOrmons. This new
evidence of the almost complete sterility of
| the region west of tho One-hundredth
meridian is therefore a disagreeable sur
! prise to most pt Ople. No single fact bear.
ing upon the future of the republic is OF
more Importance. 1t will change radically
the nature of our material growth. To use
figure from botany, the country will
| soon cease to develop, like the exogene, by
external layers of new structure, and must,
like the endogens, ill out from within. The
loose and spongy fabric of our Western
civilization can not be extended for lOOC
or 1900 miles further toward the Pacific l,
has almost reached it's limit. Is this to be
regrettedl Possibly, looking to the far fu-
ture, it is, but for the next century or two
the wide wastes Cf arid plains and sage
blessing in disguise. There will come, O
necessity, more solid homogeneous growtt
of population within the present limits O
settlement and this will bring the condi
tions for larger measure OF comfort ant
real prosperity, and higher phase OF IN
tellectual lite. A sparse population neve
attained superior degree OF culture. Art
invention, literature, education, all hourlsl
best where there ID friction Of mind agains
mind.
n, one need fear tha. there will not bt
room enough for the generations which ar
to come after us. The Eastern and Middl
States can support much larger popula
| tlOn than they now nave, anu IN tno oiuee
of the Southern States there are hundred
OF thousands of acres of tillable lsn'
growing nothing but dwarf pines ant
brambles. The great Appalachian region
stretching from the Catskills to Western
Alabama, is still wilderness. When ii
lateral valleys are cultivated like those o
the Swiss Alps it will ustain three or fou
millions Of people. West Of the Alleghenie
the opportunities for growth are almos
unlimited. Take, for example, the State Q
Iowa, with SO 900 square miles of surface
good farming land the whole of it-and ,
popul alton Of only little over q million
France, with less than four times as mucl
territory, supports &c, ,O00, 900 OF people. Th
fat prairies Of Illinois. already grldirone
with 1000 miles of railway, will one da
maintain in comfort five or six millions {
inhabitants. The rich valley of the Missl'
eppi is we'll able to support teeming pol
ulation. Why then should We lament if th
Great American Desert of the old scho(
aliases is indeed a realityi So far as it col
Germs us and our descendants for many de
cades to come, the existence of the "Ba
Lands" may prove q help rather than hil
drance in working out our social. indnstris
and political prOblems.-NeC York Iribun
/