The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-07-10
THE BOUNTEOUS LAND.
A NORTHERNER's OPINION or THE
SOUTH.
His Advice to western Farmers.
Written for the Cincinnati ENQUIRER

His Advice to western Farmers.
Written for the Cincinnati Enouirer.l
The well-known aphorism OF Horae
Greeley, "Go West, young man." wa
good counsel In It's day. But since emf
| grafton has extended in that direction
to the one hundredth meridian Of longi
tude, where the small amount Of rain
fall renders agriculture q failure unles
the toilsome and expensive system Of ir
rigation is employed, Greeley's aphor
ism Is incorrect and needs reformation
Tens OF thousands of our sons ant
daughters have ascertained this truth
at heavy cost Of money, toll, and mis-
| In the representations OF the Union Pa
cific and other equally disinterested &?
land agents who gave glowing accounti
OF the great fortunes to be made b1
farming In Western Nebraska, Western
Kansas and Colorado, they purchased
farms, and have since battled with
drouth and grasshoppers until dis
appointment and financial ruin drove
them to despair; while many, receiving
aid from their friends, returned to their
former homes to commence anew the
struggle for existence or fortune. They,
with the million of new people which
our country adds to her population each
year by native and foreign citizenship,
must have homes. The North, East
and West are already overflowing.
Where shall these people go? is the
question. The answer Is seasonable
and true, however startling: "They
must go to the South"
The tide Of emigration which for years
poured like o. mighty flood across the
Western prairies has, by Gods inexora-
bic Law OF longitude, nearly come to q
dead stop. But 1t cannot halt; it must
move on, must go somewhere and now
we see it DETECTING, bending Its course.
and pouring its tide OF precious life and
treasure into Missouri, Arkansas and
Northern Texas. Those States will be
filed ere long. And what then? Amo-
mentous question, worthy OF conscien-
tious thought.
It is sad reflection one that should
make the cheek Of every lover OF our
common republic tingIe with shame
and remorse-that very large portion
OF the South, which once blossomed
with harvests like a full-blown rose, is
to-day q ruin and waste through the
destructive agencies of civil war and the
still more destructive blight OF carpet
bag thievery and legislation. The once
elegant and profitable plantations now
covered with weeds and briers, the
chimneys standing as monuments of
once happy homes burned to the ground
by the hell-torch OF war, tell with silent,
pathetic, resistless eloquence the melan-
choly story. Would to God this was
Imagination, and not sober, inexorable
factl
Can 1t be a matter of wonder, there
fore, that lands are cheap In the South?
ixyit P,,1I L
carpet bagger merciles5ly stole. Be-
tween them large portion of the people
we're destroyed and their substance de-
voured. The natural results-indiffer-
,noe, debt, melancholy and consequent
.hriftlessness - necessarily followed.
Men who once were exempIars OF spirit
Ind enterprise seemed struck hopelessly
iumb. Slavery, too, in dying had left |
Ter heirs the baneful legacies OF indo-
ence, inactive, false pride and unscien-
life. improvident methods of aericul-
ure.
It Is fact which T have ascertained.
tfter q careful tour OF observation, that |
n every Southern State. good, rich agri. |
cultural lands. capable Of producing the |
inest and most profitable crops Of cot
ey, and the most luxuriant fruits OF |
and semi-tropical zones, can |
,e purchased for from 80 to $15 per acre, |
according to condition, location and
market facilities. Indeed, found some |
arge land owners who agree to give
,ood warranty deeds for farms of 100
ores each to parties from Ohio or other
Western States who will settle on the
arms and give them proper cultivation.
The desire OF Southern land owners and
BUSINESS men to. have Western and
Northern men bring their families, for
unes and skilled labor for the purposes
It farming, gardening, stock growing,
merchandising and manufacturing, Is
most gladly welcomed.
But Innocent minded people Of the
Iorth, who have been deluded by the
Malicious ISLANDERS and falsehoods of
Iorton, Blaine and other politicians OF
hat ilk, are fearful OF insult and danger,
nth all that those words imply, should
hey cast their destinies in the South.
. greater mistake was never made.
)uring the past seven weeks I have
raveled by railway, steamer, carriage,
nd on horseback, more than forty-five
undred miles, through Kentucky,
ennessee, Missouri, Arkansas,
exas, Alabama, Georgia, Missis.
ppi and Louisiana; have talked
OlltlCS WIFI blelr Governors. |
ongressmen and other magnates of
istinction, and business with their solid
len in cotton exchanges and boards of
'ade; have tasted fruit fit for the gods
'om the orchards, and drank the native
nd delicious scuppernong wine from
1e vintages Of their celebrated horti-
1lturists; have partook of the elegant
ospitality Of the wealthy, as well as
le substantial hoe-cake, bacon and
OF the poor; have, in a word,
lingled with all classes Of Southern . .
eople, and 1t affords me genuine
leasure to testify that during this I.
hole tour [ did not see any !
ouse, quarreling, violence, insured :
on. or even an armed or drunken '
an. On the contrary, I have been !
rerywhere received with such
armth Of welcome and such an out l
wv Of generous hospitality that words .
q powerless to express my gratitude.
we In remote and thinly-settled dis
lets of Texas and Arkansas, there is
less crime in the South than n
ere is In the North. And this state 7
emit il varifiad hy tine official reporfo | =