The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-08-05
WHFRE SHALL 0TR WoRKAEN GO ?
IN. Y. World July 30 ]

We are not inclined to diecuss remedies
| for tue social diseases which have prod1ced
these scaDdalous strikes until the strikes
| have come to an end. But We see that
| some of our contemporaries are hatterlDg
themselves with the belief that everything
can be made comfortable by the simple
ex pediens OF inducing all the laborers who
| fail of work in the East to 60 West and
settle on Government land, aOd it is juet
as W ell perhaps, therefore, to observe that
| this resource is no longer open to US. Mr..
Wells has shown IN the North american n
Rerier for July, 1877, that "the quantity
of fertile public land suitable for farming
purposes which can now be obtained by
preemption or at nominal prices is compar-
atively limited, if not nearly exhausted
According to Major POweiPs authoritative
| researches into this most interesting sub
| ject "tbere is not left upsold in the whole
United States {except perhaps in Texas or
| the Indian Territory, of land which poor
| man could turn into a farm, enough to
make one average county In wisconsin -
Attempts have been made to b;oak the
force of these startling revelations, but
with not much success. 1t ls just as Well
to look the facts of our position in the face
and to make up our minds that We are not
likely to be allowed to escape the necessity
of dealing with the social problems with
which we are now confronted, as comfort
bly, as orr fathers did. We must better
the cor ditious of life in the North aud
West, as they have been bettered in Eng
land, by sensible legislation and to that
end we must make up our minds to put
better men into public life. In the legls-
lation of the coming era brains Will tell as
| we'll as numbers, and those sections OF the
country which send tue ab est men TO Con
gress will be aided by the stern pressure
| of the public necessities tn secure an lndis
putable preeminence and coutrol of our
public affairs. The public press will be
compelled to deal with other themes than
| the twadde of partiZsn crlmln&,lo1s ana
recriminations. 1t is altogether probable
| that the drift of power in the Immediate
| futuJe of this country will be detected
| from the direction into which it was un
| naturally forced, first by the extstenc of
slavery aud then by the war which grew
out of the existence of slavery, and will
tend Southwark and Southwestward. The
| exceptions which Major Powell makes 10
favor of Texas and the Indian Territory
are undoub btedly we'll made. Twenty years
ago Mr.. Frederick Law Olmsted, IN the best
| and most thoughtful book which has ever
been published on the South and South
| west, clearly pointed out that the aooll.
| ton of slavery must inevitably be folio ~eu
by great displacement of the centres OF
population in this country and ne"
movement of wealth and industry. Even
in the older States of the South thls proph-
ecy has silently begun to work ltseit ou;
| under all the discouraging circumstances
| of misgovernment and social confusion in
t1icted upon that region by the ignorant
and malevoient legislation of the last de-
cade. The census of 1880 will be extremely
| apt to make the people of the Northern and
| Weetern sections of the Union open thelI
eyes very wide indeed and the probabi'i'
ties are that before that time the discon-
tented classes of the North and the West
will have begun to fnd their way out o
\ l.. g - l..,l hE
! people of the Seaboard and Central Soust
are awakening to a practical perception OF
| the immense resources, ard especially o.
| the immense manufacturing G resources Whlct
they possess, and the people of Texas are
fully conscious of the fact that they enjoy
in point both of climate and Of soil, 'uct
advantages over the north western part O
the Mississippi Valley az must leave M
sort of doubt in tie minds of rejecting
men concerning the future of the two rs
gions respectively. 1t is curious fsc
that the war, which did SO much to devei
op the population aud wealth OF Iexas
should have left the present active genera
tiou Of men at the North Al a more com
plete ignorance about it than existed her
even under the regime of slavery, MIR
, Oimsted's description of this common
wealth 'greater in area than Kentucky
jersey, New York and all New Engsan
rnited," would astonish Mr.. Blame, "
suspect, quite as much any other casua
citizen of Maine. Bet It is SIMPLY trac
and it ia equally true, as he ei>qnentl
says, that "since an EuGhsh pioGgh frs
broke The virgin sward of the sea slope c
. Virginia Anglo Saxous have not entered o
SO magnificent domain"
The sooner we emerge from the stifiin
atmosphere Of the small sectioDal and part
= squabbling n which we have wasted s
many years aud go much OF our oatioai
q vigor, and address ourselves to the inipe
rial questions of national policy in an In
. periaI spirit, the less trouble we shal ha1
, with the social spectres chsr have starte
: up to day in our path, partly as chasts'
. ment and partly as o warning.
b Bishop Gilnour, of Cleveland, OHIO, has T
, gently issued the following circular wit
reference to festivals, etc:
To prevent and guard against abuses th
are rapidly growing up in the Diocese in Co
d nection with Church aud society picnics. g
Q oursions, festivals, etc, the following regul
! tions are hereby prescribed
:, 1st Societies that are organised for bene