Vicksburg weekly herald., 1877-07-20
The ROanteous Land.
A NoRTHERNER's OPINION OF THE SOUTH
HIS ADVICE TO WESTERN FARMERS.
Iu-iAanr for tho CinnInnnil Ennnlrnrl

Written for the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The well.known aphorism of Horace
Greeley, "Go. West, young man." was
good counsel in its day. But since
emigration has extended IN that direc-
ton to the one hundredth meridian OF
longitude, where the small amount Of
rainfall renders agriculture q failure
unless the toilpome and expensive sys.
tenn Of irrigation is employed, Gree
ley's Aphorism is incorrect and needs
reformation. Tens Of thousands Of our
sons and daughters have asceftained
this truth at heavy cost Of money, toll,
and misdirected, aud unreQuited en-
ergy. Confding In the representations
of the Union Pacific and other equally
disinterested( p land agents who gave
glowing accounts Of the great fortunes
to be made by farming IN Western
Nebraska, Western Kansas and Colo
RADIO, they purchased farms, and have
since batlled with drouth and grass
hoppers until disappointment and
financial ruin drove them 10 DIES air
while many, receiving aid from their
friends, returned to their former homes
to commence anew the struggle for ex-
istence or fortune. They, with the
million Of new people which our coun-
try adds to her population each year
by native aud foreign citizenship, must
have homes. The North, East and
West are already overlooking. Where
shall these people go? is the question.
The answer is seasonable and true,
however startling: "rhey must go to
the South"
The tide of emigration which for
years poured like mighty food across
the Western prairies, has, by Gods IN.
exorable law OF longitude, nearly come
to a dead stop. But 1t cannot halt; il
must move on, must 60 somewhere /;
and now we see 1t DETECTING, bending
its course, and pouring It's tide Of pre-.
cious life and treasure into Missouri,
Arkansas aud Northern Texas. Those
States will be filed ere long. And
what then2 4 momentous question,
worthy Of conscientious thought.
II is a sad refection-one that should
make the cheek Of every lover Of our
common Republic tingle with shame
and rem orse--;hat a very large portion
of the Sout which once blossomed
with harvests like a full-blOwn rose, is
to-day a ruin and waste through the
destructive agencies Of civil war and
the still more destructive blight of car.
pct-bag tbievery and legislation. The
once elegant and profitable plantations
now covered with weeds and briers, the
chimneys standing as monuments oi
once happy homes burned to the ground
by the hell-torch OF war, tell with ST.
lent, pathetic, rcsistless eloquence, the
melancholy story. Would TO God thi:
was Imagination, aud not sober, mex
orable fact!
| Can it be mstter Of wonier, there
fore, that land, are cheap In the South
What civil war merciiully spared the
carpet bRgger mercllessly stole. Be-
tween them large portion OF the peo-
pie were destroyed and their substance
devoured. The natural rcsults--indif-
ference, debt, melancholy and conse'
lNNtHA llillNiGEHuGnH- ASA-
lowed. Men who once were exem'
pars Of spirit and enterprise seemed
struck hopelessly dumb. Slavery, too
IN dying bad lett her heirs the banefu
Iegaries of Incidence, inactive, false
pride and uuscientifc, improvident
methods Of agriculture,
l. is a fact which have ascertained
sf,er a careful tour OF observation
that in every Southern State, good
rich agricultural lands, capable OF pro-
du"ing the finest and most profitable
crops OF cotton, rice, sugar, wheat, corn
oats, barley, and the most luxurian
fruits of temperate and semi.tropica
zones, can be purchased for from SO tC
SIS per acre, according 10 location an(
market facilities. Indeed, | found
some large land owners who agree t
give good warranty deeds for farms o
100 acres each to parties from Ohio Of
other Western States who will settlt
on the farms and give them proper cul
livRtion. The desire OF Southern lane
owners aud business men to have
Western and Northern men bring thei
families, fortunes and skilled labor FOL
the purposes Of farming, gardening
stock grOwmg,merchandising and man
ufAciuring, ia really astonishing. Sucl
would be every where gladly welcomed
But inuooenl.minded people OF th,
North, who have Deen deluded BY tht
malicious SANDERS and falsehoods o
Morton, Blaine, and other politician
of that ilk, are fearful OF insult anC
danger, with all that those words i'm
ply, should they cast their destinies IL
the South. a greater mistake wa
never made. During the past sever
weeks l have travelled by railway
} steamer, carriage, and on horseback
more than fury five hundred miles
through Kentucky, Tennessee, Nilsson
ri, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Georgia
Mississippi md Louisiana have talket
politics with ,nrir Governors, Con
gressmen, AID other msgnates Of dis
tinction, and business with their solit
: men in cotton exchanges and boards 0
, trade have IL ted fruit fit for the god
from the orc ,rds, and drank the ma
e tive and dclcOus scuppernOng win
g from the vinNg Of their celebrated
Q horticulture ;have partook of the ele
e giant hOspIau y OF the wealthy, as wei
a as the subs M ial hoe.cake, bacon aul