The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-02-27
County and City Official Press.
Tuesday, February Fl. 1877.
THE RUIN OF STATES.

Of practice the precautions Of conserva.
ton are disregarded--tramplcd under
foot, as it were. of the eager instinct to
devour aud destroy. Prof. Liebig. a
more practical reasoner than Gibbon
LAYS bare the cause Of the decline o!
Rome in the sentence" The cl,dcas ui
Rome absorbed the well-being Of the
Roman peasant When the C4npagna
Of Rome was ruined by the Roman
sewer. Rome exhausted Italy. and when
she had put Italy into her cloaca
she poured Sicily in. then Sar.
DINA. then Africa. The sewer Of
Rome eugulfed the world This cl2an,
offered its nav to the city and 10 the
globe"
This is the secret of the decay of ma
tions, this sending the life and fertility
Of the fields Of the country into the
city in the form Of subsistence. and not
sending i, back in the form Of fers'i
izers, but letting it waste ara hhaiiy
wash away into the r. 81, ana Sea after
reeking while in places where il
choxes up, and exhaling physical and
moral pestilence among the consumers
by its deadly miasms.
All history repeats itself 1t is esti-
mated that in our own day. the drains
Of Paris annually carry away into the
Seine to poison the stream and the air
Of the city. --5 900. 600 livres worth of
strengthening the plains of Cham
payne and Languedoc by SO much
the more barren. Our own country
furnishes melancholy examples Of III e
effects Of this kind o. short-sishtedness
Tho State Of Virginia was the earliest
settled and for period extending be.
yond the Revolution was the Empire
State Of the Confederation both in com.
mercial and political power. But her
improvident system of agriculture soon
were forced to move further south and
further west. Consequently there is to-
day not more desoiate State in the
Union than this same "Old Dominion.
that was the Mother of Presidents
the more forlorn by contrast with her
former pride The same process is GO
ing on in other States. Ohio statistics
give the mournful sliding scale of 40
bushels of wheat, average. to the acre.
sinking gradually to 80. %. 90. Is, 10,
and now at length has fallen so low that
the average wheat crop Of that State
can hardly return tho cost of raising.
allowing . decent estimate for labor
and materials. Again. we are in re-
ccipt of letters from the now Empire
State Of New York, that tho Virginia
process is being repeated there. and
farmers are getting "ous Of conoeit"
with their worn out lands and on the
qai rire for "frcsh fields and pastures
new"
The genius who practically solves the
problem Of the reinfltration Of the
city's sewerage uren the fields-eom-
plotting the worlds material circulation.
will confer a greater boon than the dis
covsry OF perpetual motion. Moreover.
1t is something that is not difficult or
occult in itself-only unattended TO.
Treating Of this subject, . French
writer says: What is done with this
golden refuse: 1t is swept out into the
abyss. We fit out conveys Of ships at
great expense to gather up a, tho south
pole. the droppings of petrels and PEN
gums. and the inealculabe clement of
wealth which we have under our own
hand We ssnd to the Sea All the waste
which the world loses. restored TO the
land instead Of being thrown into the
water would suffice 10 nourish the
world. These heaps Of garbage at the
corners Of the blocks. these sumhrils of
mire jolsing through the streets az
night, these scavengers' carts. these
fssid streams Of subterraneous slim.
which the pavemen. hides from you,
do you know what all this is: /. is the
meadow. il is:he green grass.
it is msrjoram and thyme and sage. ii
IL game. il is cattle. it is the satisfied
low Of huge oxen At evening. i; is per-
famed hay. IL Is golden corn. il is bread
on your table. i, is warm blood in your
veins. il is health. it is Joy. i, is life"