Nebraska advertiser., 1877-10-25

wheat, both as to diversity of crops
and manufacturing. We would be
batter off with less number of acres
cultivated and more manufactures.
Our state should be dotted with man
ufacturing establishments, and the
people cease mpoverishing them
selves by paying freight on raw ma
| tsrial sent east, and manufactured ar
ticles sent west. 1t is too expensive
and Is all borne by those living in the
west. Let the west stand by its own
interests, encourage home manufac-
lures, and its independence will be
established, and its progress made
stronger and more enduring. Just SO
long as the producing west submit to
| be "hewers of wood and drawers of
water" to the manufacturing east,
just so long will we be the borrowers
and they the lenders in the financial
affairs of the nation. The capital and
machinery to bring about such need
ed and desirable results, ought, and
can. with proper efforts, be brought
among us.
HARD TIMES-THE ILLS WE COMPLAIN
We are prone to think, hard times,
scarcity OF money. low prices. stagna-
ton in business, and An hundred other
ills which beset Us along life's jour
ney, are bolts hurled Gt us as individ-
uals, or at our particular locality (:
That they are worse In Nebraska; in
this county; in this town with me,
than anywhere else, or with any one
else. What we understand in com
mon parlance, as "hard times" are of
each decade. They are the Legitimate
results of certain causes, and as a rule,
not without remedy. For a time We
have been afflicted somewhat more
maglignantly than ever before; the
disease has been more widespread /;
not confined to this or that state; not
even to the United States, but extend
| ing over the whole civilized world.
Really we in Nebraska, and the west
generally, have no reason to COM
plain, in comparison with many por-
tions of the eastern, and older por-
tions of the country. Here we hear
no cry for food we have an abun-
dance of the staff of life, and to spare
in fact much recklessly and negli-
gently wasted. While i'm the east and
over crowded portions of our own
land, destitution stalks abroad. The
cry is for bread, many not knowing
where the next scanty meal is to come
from. Numerous causes combine to
produce present an existing results.
While not perhaps strictly an agricul-
tural feature of an agricultural address,
that which effects people generally,
| must necessarily affect egricn lture,
| and hence is not an improper subject
to discuss briefly, and present on oc-
casions like this. One cause, to use a
common expression, is, GUe HUe too
fast! Ambition and aspiration over
leaps sound judgment and policy.
Where even twenty years ago, one
dollar would answer every purpose
in the common and essential affairs of
life. twenty will not now suffice.
While we live within the bounds of in
come. honOrably secured, any degree
of luxury desired and attainable, in
the abstract, is admissible. But how
many of us do this? How many
who are unable, make extra
ordinary efforts to follow, or keep up,
with those of more extended bility
and means. How many are there
who hear me, who will we'll remem,
Der that a man with $4,000 was con-
sidered rich-wealtby! Now, one
must be worth at least an 500, 900, in
order to secure record Oh the list of
"rich men," Business men talk as
glibly, now, of their millions, as of
hundreds of yore. The aspiration
is to become millionaires, and to live
in keeping with the aspiration. The
result is where one man in one life
time becomes the owner, or controller
of million of dollars in cash, in this
worlds goods, at least one thousand
of his fellows have been pressed, and
in many instan ces, reduced to want.
This inflated idea permeates every
strata of society, and life, and pro-
duoes its results.
The modern politician and states
man, SO called, no longer act upon the
true principle on which good govern
ment was founded. and for which II
should still exist !-"Mdke life easy
and the people happy" Few men in
high places" to-day who are advo-
Gates of great principles in which
alone the interests of the people at |
large are involved. The great ques-
ton, with too many seems to be: 'is |
there money in this for me, or my |
friends?" Men are elected to posi-
tions of honor and trust, and convert |
them into places of profit. England |
boasts to this day that her Pitt died |
not only poor, but in debt. Our own
country points with pride to her
Clays and Websters, who, battling for
great principles, had not time to ac-
cumulate wealth, but died poor, SO far
as the worlds goods were concerned.
Thos. Corwin did not leave enough to
his family to erectthe humblest tomb
stone to mark the spot where the
great statesman sleeps. While the
names and deeds of these truly great
men will not be forgotten in historic
pages, their lives may be lost sight of
in the great scramble for the "al-
mighty dollar" Greed for gain is