New-York tribune., 1877-08-11
Tie M or II.

Some of the Western papers so direct to the
eist OF the late difficulty, when they say that
the final result will be to drive the surplus
population Of cities and towns to farming
No arguments or theories about the relations
of capital and labor can overthrow the bald
facts that the market for one class of labor Is
largely ovcrstocked, while the other is not
supplied. The railroad corporation cannot
afford to pay more than 81 or 90 cents
per dav to labOrers who are obliged, in order
to work tor them, to live in towns, and to pay
town rates for rent, provisions and clothes.
Ten thousand men declare themselves unable
to support their families on these wages, while
forty thousand without these wages are wait
ing TO step into their places. On the other
hand, farmers in Pennsylvania and Ohio are
offering 81 80 and 81 - per day for help
and cannot get it. One dollar and fifty cents
in the country is worth f3 in city. 1t IS true
that these are harvest wGges and exceptional
Bat in the rich farm lands Of the Middle
States it is almost impossible to secure the
services of "A steady lab0rcr and his family for
the year at the same wages rs that paid in
the city, although hOuse-rent Is free ANA pro-
visions are One-third of town rates.
acres OF Government land waiting to be taken
up. 1t is true, that there is a vague dread OF
late wears among Woodworking men of the
necessary struggle against grasshoppcrs, ma
laria, hot suns and bitter cold in the West.
But in this State, in Virginia and North Carolina
there are vast untitled regions waiting 10 be
worked. The man who earns SO per week in
this city or Philadelphia must pay 81 % Of
this sum for q cellar or foul garrct in tene-
mcnt-house III winch to lodge his family, and
81 for fuel, which he must buy at eXhOrbitant
retail rates. How far the remainder will go
for food and clothes at city prices may easily
be counted. Now, in the high table lands Of
the Blue Ridge the Nanthaa, aud Black
Mountains Of Virginia and North Carolina,
good farm land may be bought for from % cents
to SO per acre. In many of these places there
are settlements of hard working men who are
building up little towns. Notably is this the
case at Highlands, Macon County, \. c., where
there is a colony of Northern men, fruit-grOw-
crs and farmers There is no danger in these
places Of ague. The land is lifted into region
clear OF consumption and malaria, ard all other
plaques, even grasshOppcrs, p0tato-bugs and
MOSQUITOES are unknown. The settler buys his
land, say at ~ per acre, and builds himself IA big
roomy house almost without money and without
price. There are fuel and pasturaSe for his cattle
free, enough to last him for a thousand years.
The soil, rich and black, is rs well adapted to
the raising of cereals and fruit as that OF the
West, and If he chooses to follow the example
of his neighbors he can he clothed in homespun,
strong and soft, without the outlay Of a penny.
There, next door to all this anarchy and
want and vicious idlcness, are abundance and
health, wasting for the industrious man to
come and take them. Here is the grimy work
man with his wife sitting in town alleys, and
his children imbibng vice at every breath,
and yonder the farmer, secure among his
beeycs and corn, his family well fed and
clothed and in their right minds. We only
offer these facts as facts Our readers May
make their own deductions.