New-York tribune., 1878-12-26
THE CoUNTRY's FUTURE.
LETTER FROM GENERAL W. B. HAZEN.

TERING UPON PERIOD OF GREAT fhoefShAA
To the EDITOR OF The Tribune
SIR: As to affairs at home, am convinced tna'
xo naople IN modern times have had 80 much TO
bona for in their immediate future as our own
At the present period. In observing these mat
tera from distance, one perhaps judge OF theih
with freedom from local influences so apt TO misead
and it might be interesting to look at some OF the
many signs which point to prolonged period. near
at hand, of peaceful prosperity and progress lar
greater than the country has ever experienced In
the past.
That a nation young. without great accumu-
lated wealth. almost without an army or ancient
institutions should have safely passed the crucial
test of the last eighteen years. is itself spectacle to
inspire the highest hopes and is sufficient guar
antee for the future but there are ample evidences
bevond this upon which the American peopf have
inst grounds for the most gratifying anticipatons
When il is remembered that for four years nearly
half the industrial force of the Nation was engaged
in some manner in the work Of war, creating
nothing Of tangible wealth, expendinga million lives
of men in the midday of their usefulness;
with more than ten thousand millions of the
treasure already gained with the social and tinan-
cial convulsiOns incident to it, the marvel sthat
we endured it and vet exist. But the country has
passed the dangers of this remarkable period; its
credit is restored leaving only debt steadily grow
ing less that gives apprehensons for the future
The reaction after all this in the onward, upward
march of National life is yet to come, and we are
already upon the firm ground at the beginning of
the ascent. Industry, good sense and the favor OF
Providence have brought US to this in absolute
safety, and with sure promises for the future.
The rhythmic order seems to prevail in everything
in nature from the sound wave to the succession
of creations. Our familiar examples are the waves
of water the alternating fortunes of political par
s,,., l.,NY, cNrfao in
mines, in lands and in what are known as flush and
hard times or the rise and fall in the values of prop
erty. The succession in these things is known TO
take place with remaI llable regularity dependent
upon some subtitle law, like that of action and re-
action in physics. The same is true of a growing
and generally prosperous people, and the great
wave of fortune which is to be the counterpart OF
the tragedy of war, so wasteful in life,
wealth, industry and morality, is yet TO
come, and the signs are visible. Everywhere
among civilized men the unlimited resources
of our country the high financial character, integ-
rity intelligence and culture fthe people being
recognized and commended. Foreign immigration
for a short time apparently turning to other Coun-
tries has again set toward our Own having been re-
assured of the advantages it offers them, superior to
any other But of vastly greater importance is the
shifting of the people already there from towns and
cities to the country The mistaken influx TO the
cities after the war and up to 1875, where 1t
believed an easy living awaited ALL is now reversed
aud the reports of increased land sales and Of the
Transporting companies the census OF the Western
States and the wonderfully increased productions
there fully confirm this, and it of the best in
dcations of the times.
THE CROPS.
The cotton crop of the South, greatly impaired
by the war, has been restored demonstrating the
most valuable fact, if such demonstration were ever
necessary, that free labor adapted to its culture
while the experiment in cOttOn-raising in other
countries, caused by the hiatus in our OVID, has
proved that the United States has a monopoly Of
the cotton growing lands of the world, both in re-
spect to the quantity and quality Of the cotton,
while its increase has apparent limit This places
beyond question the fact that the United States for
long time will be the cotton producing country
for the world while the demand and uses for it
steadily increasing.
The production of cereals in the United States is
steadily growing as also the foreign demand for
them. The wheat crop alone this year will be
nearly six hundred million bushels while of all the
cereals there will be not less than three thousand
millions, and the average of grain-producing terri
tory is small compared to what is capable of pro-
ductiOn The Northwest, with California, the finest
wheat portions of our country has yet vast areas
untouched. The immense valley of the Rcd River
Norm, DeSJ OF III
pied. The increase of land brought under cultiva-
ton in the last few years has been little over four
million acres annually but the rapid adaptation of
machinery for agricultural uses, and the present
impetus IN immigration of agricultural people, will
largely increase this. In 1877 the production of
cereals, excepting wheat, was one-third greater
than IN 1876, while that of wheat one-half
greater and OF tobacco double, being 4S0, 900, 900
pounds.
The market for this article is, like cotton, pract-
cally limitless while the American product bears
high character, and the adapted to It's cultva
ton is very great. but a small proportion of it
yet having been devoted to it. The growing of to-
bacco can and will be immensely increased, adding
greatly to the National wealth. There is no luxury
of such universal use, and the market for it is
broad as the world.
PASTORAL INTERESTS.
In wool our trade is as yet small compared to what
II 90 easily can and will become. The United States
now produces annually one hundred million pounds,
only half the product of either Germany or Great
Britain, while capacity for raising 1t is many
times greater than bOth Besides the raising of
wool on small farms, vast extents of our southern
and central interior country, not well adapted to
agriculture are admirable for sheep-raisng, So true
is this in New-MexicO and Arizona that the wild
Indians for a hundred years have kept large f1ocks
of them. The increase is rapid the occupation is
easy success has been abundantly proved by trial,
while the railroads are making transportation of
wool easy. There is certain to be immense in
crease of this product
The furnishing of live animals to European
kets will develop into an immense industry What
is true Of sheep is also true of horses and cattle The
entire section between the hundredth meridian and
the Sierra Nevada is more less adapted to their
raising. and large portions of it are admirably So
When the Government adopts a system of land sales