The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1878-12-12

Editor Broohhaven Ledger.

| in the east, Wheee denSe popuihe'on
reouies the cultivation of every availa-
BILE aqe of land to produce the necessa
ries d life. so fearful has been the
dest.ution and suffering in parts OF In
dia. china and Persia, as to excite the
sym,athies, and turn the attention OF
thirxing men and philanthropists to
theprobable cause. And though many
thefies have been propounded, they
Strangely enough seem to be based on
secondary inAunces, while the obvious
proxma,e, if not remote cause, is over
looked.
1t is remarkable that the most fruit
full portions of the earth in the infancy
of the human family are now desert
waste. Not that the soil is exhausted,
but because it has become unproduc-
tue; ana consequently nninhabitable
for want OF rain. If Herodotes, and
Strabo, are to be believed, the valley
of Euphrates and Tigres in the early
days of the Assyrian empire vastly sur
passed any portion of the modern world
in produetivenes The fact that four
hundred THOUSAND men could be called
to arms at the big tot the bugle. and
|marshalied On te plains Of Babylon in
Zines 70 meet fthe advancing hosts OF
Cyrus, is eyidy hce Of The i'm mense popu'
lation ltssrftasnea. What are they
now? and why are they thus? They
have become;an uninhabited waste, ex-
cept the valley Of the lower Euphrates,
where once bloomed the gardens, and
which Yielded the. luxuriant harvest OF
the ancient Babyloneans, now dismal
reed-br rake. Inhabited BY few savages
snbsisting on the Product of their buff
falo herds. which live on the wild veg
itation of the watery wilderness.
The vast .plslps 81 Messopotamla
once go fruitful IA popplous, are now
a tleeless, rainless waste, and parts, OF
China, India, Palestine and Persia have
long been yielding to the same in e
fuence. And yet we, with their history
open before us, aud the light Of science
and advanced intelligence to guide us
in it's Interpretation, seem to be I'M
concious that we are tending to the
same results, by the improvident dis
truction of our forests, which has been
fearfully accelerated by the construc
ton of railroads. We are about as
apt to lose sight of the future, as to for
get the past. In our eagerness to grab
the almighty dollar we willfully close
our eyes to the future, and say by our
conduct lot the future take care Of
itself
We have mo statistics at hand to
guide us in estimating the number of
miles of railroad already made in our
country, hut assume the sum total at
ten thousand. Now supposing it takes
an acre Of average timber to furnish
material for every mile, five hundred
thousand acres have already been con
sumed in the construction alone. Now
suppose the entire work has TO be re-
newed every ten years, in fifty years,
our present system of roads will have
consumed two millions five hundred
thousand acres to make aud keep them
in running order. And when we add
the necessary consumption for houses,
fences fuel, and naval purposes; to,
gether with the reckless obstruction Of
/ timber in opening fields for cultivation,
and the accidental confagrations which
often, and almost annually lays vast
large districts of the most valuable tim
Der, the grand total would be equal to
an area that would produce the neressa
ries OF life for our whole population.
But in making the above estimates We
have assumed an average yield of ma
terial suitable for the purpose of con.
structing railroads and the necessary
appurtenance
It is impossible to contemplated the
consequent result of our railrod system
without apprehension. Take for ex-
ample the two great roads TO the pacific,
one already finished. and the other in
course of construction. The one al
ready complete has consumed more tins
Der than was found in belt five miles
wide from Omaha. to San Francisco;
and the southern route will reqnire a
belt ten miles wide to furnish material
from the Trinity river in Texas, to San
Diago.
It will be no offset to say that much
! timber unfit for railroad purposes.
still remains. The most superficial OBJ
servation of the current wants. both
direct. and indirect. of rood in OPP
apration will permit US to entertain
not even hope of a vestige remaining
after the lapes of few years.
What we have said OF the Pacific
roads may without material alteration
of our figures be said of many roads in
the Atlantic States, which if kept in re-
pair from the timber of the VICINITY,
! will leave the country through which
they pass as treeless rs the plains of
Mesopo am a.
Not many years ago, we were in
formed that the Pers a, Government,
alarmed at the consequences of the exs
tefpation Of their forests. made q des
cree that every land holder should
plant specified number of t1ess every
year. To what extent this system was
persued. and how long continued, we
haes no means of knowing But one
thing we know, that the time is coming
went we must adopt similar measures
as abide the alternative
We are aware that the writer may be
called an enemy of railroads. As poll,
tical economist, and unselfish philan-
thropist, he is an uncompromising
enemy to AZ naonopolies. When he sees
one steam engine doing the work of
thousand men, and one train of cars
bearing the burden of o thousand
horses, De sees nine hundred men
thrown oht Of employment. hundreds
of wagon. rotten unused, natural roads
neglected, and tho noblest animal in
the brute creation disappearing like the
deer from our Atlantic border, and the
buffalo from the far west.
The natural wealth of the world is
as limited and definite as the number
of it's inhabita ntf, and whatever in>
fuence tends to concentrate wealth in
the hands of few. rols the MANY: and
in direct proportion as the wealth of
monopoles increase, the multitude is
impoverished, and while they hold in
one hand the means of CORRUPTION, they
WELD with the other tho iron scourge
Of OpnressiOn