Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-03-08


swtliing wind-as to the expediency OF
breaking up New England homes and seek
| ing new ones in new territory. When a
| man proposes to sell out and move West, he
proposes to do thing in which himself is
not the only interested party. The State
| and community he leaves has an interest
IN this matter, as well a. the State or
territory to which he emigrates. The
East and the West are rival suitors in this
matter of population II it be for the il
I tercst of the new State TO draw the people
within its borders, it is equally for the in
terest of the old State to retain them in
their old homes-and the personal interest
of the individual man must decide the con-
tlict.
W., in Washing ton Territory land the
same is true in other new States) under
stand our interests in this regard. We have
a country full of a great variety OF natural
resources We have cOngenlal climate
and the world is our market; but with all
our Iatural advantages We are poor with
out population Our timber, our coal, our
fish, our mines. our rich lands, without
population, will give US neither commerce
nor society, neither schools nor churches
roads nor bridges. towns nor cities. We want
Just what Vermont has, viz: a hardy. in
dustrious. thriving people. II we can de-
plete Vermont Of tho blood, bone and
muscle that bas reduced her rough noun
tain forests to productive leENs. then we
can be rich in all that makes Vermont a
good State to live in. In other words: If
We can make You poor by seducing Your
people to evacuate your State and fill up
ours, then Washington Territory will be
good country to live in. have halt mind
to join your side of this debate. ard at least
allow the advantages on your side and the
disadvantages on ours to have due weig ht
What, then, are the advantages and dis
advantages on either side of this question
Here Is farmer with one hundred acres of
land. He has lived on it for twenty years
BY dint Of constant labor and good manage
ment he has lived. kept out Of debt, made
ali necessary Improvements, sent his chill
dren to school, and taken good social po-
sition among his neighbors but beyond
thiS, he has not laid up much money. lie
says: 81 am tired of hard work. | have
grubbed my rocky fields these twenty years
for bare living. | want to go where can
live easier. and have a better prospect for
the future { my family
want to tell you. my friend, | have
lived on the Western frontiers for long
time. The income from farm therc as
here and everywhere, il the reward of
work. There is no release from toll with
the successful farmer anywhere. You have
worked here twenty years. As the reward
of that work you have good home-house,
barns, sheds. well cistern, walls, fences,
gates, ereryihing that makes your home and
business comfortable. You will not find the
same comforts You enjoy here in a new
country. Ii YOU do find them, they will
cost more money than you will be willing to
pay. Your policy will probably be to begin
again at the stumps-to move into a cabin,
and reproduce the buildings and improve
ments which yOl now have by years OF la
Dor. You will realize the sacrifice better
after experiencing it.
Then again, let it be remembered that it
is not all of lite to acquire land and enlarge
your iarmirg operations. What We in
the West want, and what we do not
expect generally to acquire for
long time to come, is that which you in
Vermont haye attained after a century of
progress in the various processes OF civliizl-
ton. Your systems of education, your
religious institutions, your railroad iaeii
ties. your manufactures, your well-ordered
sOciety-eveIyt ything that cOnsplres to mako
Vermont good state to live in, has been
growing up here Tor one hundred years.
You cannot expect to enter into possession
of these advantages for a lorg time to come,
i! YOU sacrifice them by moving into new
country.
You say that you have no meaus OF ex
pandIng your business here; you are CIR
cumscribed. You can keep a dairy of twenty
cows; You want to keep twice that number.
You must go where you can get more land.
| will answer this argument by advising
you to double the producing power Of the
land You have This. | am quite sure, is
practicable at far less cost than the expense
and sacrifice of emigration to new country.
And this, | apprehend, is the very import
ant lesson that Vermont must learn, in order
to check the depicting process which for
forty years past has been robbing the State
Of the best of the population. Even Yer
mont, old as she is. is in the A b { ct soil
improvement Ii your hills could be
given into the hands Of Scottish Highland
err, the yeomanry of Ireland, England, or
Germany, and subjected to the modes of
cultivation there practiced, more than two
blades of grass would soon be made to grow
where now you get but one. This is done
mainly by work and the work necessary
to the opening and improving of new
farm, in a new country, would double tho
producing capacity of your land here.
Your a. ricultural councils are movements
in the right direction. BY making the
wisdom of one the wisdom OF all, and the
wisdom of all the wisdom of each, yon will
soon learn the secret of making Your lands
50 productive that no farmer will need TO
increase his acres in order to the increase OF
his income.
emigrated from Vermont more than
thirty years ago. | lived in Illinois when
unbroken, unoccupied praires lay for hun
dreds of miles around me, Offering the most
ilattering inducements to Eastern emIgrants.
They came and occupied those lands. Some
were successful; many were unsuccessful,
The proportion Of the unsuccessful farmers
was quite as great in Illinois as IN Vermont.
Want Of success drove them farther W est .,
to newer frontier settlements, from which
again to recede as civilization overtakes
them
Men who are successful farmers in Yer
mont will succeed anywhere. Men unsuc-
cessiul here. by reason OF sh0rtcomlng IN
judgment, IN business capacity and good
management, will, for the same reason, fail
in the West | know men on the Pacific
coast who have been emigratng all their
lives-living first in New Eng or New
York then in Michigan, thon i'll Wisconsin
or Illinois, then in Iowa or Kansas, then in
California or Oregon, then in Washington
Territory, unsuccessful men always, and
always Lying hard, uphill lie. Success
ful men are doing well where they are, an
it is sale rule to - let well enough alone.
Unsuccessful men are not apt to attain sue
cess by emigration. They keep themselves
Impoverished by continual moving, and
make good the proyerb that the rolling
stone gathers no moss - IL is better to be
content-and il they cannot grow rich,
they can at least give TO their families the
benefits OF civilization, of which they deprive
them by emigration.
have lived long in the West | have
seen enacted the history OF Il multitude OF
families broken up, unsettled, unsuccessful,
unhappy. Glad would be many dIscOur-
aged wife and heart broken mother, In a
land OF strangers without home and with
out sympathizing friends, il she could be re-
turned to the land of her nativity and enjoy
tho sympathies and kind Offices OF the friends
of her childhood though her lot was
in poverty and she oil liged to toll for daily
food. Emigration won't cure the misior-
tunes of the unfortunate. Economy, thrift,
enterprise, are as essential to success in the
West as in the East. Extravaganza, indo-
lenco and inattcntiOn are IL lowed by the
same results there as here.
Western emigration societies railroad cor
porations and individual citizens, who are
exerting ell possible Influences TO induce
emigration, w0ul !, of course, pronounce me
recreant to my duty as Il citizen of Washing
ton Territory IN saying word to dissuade
the peoJ lc OF New Eng land from deserting
their native country and going West in pur
suit OF better home.
lttIl YOU seriously that a Vermont far
mer, with good Lying; II good, well-sp
pointed home with stock tools. buildings,
timber, good water and good social sur
rOundings. runs great risk when he un
dertakes to better his condition by pulling
up stakes and beginning again in new
country And | have made it the rul1 OF
my life, especially since went to the Pacific
Coast, TO respond to all appeals from East
ern peoI - who have asked my advice in the
same SPIRIT My uniform answer has been
Let well enough alone. u you have an
even chancc whero You are, You run risk
by exchanging Il certainty for an uncer-
taInty