The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-01-09
PRICE 8 CENTS.
Our Michigan Letter.
PLYMoUrH, Mich, Dec. 18th, 15s

PLYMOUTH, Mich, Dec. 29th, 1881.
The people of Michigan think their State,
upon the whole, the best one in the Union,
considering its climate, tho fertility Of Its soil,
its geographical position and its boundless re-
sources in coal, salt, iron, copper, silver, tim
Der and innumerabls vegetable productions.
To-day, at dinner, my host emphasized his
praise of Michigan by saying that last year
poor neighbor bought in the north of the
State tract Of excellent land, planted three
acres of potatoes and with the crop paid for the
land and had twenty-ssven bushels remainingl
The land was good, and cheap, as it all isin
that region, the yield of potatoes was large as
it always is there, and the price was larger
than usual.
The people of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and
Iowa think their several states the best Of all
the sisterhood and it is AVERY pleasant thing to
note the satisfaction and pride with which
they speak Of their own. 1t is hard to say
which of them. all is the best, they are all SO
very good. AS to Michigan, however, 1t is
clear that its resources are very great. 1t is
almost surrounded by waters that would af-
ford room and depth enough for the largest
ships and navies in the world. These vast
bodies of water temper its climate in summer
as well as in winter, moderating the heat as
we'll as the cold, and enabling the land to pro-
duce fruits freely that are found usually in
more southern latitudes only.
There are vast tracts OF land in this State
yet unoccupied-except by the primeval for
est-of most excellent QUALIFYING better land
out doors"-as the people say Of it, and the
price is very low. Is is mostly owned by the
State, whose policy is to sell It cheap so as to
attract settlers, especially from the Eastern
States. Michigan is already largely occupied
by people from NewYork and New England,
and they do not care for sort of immigration
that require vast deal Of education and NOR
al training to make it harmonize with Ameri-
can notions of what personal, religious and po-
litical liberty really are. Men and women
who have grown up in the old world under Sc
we're repression, knowing little Of personal and
political independence, having no share in the
making of the laws by which they are kept
down are apt to think when they come to us,
that liberty is license and that the terms law
and order are only names for the old system Of
oppression, and so they want none of it. The
people of Michigan prefer that their popula-
tion should be of different character and are
quite content that its increase should be slow
er in order to assure it.
There are in Michigan vast deposits of iron
of the best quality, as 1 am told The beds Of
ore have not been largely worked yet, but pre-
parations are now in progress to do this on
large scale.
The product of the furnaces will be at first
and for some years, what is known as char
coal iron"-as the vast forests of the State af-
ford abundant material for the coal and iron
smelted with it is much superior to that pro-
duced with mineral coal. TIE geologists OF
this State say its territory is underlaid with
coal and salt and the deposits Of both these
minerals have now attracted the attention Of
experienced operators who Ewill work them
actively with abundant capital
The copper mines of Michigan, as all the
world knows, are the most wonderful produc-
tions to be found anywhere. This metal seems
to be in inexhaustible quantities and is taken
from the mines absolutely pure and in blocks
as large as can be conveniently handled and
transported. The masses / have seen are
about three or four feet square and about two
feet thickl The people with whom have
talked of it, say there are yet no indications of
the failure of the mines. There is here, am
told, deposits of native silver ON very large
scale, that are worked to great profit.
Black walnut can be grown here with great
ease and in any quantity. 1t is probable that
the farmers, at least many OF them, will turn
all their attention TO this industry that will re-
ward them more certainly and more literally
than any other product of the soil, if they will
wait for the returns TWENTY-FIVE, thirty-seven,
fifty years. In planting the nuts with that view
the young trees can be thinned out in twelve
years and the product will pay well for the in
terest on the cost of the land for the whole
period and for all the labor. After this the
nuts will pay literally, and in twelve more
years and in another term OF the same length
the wood may be thinned out, leaving tbs trees
at the distance from each other which they are
to occupy permanently. In fifty years, the
trees will have attained large growth, and
the value of no more than three or four acres
of them, cannot be easily computed, even at
present prices. [ am assured that the best OF
them would be worth two hundred dollars on
the stump. Indeed, some stumps have been
sold for that sum, after the trees had been
taken from them many years ago
There is another matter besides mining,
farming and numbering, that is now largely
occupying the attention Of all classes of people
in this State, and that is, the relation Of the
liquor traffic to the general good. One OF the
most eminent men in Michigan recently said
that the people of the State spend every year
in strong drink the total valuation of two OF its
richest counties, one of them containing De-
troit. The economic side of the liquor ques-
tion seems to be particularly dwelt on here,
and the people enlarge on the facts that the
wages of labor go mainly for beer and whis-
KEY, so that the working classes do not become
independent and rich, as they would do II the
temptation to squander their money and health
in strong drink were banished from the State,
as it certainly will be In the near future. The
educated and influential classes are now turn
ing their attention to this matter, more than
ever before.
It seems to be understood that the present Is
a particularly favorable time to settle the ques-
tlon finally OF the manufacture, importation
and sale of intoxicating liquors, because there
is now no important question of policy in ma
tional AFFAIRS to be determined by the two po-
litical parties one way or the other-and the
people through the West are coming rapidly
to the determination to vote no ticket that
does not represent their convictions upon the
question: Protection to ourselves and our
children from the grog shops"
The refusal of the last Legislature to submit
the question to the people of constitutional
prohibition, has very much exasperated them.
am told that three-fourths of the people OF
the State are in favor of an amendment to the
constitution prohibiting the manufacture and
sale of intoxicating liquors. They say this Is
true of Democrats as well as Of Republicans.
NEAL Dow.