The Brookhaven leader., 1888-09-27
An Interesting Letter from Bish-
op Galloway.
Los ANGELES. Cal, Sept. 10, 'ss,

a promise to write letter or two for
your columns from this Western coun-
try, but a multiplicity of duties, Of
fetal and other, have hitherto hindered
its fulfillment. A first visit to noun
famous sections is apt to make low
lander extravagant i'll descriptions OF
scenery and climate. The sudden
ness and entirety of the change from
scenes familiar to strange, from mo-
uotonous lowlands to magnificent
mountains. towering one above anoth-
err with an abandon ofgrandeur, excite
the imagination and awaken every
dormant mental energy. From this
abnormal exaltation we may he be-
trayed into depreciation of the old
and an undue appreciation Of.thc new.
For weeks | detected this tendency,
but familiarity even with the sublime
brings conpusurc to the nerves and
sobricty to the Imagination. can
say. therefore, while enjoying to the
| full all the wonders ofthis great West,
the virtues and advantages of my ma
tive Mississippi do not suffer by com
parison. What we lack in glorious
scenery and Western enterprise, we
gain in climate and the homogeniety
of our social life. One has to come
West to appreciate the industrial and
social condition Of the South. We
are much better off than the average
Missssippian is ready to admit. But
do not intend TO a1fict you with a
homily on political economy.
I spent the month of July i'll Mon
tana, visiting every leading town and
travcrsing her principal valleys. The
valleys of Montana walled i'll by
massive snow covered mountain
ranges, irrigated by streams fed from
melting snow and waving with luxu-
RANT harvests of wheat, oats and grass,
are beautiful beyond my powers of
description. The lane is very fertile,
producing as high as fifty bushels of
wheat to the acre and from eighty to
an hundred bushels of oats. There |
first saw the process of irrigation by
means of bitches and "humes." 1t is
simple, comparatively inexpensive,
and renders farmer tor "ranchman
as he is called in the Vest indepen-
dent of clouds and rains. Irrigating
is not expensive in the narrow valleys
of Montana, but quite so in the Sac
rauento and San Juakin valleys of
California.
i was surprised to see such fine
horses and bloOded cattle in the ter
rit0ry of Montana; and most amazed
to learn that they are raised at small
cost despite the long, cold winters.
{ Some stock men never keep up their
cattle and horses in winter at all.
They paw down through the snow
and feed on "bunch- grass" which
cures itself and retains its nutrition,
and on that are fat and sleek in def
ancp Of the mercury forty degrees be
low zero. Eastern stock could not
endure the winters. The Montana
raised are ''rustlers." That bunch
grass is the wealth OF the cattlemen.
OF the mines and mining interests OF
the Territory | could say much more
than your space will allow. | visited
the Government assay Office in Helena,
the capital, and got some idea of the
weekly output of the mines. Placer
mining days are about over, but the
great quaftz-mines are just beginning
to pour their wealth in the lap of syn
dictates, home and foreign. l visited
several in Butler City as also the i'm
meusc mills and reduction works that
grind up the hard rock and eliminate
the precious metal.
The Chinaman is everywhere and
by everybody spoken against. He is
the Western lShmaelite with every
mans hand against him. The negro is
treated like Il lord by the Southern
| people i'll comparison. Yet the Mon
golian pushes i'll and thrives where an
American will starve. He is garden
or, hod-carricr, railroad section hand
and laundryman of the West. He is
slow as a laborer, is not averse to pet
ty thieving, and is a gambler by ira
dition and daily practice. | went
through "ChinatOwn' in Helena, Mon,
Portland, Oregon, and in San Francis
co. Such sights and sounds and
smells. W-h-e-w,! In San Francisco
there are $4,000 Chinese. | visited
one of their GLOSS houses" and had
their idolatrous worship explained.
This trip convinces me that Congress
ional legislation prohibiting their be-
ing massed on our shores is eminentiy
wise.
The farmers are cheerful over more
favorable prices for wheat this year.
For some years they have not prosper
ed. Withan average price of 65 cents
bHshel and 20 bushels to the acre
and a cost of As cents a bushel to pro-
duce-and harvest, but little margin
of profit is left. Any Mississippi farm
or plantation, well managed, can
make a better showing.
| The labor problem here is more
perpleXing than in the South. Indeed,
through the country, outside the cit
les, domestic "help" is not to be had
Ladies of fortune do all their work,
| waSbin0 included Success ont baro