Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-05-21


the head: at any rate, you are sure 10
please him. This free-born citizen OF
levelling republic is seldom a mere mis-
ter"
MORTGAGES EvTRYwHERE.
All landed property throughout the
United States, with its improvised farms
and tenures, sinks under the. weight OF
mortgaged debt, its original vice, ana
which to-day exceeds three thousand mil.
lions of dollars. The outcome either OF
violent occupation or gratuitous conces-
sion or of purchase, these homesteads are
almost everywhere encountered with mort
cages from the outset, often far above
their intrinsic value. While mortgages
with MS in France is the exception, it is, so
to speak, the general rule in the United
States.
The French peasant saves every cent he
can TO buy the soil he passionately loves;
The American emigrant purchases ground
only by way OF speculation in order 10 ex-
tract from it Just as many dollars as he
can. He then makes of TO new fields
and pastures new" in quest of fresh id
ventures. Emigration has blunted in him
all feeling in the soil. Even the word
fatherland no longer conveys the same
meaning it had in the minds OF the
true founders Of the republic, those
austere Presbyterian families whose
disappear. Impelled by caprice or self
interest he readily turns his back on his
edonted district .and the State where he
resides abandoning without conjunction
hrs roof without even casting look be-
hind. A cosmopollte in origin, cosmo-
polite he remains; his life is spent, as IT
were. from the cradle to the grave In set
ting up and relinquishing temporary
Then again, manual labor, which en-
mobiles the peasant in France, is consider
ed bv the American farmer as degrading.
He Is loath TO put his hand TO the pillow
or the shovel The business OF gardener
or tiller of the soil is below his dignity.
What ne likes is agriculture on big scale.
He must have huge mower or reaper
drawn by twoor four horses. which convey
him like gentleman farmer over extern
slve acres.
AS for his female helpmate, whose assist
ance under the circumstances would be lu-
valuable. she is too much OF little god
dess TO think of soiling her dainty fingers
in house- or feld-woTk. She knows nothing
about kitchen gardening. In few countries,
therefore. are vegetables daily source OF
profit everywhere else-so rare and OF such
inferior quality. Nor must we lose sight OF
the fact that most of these farmers are
mere barn-yard hands or perhaps artisans
among the lowest grades of our country
neople and possessed Of no technical
knowledge of any kind. Improvised as
they are into master farmers, they never
think of acquiring the instruction they
need and treat the soil like set OF down.
right navvles.
MoSEY-FEvER IN OUR BRAINS.
America has made vast strides in mate
rial progress. But it is no Aryap civilization
that prevails there. There Is something OF
the ancient in the brow-beetlng and ever
scheming Yankee, whose restless brain is
dried up by the fever of speculation. The
Minotaur of capital is yet more ferocious
in the United States than ii is in old Eu-
rope. On leaving one of the sumptuous
mansions in Fifth avenue. where the owner
has rapidly heaped up some very expensive
things, 60 TO the slums in the eastern por-
ton of the town of New York. The place
Maubert, in Paris, is quite respectable
quarter in comparison. Our miserles have
certainly more decency.
Monopolies and rings. in that country
which has so suddenly grown rich and
winch is vet without history, have pro-
duced a feudalism of industry and an
aristocracy of wealth. There are royalties IN
the free" republic. railway kings, silver
kings, oil kings, sugar kings. capitalists
whose financial influence booms the mar
ket, cornering staples and laying down the
law of demand and supply.
Ii would, however, be mistake to con-
clude from all this that America is disa-
greea0le country to live in. Far from me
the thought of wishing to turn it into ridi-
Guile. | have freely taken out letters of
naturalization as an American citizen, and
am proud Of my adopted country.
The American. | admit, has few imper-
fectlons: but, then, where is the man who
has none? How many other qualities
there are in him which counterbalance
those defects What genius he has for
business! What indomitable energy he
displays in the face of adverse fortune?
He may be vanquished, but he is never
crushed, and always gets up again. All,
the American Union is already great peo-
pie. but what mighty and puissant nation
IL 10 destined to become even in the near