Year: 1865

Emigrstion % the West and South.


The population and development of our
Western Territory and the Southern States
which hereafter must be cultivated by volun-
tary labor-is one of the most vital questions Of
the age. We have just emerged from the
throes of great wsr. Hundreds Of thousands
of men are thrown upon the resources Of the
country for maintenance. We have a heavy
national. debt to pay, which the people by no
mesIas regard as q national blessing. There
r.ore it becomes essential that every means
should be resorted to in order to develop the
value Of the country, much Of which has here
tofore never been made available.


Emigrants are cE2Tding upon Us from
Europe in numbers larger than ever before,
and 1t behooves us to put them on
the fertile lands of the West and South,
where they will at once become useful
members of the community and masters of an
independent fortune. Every man who lands
here is set down at positive value to the
country-in the product of his labor alone ten
thousand dollars. II has been shown by calcu-
lation that every emigrant brings an average
amount of seventy dollars in specie with him.
The number Of emigrants who landed in New
York last year was little over one hundred
and eighty-four thousand. According to the
above statistics, then, the value of last years
emigration would amount to q fabulous sum.
1t is true that the value of the emigrant is
not Immediately demonstrated. It takes
some years for his contributions Of in
dustry, skill and capital to reach the sum of
ten thousand dollars, but sooner or later
every emigrant becomes worth that, on
an average. This value could be greatly
enhanced, and their own condition vastly
improved if emigrants were directed to
the Western and Southern States. In the At
lantic cities their labor and capital are rarely
reproductive. The former is barely sufficient
to obtain living, the latter soon melts away;
but on the uncultivated, though wealthy lands
of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Montana,
Idaho, Arizona and other gold and silver bear
ing and agricultural regions, where illimitable
acres invite the industry of the emigrant labor
and capital can command rich reward.


1t has been shown by the accounts of the
HERALD correspondents in the South that
there are many delightful localties-for
example, on the banks of the Alabama,
the Mississippi, the Edisto and other
rivers-quite susceptible of cultivation by
white labor and now easy Of purchase. In the
West the prevailing crop is breadstuffs, which
are more or less dependent for their value upon
the failure Of the cereal crops either in Europe
or certain localities upon this continent. But
cotton, tobacco and rice, which can be raised
in the Southern States, are staples that always
hold an almost equal value. They are necessi-
ties to the greater portion Of humanity.


We observe that efforts are being made here
to send newly-arrived emigrants to the West
through the medium of organized societies, one
of which will be devoted to the interests of
emigrants from Ireland, who are largely in the
majority, and will be under the supervision Of
gentlemen inspired by purely philanthropic
motives to better the condition Of their race in
this country. We trust that the border and ex-
treme Southern States will receive due atten-
ton. There are splendid opportunities in
those districts for obtaining the mutual result
Of prosperity to the cultivator and a thorough
development Of the resources of the South.


THE PRICE OF GoLD.-There is q strong feel
ing among the gold operators in Wall street for
a rise in the premium on coin The argument Ia