Year: 1874

are lnV1ted-What rs Of


fers ahem,


"The hest Advertised State in the
Union, with More Cattle and Less
MILK thaa Any Other -
Etc., Etc. Etc.


EDITORS APPEAL-Having returned


from an extended trip through Arkan-
sas, Texas, and Missouri, desire TO say


few words to those Of our people who


have the emigration fever upon them.


You who have remained at home can


form no just idea Of the number Of our


people scattered all over the above


named States. Many have gone abroad


in hopes of bettering their condition in


life; some few Adventures, hut vastly


the great majority are men of family,


seeking better homes, more work, and


more money. In many instances


they have parted with their last


dollar to get them to this
promised land, this land of plenty in


the far west where Thomas Benton first


saw India. At every town and way


side station you find crowds OF Mem


phians, all with their faces anxiously
| turned westward, and by closer look
Il y
| whom any city or community could


We'll afford to lose. They are mostly


mechanics and laboring men, standing
| idly there with nothing to do. Men
| who have left their homes upon the
| highly-cOlOred representations OF paid
! emigration agents, who have told them
| that all they had to do was to get to-


gether money to pay their fare, and that
| plenty of work and good pay awaited
fk.s.s- A
| every position where a dollar is to be
made is not only filed, but has its com.
/ plement of from ten to twenty waiting
for the incumbent to vacate. | saw
more idle men, and men, too, who were
willing to work il there was
/ any work to do, in northwestern Texas
! than l have ever seen during the dullest
| season in Memphis. Now the query is
why do not these men go to work on
the farms? there is certainly land
enough for them all. True, but the
character Of men who are daily leaving
Memphis blythe score are not farmers nor


farm hands, but skilled mechanics.
Again, if these very men could turn
| their hands to farming, no more, if as


much, will be paid them for their labor


than is offered in Tennessee or in Mis-


sissippi for such labor, farm hands COM
bWElNG 70 uIleGu
dollars per month. Now, with the pro-
fessiOnal farmer the case NAV be differ
ent, but with this class of emigrants [


have nothing to do. 1t is with the
young mechanics and laborers OF Mem
phis that l wish to speak, and /
speak sincerely and honestly when
l say there is nothing there for you to
do. You will meet with hundreds
already there who are willing and
anxious to do all there is to do and vast
ly more besides. And you will find
when you shall have satisfied yourself
from personal observation, that / have
spoken truthfully, and that it is far
easier to get to Texas than it is to get
away again. Emigration tickets are
only sold the one way, and full fare de- /
manded coming back. The smile of the /
emigTant agent vanishes the moment, |
ticket in hand, you step upon the !
westward bound train. A truer remark 1
will never reach you of Texas than this: /
She is the best advertised State in the |
world, with more cattle and less milk /
than any other on the habitable globe.
Numbers of our labOring men and me.
chanies found in st. Louis also idle, and
why? Because there is nothing to do nor
is this expression, nothing to do, set to
the tune Of Flora McFIimsey, but a
reality. The stagnation in business, as
well as in the labor of the country, is a
universal thing. Memphis has her |
share, but no more than her share. These
men are anxious to get back to their old
home, not that they expect TO find things
better here, but because experience has
taught them that 1t is as bad. if not
worse, where they are. Again, they saw
we have friends in Memphis who know
US, and who krow we are willing to
work whenever there is any work to do,
and they will keep us over these dull
days; but here among strangers, we
must have the money to pay for our
lodging and meals, or go hungry and
lay out on the streets. Let our labOring
men and mechanics recognize this fact,
that nearly every branch ofindustry is at
a perfect standstill; go where they will
and the same complaint meets them.
do not think that it is wise for them |
to use what little money they may have
at theiI command to transfer them to
distant point, where they are sure to
meet with the same unhappy state of
affairs which they had hoped to have
left behind them. Better far remain
quietly at home and wait for better days.
Emigration agents will tell you of fabu-
lous amounts Of money in the cities of





is there, and just such prospectors as you
may propose to become carry it there.
1t is estimated that in these two cities
alone during the last year, ending July
lst, more money has been brought to
and parted with there for expenses than
the entire cotton crop of Louisiana
amounted to for the same time.
But this money is in the hands
of those who ale prepared to feed and
house the sight-seer, and is rarely di-
verted into channels where skilled labor
can ever reach it. Now, if Memphis
would put forth one-half of the energy
to get back her citizens that is daily
used to get them away from her,
thousands of her best working citizens
would return, who are now scattered
broadcast over this western country, to
aid in placing Memphis where she right
fully belongs-foremost of the cities
of the Mississippi valley. In
with former leading me-
chanic of Memphis, who was himself
from q profitless trip to st.
Louis, he said that there was, at the
lowest estimate, three hundred IabOrers
from Memphis in st. Louis, who are
idle, and who would be more than will
ing to come back. Does this sug-
gest nothing to the business
T6ese meh are the Bone and sinewS q a
city. A liberal course, and they will
flock back to you by the hundreds In
q commercial point, northwestern Texas
belongs to st. Louis, and it will be yours /
before Memphis can successfully COM
pete with her for it. st. Louis has left
nothing undone to secure, and her mer-
chants are reaping rich harvest. But,
sirs, l have said enough, certainly
enough, if have succeeded in present.
ing facts in such light that our sons of
toll will inquire of those not interested,
before they take step that may result,
rs il has in hundreds of instances, in
disappointment, if not in disaster, to
Lhems RAYMOND.