Journey through Texas, or, A saddle-trip on the southwestern frontier : with a statistical appendix Page: 10 of 552
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A LETIER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND. ix
each needs an ampler and better house; each desires to engage a
larger part of his land in profitable production; each needs some
agricultural machinery or implements; in the neighborhood of
each, a church, a school, a grist-mill, and a branch railroad are
proposed.
Each may be supposed to have previously obtained the neces-
sary materials for his desired constructions: and to need imme-
diately the services of a carpenter: The Texan, unable to hire one
in the neighborhood, orders his agent in Houston or New Orleans
to buy him one: when he arrives, he has cost not less than two
of the five thousand dollars. The Iowan, in the same predica-
ment, writes to a friend in the East -or advertises in the
newspapers, that he is ready to pay better wages than carpenters
can get in the older settlements; and a young man, whose only
capital is in his hands and his wits, glad to come where there
is a glut of food and a dearth of labor, soon presents himself.
To construct a causeway and a bridge, and to clear, fence,
and break up the land he desires to bring into cultivation,
the Texan will need three more slaves-and he gets them as
before, thereby investing all his money. The Iowan bhas only
to let his demand be known, or, at most, to advance a small
sum to the public conveyances, and all the laborers he requires
-independent, small capitalists of labor-gladly bring their
only commodity to him and offer it as a loan, on his promise
to pay a better interest, or wages, for it than Eastern capitalists
are willing to do.
The Iowan next sends for the implements and machinery
which will enable him to make the best use of the labor he has
engaged. The Texan tries to get on another year without them,
or employs such rude substitutes as his stupid, uninstructed,
and uninterested slaves can readily make in his ill-furnished
plantation work-shop. The Iowan is able to contribute liber-
ally to aid in the construction of the church, the school-house,
the mill, and the railroad. His laborers, appreciating the value
of the reputation they may acquire for honesty, good judgment,
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Olmsted, Frederick Law. Journey through Texas, or, A saddle-trip on the southwestern frontier : with a statistical appendix, book, January 1, 1857; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2407/m1/10/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.