Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1841-05-29
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, SATURDAY MAY 2 . ls41.

ments have been the inyariabie cause
embarrassment and ruin. Owing to tn
periodical fluctuations inseparabie fror
such a system, it has generally happene
that a credit obtained by a planter, to tn
amount of one third of his estate, in q pc
Rod of expansion, has required the. who'
estate to redeem it in a period of contrae
ton. And we have been but too impress
sively %admonished that it is the very ge
MUS and instinct of those institutions, +
grant credits in periods Of expansion, an
exact payments in periods Of contraction
cannot, therefore, recommend a NOR
important reform to our planting commu
nifty, than to get out of debt with all posi-
BILE despatch, If already involved in it, an'
resolve for the future never to be involves
in it again. Such a resolution, generally
adopted and firmly maintained, would d,
more to promote the independence ant
substantial prosperity of an agriculture
state, than all the quackeries of Legislation
united. Imagine for one moment the grea
moral and political change which would b.
produced, if it could be truly announced a
this moment, that every cnltieator Of the
soil, within the wide limits of South Caro-
lima, was entirely free from the shackles O
debt. 1t would be a glorious day Of jubi
lee. The fatal spell of pecuniary influence
would be dissolved at once, the shackles Of
dependence. would fall from the arms O.
the indebted, and every citizen would walk
abroad in the majesty of genuine indepen.
dence and freedom.
But let us consider the effect which this
general and habitual freedom from debt,
would produce upon the progress of indi.
ylduals in accumulating wealth, and upon
the aggregate prosperity of the whole class
Of planters. Taking experience for our
guide, it can scarcely be doubted, that
those who have uniformly kept cut of debt,
and have v purchased property till
they had the money in hand to pay for it,
have generally accumulated fortunes more
rapidly and muchmore certainly than those
who have pursued the opposite policy
Every step they take is so much perma-
nently gained. They are exposed 10 no
backsets; they are effected by no vicissi-
tudes in trade, and stand firm and unmov-
ed amidst those great, and now frequent
and periodical commissions, by which those
who are in debt are always shaken, and
often oyerwhf lmed.,
Instances will no doubt occur to every
one who hears me, of men who have habi-
tually made smaller crops than their neigh
bors, and who have yet, in a series of years
grown wealthy much faster, by t is very
rule, which | once heard laid down
by Il friend. He never made large cotton
and was regarded as q bad planter.
And when asked how he got rich so much
than his more energetic neighbors,
he replied. "My neighbors begin at the
wrong end Of the year. They make their
purchases at the beginning of it, ON a
| make mine at the end of it, and
pay down the cash." And here | ana re-
minded Of a saying of the late John Ran
of Virginia a man not more re-
Inarkable for his genius ana eccentricity,
than Tor the profound philosophical truths
which sometimes escaped him like the re-
of an inspired oracle. In the
midst of one of his splendid r~hapsodies in
the Senate of the United States, he sud
1enly paused, and fixing his eye upon the
presiding officer, exclaimed rMr. Presi.
lent, | have discovered the philosophers
stone. 1t consist in these four plain mo-
"PAv AS YoU CO." Now,
will venture to say, that this is a much
nearer approach than alchemy will ever
make to the great object of its visionary
researches. And in recommending this
maxim to the cotton Planters Of the State,
have still kept In view, not only tho in.
1ividual interest Of each planter, separate
considered, but the common interest of
he whole community Of planters. For this
like the others | have suggested,
Independently IF the direct benefit it will
confer on each individual planter, it will
benefit the Whole, as a class, by checking
9ver-product'on. One great cause of the
4neessant struggle to make large cotton
crops, to the neglect Of every other inter.
ests, is the reckless habit of contracting
debts, which / ana ~deprecating. Negroes
Ire purchase upon credit, and the planter
thus furnished both with the means and
for unduly and disproportionately
charging his cotton crop. As cotton is
he only crop that will command money,
money is the most pressing want of a
nan in debt, every thing is directed TO that
object ; so much so, that it is the standing
for neglecting to pursue a soander
system Of economy. The saying has, in
Iced, become proyerbial among planters,
: If | were not in debt, | would not strive
make such large cotton crops, but would
leyete myself to raising nay supplies, and
permanent engagements"
Let me, therefore, advise, admonish and
9eseech all our planters, as they regard
heir own peace of mind, their own true
interest, the dignity and honor of their vo-
and the substantial welfare of the
State, to avoid the entangling embarrass-
nents of debt. Let them regard those who
nay offer them credit with no friendly eye,
put as enemies in disguise, who seek to
cad them into temptation. If t ey have
contracted the habit of anticipating their
ncome, even for a single year, let them
.eform even that. Yes, reform it alto
Then will their prosperity be
on immouable foundations. Then
will they stand mistaken and unterrlied
those periodical storms and convul-
which are the ~inseparable concomL
ants of a false and artificial SYSTEM of
.luctuating credit and currency.
Ohio alone raises more wheat t an
New-Hampshire, Vermont, Massa-
:husetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Della
ware, New-Jersey, South, Carolina, Ala
A p,a& Afg,n, op Art,r,o.