Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1861-10-31
From the Lynchburg Virginian.
The ARMY Worm.

The Governor of Alabama is trying to extirpate this
oathesome creature, by withdrawing the alimen upon
which it is fed. We hope that he may be successful
The object sought to be attained is worth any amount
of effort for the ravages of the worm may be traced
in the blight and mildew that rapidly overspreadng
the land What were Pharoh's plaques of blood Of
frogs, OF lice, or flies of murran locusts compared
with those that aflct this people? Even the de-
stroying angel who slew the first born of every house
hold, scarcely more terrible than the army worm
which is now the precursor of famine that may de-
stroy than did the minister of Jehovah's wrath
who touched at last the hardened heart of Pharaoh
Who does not see that-althOugh the good God who
rnes above u.s. has blessed the land with increase and
given abundance for and beast-the fabulous pri-
to which many articles of prime necessity have gone
up, chiefly through the efforts of speculators will be
certain to occasion great suffering amongst the poor
this winter
How they to get Shoes or clothing or fuel at the
prices which these articles will be likely to command?
Or if they be able to supply these what will be left of
their scany income to get bacon at 25 cents per pound
ill men tell US that these articles have been augment
ed in price because of their scarcity? We deny it.
Bacon can be had for the money, by every body who
afford to pay for it. Large quantities of leather
Shoes clothing and material are still the market and
can be bought with cash. at extravagant prices What
then has occasoned these increasing and most exorh
tant rates? Simply this-an apprehended scarcity,
together with the fact that merchants and SPECTATORS
have been buying up and collecting in large unusual
quantities, the articles that have attained fictitious
value. Those articles not distributed throughout
| the country formerly. They are scarce at some
point and abundant at others; thanks to " enter
PRISE" Instead of putting off the evil day. the policy
of Shyock is to precipate it that the people may
feel in the very opening of the war; the evils that
might have been averted to much later period
Suffering that might have been kept at distance,
and perhaps, if the war should terminate shortly
never had been realized, is now brought to our very
doors. A single item in our personal experience will
Illustrate our position. few days SINCE in pursuance
of legitimate business, entered store in the city
of Richmond to find paper. An article of letter paper
musty and stained with age, that had been hand per-
haps for twenty years. and would have been dear at So
per ream, was offered for So and no less Richmond
is full OF such creatures the refer to and they
at our doors too, but happily not in such numbers
We know the fact that merchant in this city made
flour hundred per cent, upon bill of old goods And
what is done on larger SCALE indicated by Governor
Moore is practised by two penny dealers also The evil
contagious 1t permeates every order of society AT
Manassas the little dealers sell plugs of tobacco that
eight cents, to the soldiers ct fifty cts and demand
specie at that
The country stores, told have been ransacked
to find remnants of old calico that were worthless before
the war; to make shirts for the soldiers with which they
supplied at the moderate cost of tCo dollars and
fifty cents! Newspapers that furnished to dealers at
two CENTS are sold to the defenders of the country at
ten cents! And these but parts Of one supendOus
whoe-the legitimate results Of a system that is con-
vertng the nation into an army Of jobbers and Yankee
|
of extorton. Call it "enterprise" as a merchant in
Richmond told US; let it be denominated thrift mercan-
tile sagacty; anything but that exalted patriotism which,
repudating the loose principles of commercial ethics
has mind for the of the poor and demands that
unwOnted burthens be imposed upon the families of
the men who have volunteered to defend our liberty;
and be it remembered-our property too. We cannot
close this sOmbre picture without presenting pleasing
contrast to the otherwise unreeved darkness in which it
| is set. Many noble men-and we may add women too
act upon different principles Throughout the land
there are thousands even nOw to rise up and call them
blessed They visit our camps and hospitals, and the
families OF those who away in the service of the
country They relieve the distressed comfort the
rowing and administer consolation to the dying. We
have heard OF one gentleman a nephew, we believe, of
the good and venerable Bishop Meade, who loads his
wagon weekly with good things for the the camps
at Manassas. What contrast-It is as light to
darkness; as angels to devils; as heaven to he'll.
Commenting on this subject the Richmond Examiner
makes the following suggestions
We recommend to the first to IMPRESS steadily and
unfOrmy into the public SERVICE all spectators goods
which the Immediate needs of the service may require
allowing fair prices sufficient to remunerate the invest
ment, time, enterpr 3, other legitimate element of
profit the part OF the dealer This would not
only be just and beneficial to the Government itself it
would also at assist to establish regular standard
of prices for the general buyer in the
market. Secondly we recommend to the people of the
South themselves to find the most proper and efficient
remedies against speculation in their saEdenias
and those severe habits of private economy which both
the material e1lgenCies OF the and the cOnsidera
tions of patriotism at once demand. Let every one
strive, with patriotic DEVOTION to dispense, as far as
possible, with everything regarded a necessity of life
that may have tendency to increase prices, and to
stimulate the cupdy OF those whose dispositions for
gain Outsrip their patriotism, degrade their humanity,
and make them vler than the Yankee vermin we have
shaken from our skirts.