The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1862-12-05

What are the people 10 DO Tor Salt! Is
becoming a very serious question. They
have been waiting patiently, believing
that supply could be procured by kill
ing time;" and now the word comes that
the Government must first be supplied,
which. it is said, will consume some twenty
days, thus bringing US up to the first of
January season before which meat in
this country, to be properly cured, should
be in the picking tub. Meanwhile, the
farmer, whose crop was cut short by the
drought Of the past season, must feed
away his corn, which will be needed for
bread and for work-stock before another
crop can be raised. Why the Govern
ment should have delayed the Transports
ton of its Salt up to the very hour when
its packers need it, or why the people
are prohibited from obtaining any for
twenty days, are questions about which
we might speculate without arriving at
correct solution. If the object be TO Oh
tain an additional supply of hogs for the
Government packers, it will fail, Tor ma
ny people, despairiug Of obtaining Salt in
time, are already turning out their fat
tening stock, so that the Government will
get neither the hogs nor the bacon. Last
'year the Government went into the pork
packing business on an extensive scale,
and the result was, the army was subsist-
ed upon halfcured and unwhoiesome
meat at a cost OF at least so cents per be-
when if lett to the people better article
oil bacon, and an abundance of il, would
have been furnished at Is or 80 cents per
10. But Notwithstanding the experience
Of the past year, and contrary 70 the ex-
pectation OF every one who gave the mat
Ter any consideration, the same system,
with all the abuses incident, is again
adopted, and the same results are certain
10 follow.
That it is easier to point out errors than
to apply the proper remedy, is becoming
a favorite quotation with some of our edi-
toiial brethren who seem to think it
criminal and unpatriotic in revolutionary
times TO allude to public affairs and pub.
lie men in any other than terms OF highly
wrought commentator and fulsome eu-
logy. They may be right; and while we
| have an utter detestation of that spirit
of carping and complaining, born Of deep
seated prejudices and characteristic of
small minds. yet some Of the abuses aod
impositonS which are creeping into GER
tain branches of the public interests are
so enormous and palpab|e that The press
csnnot avoid noticing them without an
abandonment of duty. Men in Official
station ana 1t the head of affairs, too Of
ten, unfortunately, sit above the clouds
and hear moi the storm raging beneath
,!,ev are seldom brought ia contact with
| me masses. and il the channels of infnt-
nation are dried up, or timidy silent tor
fear of creating embarrassments or givin g
offence, they are not likely 10 learn the true
condition IF things. 1t is painfully evident
that without change, should the war
continue twelvemonih longer, The cause
of the Sou,h will be seriously endanger-
ed by failure in the commissary and pro
vision departments,, Complaints are be-
ginning TO be heard in every portion q
| the Confederacy, and the course of the
Government IS in some respects regarded
as unnecessarily oppressive, and if per
sisted in will Ultimate in alternating the
affections of the people at home and Of the
armies in the field. No people, no matter
what their powers of endurance or how
high their resolves, can hold out success.
fully for any considerable period against
heavy odds in the field, if, at the same
time, they Are oppressed and preyed upon
| by still more relentless foe--the sharp
ers, extortioners, spectators and pecula
tors in their midst. The Government
could, if it would, do much to abate these
evils. The people are nobly sustaining
the Government, and every effort should
be made by those controlling its affairs tc
tighten their burdens as much as possible
instead of expressing them by careless
and Inefficient policy and adding unne'
cessarily to their embarrassments and
privations.