Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1862-12-26

We have never yet seen good reason as
signed by the Tory press for their opposition
to the Presidents proclamation for the eman-
cipation of slaves of rebels. The only reason
they have ever assigned is the one they al
ways put forward when they have no other,
and when the position they assume is alto
gether untenable on grounds Of justice or
sound policy-viz: it is unconstitutional T"
They have never yet told US, however, by
what right rebel can claim the protection
of constitution which he spurns and defes,
nor why it is unconstitutional to free his
slaves, but all right and proper to take his life
in battle
We are forced to the conclusion, therefore,
that their love for human oppression has
clouded their minds to the truth, or that they
are in league with the rebels and are doing all
they can to secure the triumph Of rebellion.
That slavery is the prop Of rebellion, all can
did men Of intelligence must admit. The fol-
lowing extract will show that the rebels are
aware of it and boast of it, while doughfaces
at the North openly defend the institution -
THE SOUTH CAN CONTINUE THE WAR LONGER
THAN THE NORTH-THE REASONS WHY.
From the Richmond Examiner, Nov. II.
The question of labor cannot fail to be a
very serious one at the North, if the war goes
on much longer. That country has already
lost million of able-bodied men from the
business of production. The drain is still
going on, and half million more must be
added in another year. This is frightful
loss to a community whose labor is all per-
formed by the class from which enlistments
for the army are made. At the South the
heavy labor of the country goes on, in spite
of the drain of young white men for the war.
That labor was always sufficient to provide
bread and meat for the population, besides
performing much of the work of clothing,
sheltering, and otherwise providing for the
people.
Except in districts overrun by the enemy,
this labor system is still intact and organized,
performing all its usual offices for society
But the North possesses no such system. The
war makes frightful hiatus in the ranks of
its producing class. A million of men are
taken from the support of their families to
join the army; and probably half million
more are diverted from old productive pur-
suits to the expensive work connected with
arming and supplying troops in the field and
vessels on the water.
The labor of the North was always insult
ficient for the vast employments of that coun-
try This deficiency of labor gave rise to the
many inventions of labor saving machines
which so abounded in that community. 1t
also invited the emigration from Europe which
assumed such vast proportions as to introduce
the use of foreign languages in large districts
of country. This deficiency of labor also
gave use to the high wages paid at the North,
which were higher than were known in any
other country, or had ever been known in
history.
the war, taking off from one to one and a
half million of men from the industry of the
North, and furnishing a heavy demand for
new departments of labor for maintaining the
most stupendous of all military operations
Every hour employed by soldier in the
duties of the camp, and by an artist in man.
ufacturing war material, is a dead loss to the
wealth of the North. This loss cannot fail to
be felt, sooner or later, in the most intense
degree by that people. 1t will manifest itself
in the rise Of all prices; in the decrease of ex-
ports; in the scarcity and exorbitant prices of
foreign goods in the depreciation of money !;
in the weight Of taxation; and in the lamenta-
BILE sufferings of the poor, the widow and the
orphan, for the necessaries of life.
The fanatics of the North used to denounce
the young men of the South for idleness and
pride; but, if they did nothing before, these
young men fight now; and if they were idle
before the war, their employment in the army
does not decrease the labor of the country.