The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1863-02-24

should be successful; for it would consume all
their property. while at the same time it would
destroy the gcoee OF the south that laid golden
eggs for them.
Already the patriotism of Che States OF the
Northwest has been severely tested We Of tho
Atlantic States can hardly appreciate their st''-
ation' They are purely agricultural popo'a-
ton We are commercial trading aud manu-
featuring people. We are making money by
the war This is particularly true of the New
England States. The people Of the Northwest
have no present compensation whatever for
their loss of blood aud treasure On the con
trary. they are losing money 80 rapidly that If
the war continues long they will be beggared.
Those States. bordering, ~ they do. upon tho
Upper Mississippi or it's tributaries. sent their
agricultural produce down the Father of Waters
to the plantations bordering on the Lower Mis-
sissippi and its tributaries-cOrn, wheat. flour,
hogs, bacon. hams, beeyes, butter. eggs. horses
and mules, for which in return they re-
ceivsd either sugar and molasses or the gold
poured into the planters Golfers from every ma
ton of Europe. Not that the Southern States
in the valley Of the Mississippi could not have
raised for themselves, as they do now, the pre-
ducts sold them by the Northwest, but that i
was moro profitable to grow cotton, and that
the transportation down tho Mississippi -of
cereals and animals was SO cheap and oonvsi
nient, the navigation being open at all seasons
Of the year. Thus the people Of the Norttsese
fed and supplied with mules three millions Of
negroes employed in raising the great Southern
staples--sugar, rice, tobacco and cotton, but
particularly the last named product. Before
the war the price Of mule in Illinois was one
hundred and twenty-five dollars in gold. At
present, notwithstanding the great demand for
the animal in eur army the price is only sixty
dollars in deprecated currency. The same is
true Of other agricultural products. A late num-
Der of Minnesota journal quotes prices there
a. follows:-FlOur, four dollars per barrel;
corn, ferty-iye cents per bushel; dressed hogs,
three dollars and twenty five cents per hundred;
hams, four cents per pound; butter, ten cents
per pound; eggs, eight cents per dozen, and
other articles equally low. In the river coun-
ties Of Iowa beef is only two dollars and fifty
cents per hundred, or at the rate of two and a
half cents per pound, and in the same State last
winter, not hundred miles from the Mssissip-
pi, pork was sold dressed at less than dollar
per hundred II is certainly not cheaper now.
What is the cause Of this, while the same
articles are so high in New York; 1t is
the increased cost Of railroad transportation.
Owing to the closing of the Mississippiby the
the frsights offered to the railroads
exceed their capacity, and the directors have
increased their rates. Flour, which
used to be transported from the towns on the
Mississippi by railroad through to New York at
ninety cents per barrel, now costs to move it
more than thrice the sum and as for corn. it
costs the price Of five bushels to send one to
market.
It will be impossible for the Western farmers
to stand this very long; for, hard as is their
case, how much harder would it have been had
not the demand for our breadstuffs in Europe
been so great during the last two years. But,
as this arose from the accident of short crops, it
is not to be depended on hereafter, and the
prospects for the agricultural interest Of the
Northwest in the event of the continuance OF
the war are gloomy in the extreme. This sc-
counts for the vehemence with which the mis-
Of the war is assailsd by nearly all
sections of politicians in that region. 1t also
explains the holiness Of the copperheads there,
who are growing more numerous and more
dangerous every hour. and are loudly calling
Tor the stoppage Of the war. These men are
not in majority at present; but, like the rad-
Gals in the republican party. they may soon
counsels, and the consequences may be most
ieplorable.
Under the double pressure. therefore, OF our
financial difficulties and of the menacing atti-
tude Of the Northwest the war for the Union
must be prosecuted with the utmost vigor and
TO speedy and successful termination. Let
the emancipation proclamation be recalled.
let everything be abandoned that is calculated
to prolong the war, let policy be adopted in
which all can cordially unite, and let General
Mcclellan be put at the head Of the War De-
partmcnt at once, and very soon the loyal
States will have cause to rejoice in the happy
results But If the radical programme be not
thrown overheard, and the war in consequence
be indefinitely prolonged, it will fail signaly aud
suddenly. in the most disastrous manner, aud
then we may bid an eternal adieu TO our once
glorious Union. the envy and admiration Of the
world.
III -
THE ARMY. There is bill before the Senate,
entitled "a bill TO promote The health, comfort
and efficiency Of the armies of the United
States" which ought to pass without delay.
II provides "that the medical department shall
unite with the line officers Of the army in super
vising the cooking within the same, as an i'm
portant sanitary measure and that 'the said
medical department shall promulgate to its ofi-
GERS such regulations and instructions az may
tend to insure the proper preparation Of rations
for the soldiers" The necessary cooks 70 each
camuonv Including two u,,bnrd,pota Afrtcau