Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1863-09-07

Z
children are in the ranks by ihe side Of your
own gallant Bons-permit such one 10 say a
few pisin words 70 you.
If strong or apparently harsh language bs
used, let me say, in the outset that my wish is
I to eonvines and not to offend. I have no mo
tive 70 wound the selEIoyo Of any one.
The chief evil under which we all labor In
this effort TO win our Independence, hss been
aad still IS the high prics of living. So great
i,ss this evil grown, that our Gongre5s has
doemsd it proper 10 resort to impressing, where
it shall become necessary.
Lst me ssk tue planters Of the South few
plain questions. / an confident they sTs yet
patriotic enough to ponder well the answers.
Z What causes -four 10 be go high Is Is the
price you ask for your wheat. What causes
meal 70 be so high It is the price you ask for
your corn. What causes meat 30 DO 50 hiEh
I, is the price you ask for your cattle, sheep and
hogs What causes cotton goods 81 be so hghl
u is the price yoU ask tor your raw cettOu.
What causes shoes to be SO high II Is tie
price, again, you ask for your cattle
What causes living, generally, to bs 50 hight
D Is the price you planters are asking for every
thing you raise or produce, for the first price
governs 81 su5sequeut ones, I DO not mean
tiIst you alone are responsible for these high
pEiess- / do not mean that there are no other
causes tending TO this But DO mean 10 say
ulaIatshLi1k ~ tii2I you planters hEe NANNY
aimOs. sOley-tO blame for this fTightfnl evil
of high prices and consequent dspreeiate1 cut
reneY now eursing this otherwise afflicted la0d.
/ know is is customary TO damu The mer-
chanis for the prevalent high prices, and none
are more ready to join in the cry against them
than you are. But II is uniGst as It is untrue.
I sm not, and never have been, . merchant but
an in.imsts acquaintance with that class Of men
for twenty years, in large commercial cities has
e. Cd Al. L.
LIBERAL and patriotic citizens among our eutire
pouaisii0n
Their vocation is trade--tO buy at one price
and sell at an advance; but, IS a general rule,
they are satisfied with q reasonable pref on
their actual outlay. II they buy cheaD they sell
50. There are exceptions TO this ss 10 al other
rules; nor is it msant 70 include, as merchants,
he thousands of little Jew hIckstsrs who are
pow intesiing all our large towns, and preparing
to become good loyal Yankees whenever Charles
ton, Savannah or Mobile, shall fall. There is
also a class Of native born Southern msn even
worse than these Jews. They are the speeuls-
tors who are prewling about the land, buying
up, IN person or By agents, all they can lay then
unclean hands on, and boarding it up for high
prices.
Bu. such men do not belong 70 our high-miud.
cd, honorable mercantile class and I repeat
again, that our merchants are not responsible
for the evil thst is upon as.
You planters, by your ert0rti0R, are doing
our cause more real damage than all the Yam
l1ee armies combined. You are tho main. the
pTiacipsl, the leading, the first cause Of the
high prices now eursing the country, dsBoTal-
iZing the conscience Of our citizens aud paralyz-
ing the arms and the hearts Of our gallant sol
diers. Hou are the chief cause Of this as can
be easily demonstrated.
Take the Ertiels of shoes. You de1Ouucs the
merchant for the high price be asks you for
them Bnt did you ever reflect that you started
this high price" What did you ask for cattle
tive years ago Twenty and thirty dollars
head. What did the shoemaker ask for shoes
then Four and five dollars a pair. Whist do
you ask for cattle now7 One and two hund-
red dollars head. The butcher has to pay you
this, OF you will not ssll them. What is the
ccnaequeBcs of this first "high price l'' The
butcher must make ms profit on g0ur "high
pIices;" and he has advanced meat TO fly,
seventy live, ninety cents and dollsr per pound
just as you have set him the example by frst
ad dvancing your prices. The tanser who buvs
his aides and bis meat fr0m the butcher, must
have his pT06s also; and as he cannot have it on
the meat and the -four, aud the lard Le eats,
and for which be has 10 pay high prices because
you have hrst established them, be puts il on his
hides which he sells 10 the sh0emake The lat
ter must have his profit also; and as be, too, Ias
70 pay the same high prices which you have in-
suguTsted for -four, meal, meat and wood, be
puts mis- profit on his labor IN converting the
hides inso shoes; and he then sails them to You
with I'll these profits added. Bat yea srs the
mon who have no just causs Tor gTumbliug.
You have got your high pres long since. Not
because you had to buy wheat and corn and
cattle and hogs At high hgures-fOr you had
them al bafore-but becsuss you alone had them
and could ask for them any price you may have
thought proper.
There was no necessity for gOaT high prices
You had your cotton, your cattle, your sbeep,
your hogs, your wood, yoUr negroes, two years
ago Your labor has not been increased, be-
cause Of any extra attention you have bestowed
upon raising your cattle, or your wheat or your
corn. God Almighty has charged you no Ciors
for The rsiRs, for tbs wet and the dry, the cold
and the warm seasons than be diA two y8s5s
sgO. YetyOu haYe risen in your prices Of all
ths uecss5aTies of life, four or Eve times tbs sost
oi two yeans sgo.
Bui for yoHr high prices" The butcher would
have sold meat aud hides at low rates; the tan
usg would have sold leather At lower rates, snd
the sbOemskers would have sold you his shoes
st lower rates.
This 10 the case too with the cotton goods you
buy rem the merchant or the factory You do
not hesitate 20 denounee the high price you have
70 pay for them; aud you call sll "extortioners"
who srs connected with this traffic But do YOU
rOeOllect thst two yeSrs and even one year ago,
donesties sold at forty and fifty cents per yard,
Inst now sell for one dollar and City cents u9r
ysrl7 HEveyOU bad no agency in bringing about
this " high pricsl" You sre in truth, the real
cause Of it.. These goods sold low, yesr. ago,
because you then asked but fifteen and twenty
cents per pound for cotton. New, you ask forty
and hjty cents and do not cara to sell ct that fg-
ura Is the factory man To be ceusured for asking
twenty or thirty per Ct profit On bis outlay when
you ara asking him one and two hundred per Ct
on your outlay Your cotton has bsan under
your gins two years It has cost you no more
20 day than it.hsd cost you at fmt, ordinary de-
probation excepted. You have not bought il
nom third party. Il is the same cotton yoa
have had aud held since the fall Of 1861 But
y0a have not thought il wrong that you should
constantly, frou month to month, 'sdvance
your pIiea, thOngh it has not oRcs chauRed
hands while you think It an outrage on com
mon honesty that the merchant should advance
lis price, though he has had to pay the factory
Inan his profit, who has first 10 pay you your
nigh pFies-"
You bsva put enormous figures on your
wheat, corn, cattle, sheep, hogs, cotton and
wood aud can y8s wonder thai the man who |
nsnufaetures cotton goods, and who has to bay /
all those nscsssaries ct your prices, should (
change "high pricas" for his goods
You complain loudly Of the prizes Of bacon !
aud lari in the markets of Charleston, SavAn- I
nah and Mobile. D. you sell your hogs at the 4
same figures you sold them last yssrl Give an /
honest snsWer. The same argumeHt runs I
through the whole catalogue Of necessaries. Ths |
country looks TO you 70 support our armies and |
our people Your plantation products are our I
chief resouress Of supply. Upon these you /
have pat extrAVagsnt prices before they have /
changed hands at ali and when they are eon 4
vsrted into the various elements Of living, you I
dsnouEca the " high price" charged for them /
strangely forgetting that you have put this I
ball 10 notion" and that your profits are four (
fod greater thsn the profss Of any other class /
You ase a0t as pstGOtic as ths Yankee. I in. 1
teud no of sns 10 aAying this am only sta /
ti,tg lsmentzble fact. The Yankee sustains his /
GoVsrnmens by selling it 81 It needs at nearly |
fbe figures OF former times He shows his conf /
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