Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-10-21
ooudItIon Of the south.


vounted is resources and Its powers Of en-
durAnoe, on every hand is pro iuced the
most irrefrsgible evidence Of exhaustion,
decrepitude and decay. It's vain bosstiDg
of superior prowsas and power, is being
brought to & most lame and iDpctent con-
clusion. Destitution and distress are
widespread Bread riots often occur, the
magnitude and the frequency of which a
strenuous attempt is made to conceal
Yet bread or blood" is often the startling
cry of bands Of starving women driven to
desperation. The losses entsiled by the
war Of the rebellion, the grinding and
ruinous taxation, the depreciation Of the
currency and the consequent, almost
fabulously high prices of all commodities,
the desolstion Of immense districts, cut
ting off 3 supply Of even necsssaries Of
life, the entire destruction Of thousands Of
private fortunes, all go to make up q pic
ture Of the rebellion, truly hideOus.
Add to all the rebel discomfort, dissatis-
faction, and angry and threatening COM
plants Of great multitudes of the people.
All these thing are as mnch as possible
kept from public view, but the desOlstion
and the murmurs are of too great msgni-
tude to be wholly concealed.
The despoHding tone of rebel papers
indicates the distress. These papers re-
buke grumblers and erOakers, ami dis
close in their reprOofs the fact Chat jeff
Davis is widely esnsured and condemned
by the suffering, discouraged and disheart-
ened people of the South, who have been
dragged into this rebellion by their base
leaders.
One rebel in his desperation, proposes
that there be no more buying or selling,
salaries or wages, in the South. That all
individual and private property be merged
into one great common stock concern, and
that neither man, woman or child, have
more than necessary food and clothing.
The Richmond Sentinel, the special orga1
Of JEFF. Davis, has the following OminOus
paragraph:
nThe rapid advance in all necessaries of
clothing and subsistence threatens us with
great mistress. There Is no disguisihg The
fact. We cannot see how unemployed per-
sons, and how those who live on incomes
and salaries, are to get along, especially at
the inclement season of the year now rap
idly approaching. How are they to buy
shoes and clothing at the present rates ?
Nay, how long are these rates TO prevail
A great action may in day or two run
them all up fifty percent AnAuction thus
has become to be regarded by the people
with ss much dread as battle is. A de-
feat on the battlefield could hardly bring
more suffering upon them. These ques-
tions are growing daily more and more
important Something must be done.
Produce must be distributed, prices must
be reduced, gains must be disgoTged, or
there will be suffering intense-and in
tense suffering will begst What2 Think
of it,"
Truly, this state of things does have
bad look To such straits has the rebel
lion reduced the people. 1t is quite time
to think Of itn Again the Sentinel says:
nTWo ladies of Goochland County, wild
ows of soldiers, who have been striving to
live on the mockery Of an allowance made
by the County Court, being threatened by
starvation, procured passage on q canal
boat to Richmond, in search Of needle work,
10 enable them to get food for their chill
dren. But they cannot earn enough TO
pay even for passage on the boat. In
meantime winter is coming on, their or
phan children are without clothing, and
they look to the future with dread and
alarm. All they ask is work enough TO
earn bread"
The merciless conscripiions for the army
have SO far drained the country Of labor,
and of producers that the rebels are be-
coming themselves alarmed. The Rich
mond dispatch, on this head, says:
"Already, we are beginning to feel the
want of labor in those employments that
are indispensable to existence. What are
the people to do this winter for clothing
fuel, and for other prime necessities Of life,
if the few producers who are left are turned
into consumers by being drafted into the
army. Our most pressing danger is the
immense privation and suffering our peO-
pie must endure if the producing power is |
any further diminished"
To such straits has the rebellion reduced |
the people; fearfuIly entailing upon them
poverty and destitutiOn. Not long can
people thus impoverished and despOiled,
hold out in their accursed rebellion. It's |
end approaches.