Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-05-12
From New Orleans,

able to Northern Mem Magnificent Field
| for Northern, Erterp11se-A Hisd to Idaho
E1,igra,tS-FraaM and CorrssDtio,s- EtH
Effects Of Secretary Cbase's Trade Regulations
Gen. Banks a Military Faline-A Wis
coasia CoPpe,head Takes the ''Yellolc Fsue,'."
| Correspondence of the State journal.
ST. CHARLES HOTEL,
New Orleans, April q, 1864. I
Dear Journal i am afflicted with the
idea that | ought to write YOU letter. Cor
respondence from the insurrectionarv dis
tricts is so very rare nowadays, that | trust
you and your readers will excuse nv maladv.
have been in this sunny cline several
months, stopping some of the time in this
city, IN Baton Rouge, Natchez and Vicks-
burg IN tact, nave been up and down the
river here so frequently, that I think I could
now command tat-boat as successfully as
did our lamented friend, Col Botkin, or even
Father Abraham HIMSELF If | have been
seeking my fortune, or looking out for the
main chance" | havn't found either so far
as the returns are in. What the Supple
ments may show, remains to be seen. have
however had good opportunities for seeing
the country, men and things in general, and
+! nave learned good many things which won't
do to tell, and some which will
| On looking over this great 'tthreshing
floor" L am convinced that Southern society
and aristocracy as such, are destined to be,
or are already, by the war, permanently blot
ted out, African perspiration was their cor
ner-stone this article will soon no longer
| yield its strength to their support, but will
send forth its fragrance from many a vital
| point in the great arch of Union and Liberty.
| The accumulated fortunes of our "wayward"
secesh brethren are exhausted by the war;
| they don't know how to work and are too
proud to if they knew how, and there will be
| little left among them to steal. So | repeat
that their glory has departed, and they have
got to prick anew.
This beauteous land will be occupied and
| possessed forever by freemen-by the brave
| heroes who have won it from traitorous foe
and, by strong-handcd, industrious emigrants
| from all oppressed nations. Under such
use, it must become immensely more
prosperous than in its brightest former days
This is the opinion of many intelligent south
| erners with whom | have conversed, and
! whose sorrowful cOuntenances indicate their
| belief in its truth Let me say then, to such
| of your readers as have never visited this
part of the country, that the soil is richer,
more fertile and productive by far than in
any northern State, and the cultivation by
free labor of the peculiar products of this
soil, cotton and sugar, will pay at the lowest
rate of peace prices many times the profit
per acre that can be obtained in any agricul-
tural operations north. These facts have be-
come known to the army and will be known
wherever intelligence can reach. Then as to
climate, it is at times &c slightually warm" to
be sure. About as many die here from heat
probably as in the north from cold. II L
man is ''sun strck" here, another is frozen to
| death there. The chiefpoint here is to keep
cool, at the north to keep warm. Neither
| extreme is pleasant, but | venture that the
| South has the advantage in evenness of tenn
perature, and that the acclimated citizen
here is not so much affected by the weather
as at home. The mercury here rarely ever
! gets above 90 degrees, and seldom reaches
| that point in the heat of summer, and never
gets down to zero while at Madison have
seen it all the way from 10S degrees above
I to 40 degrees below. As to health, am told
! by old citizens here and physicians of stand
! ing that the average of mortality is not great
er than in northern Cities and is less than in
some of them; that while people die here
some seasons pretty rapidly from yellow fe-
yer, an equal proportionate number will die
| in New York for instance, during the same
| season, from consumption, which is rare
| disease here, and that on the whole the yell
/ low fever is not so fatal disease as the ty-
| phoid that many more people have been
scared than hurt by it, especially among the
Yankees, whom every effort has been made
| by all sorts of &" clap-trap to keep out
of the country. This is the way they talk
down south" and I am disposed to think
there is big vein of truth in it.
| The general appearance Of the country,
| particularly along the lower river where the
| ravages of war have not married it, is all that
heart could wish Immense fields, dwellings
| palatial, neat and tasteful outbuildings trees
and shrubs from every cline, beautiful gar
| dens, rich foliage, flowers of every hue, fra
GRANGE in every gale, meet the eye and greet
the sense on every hand. One cannot but
wonder as he greves that the serpent should
breed seething treason in such a Paradise as
this, but he was willy and made them not cas-
gods" but as devils, men and women alike.
The evidences of /" the fall " are everywhere
visible, the feminine gender exhibiting, if
anything, the most remarkable instances oft.
1t will be thus apparent that rich inherit
ance awaits our brave and conquering heroes,
when this cruel war is over" as a reward to
the loyal and punishment to the rebellious.
The field for legitimate business here is
excellent, and Northern brains and muscle
I are occupying it, but there is room enough
for more, and | believe no point presents
greater inducements than this Crescent City,
Our friends who are now packing up for Ida
no, with golden visions, had, instead, better
cite loose " for down the river. Not that
fortunes are made in minute as a rule, but
that genius and hard knocks, industriously
applied here, are extremely productive of
greenbacks. Those disposed to be venture
some will find a field to their liking in the
cotton trade, and will likely make a pile if
they don't get their necks stretched.
We civil Northern people have little idea
Of the way " the machine" is run in these
semi-loyal districts, and no conception what
ever of the systematic fraud and corruption
practiced by officials of all grades and sta
tons. You wouldn't believe me if I should
relate what l know about it. I wouldn't be-
lieve it myself if I hadn't seen it.
There is one great evil, however, which the
Government ought to be, and no doubt is ad-
vised of, but does not correct. 1t arts es un-
der Secretary Chase's absurd regulations for
trade with rebellious districts. Under these,
parties outside the lines can come in unmo
Tested and by taking what is called the " bread
and meat OATH" get permit to buy sup
plies, which by hook or by crook enables
them to carry off an immense quantity of
goods to the enemy, on pretence of being for
private consumption. [ am credibly inform
ed that a hundred thousand dollars worth per
week are carried out of Vicksburg alone, and
from many other points the same The enemy
are thus, at near points, growing fat and sleek
at our hands. Our soldiers curse the policy
which nurses viper to turn and sting them,
and if Chase don't abolish it, it will be be-
cause his legion of supervisory agents and
aids on the river can't afford to spare this
their road to fortune thrnuoh hriharv IT,,