Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1864-01-29

4 FEW FACTs.-Ihe cry Is for for great ar
mics Everybody is to be put in the ranks,
except such as are detailed
Very good. if by 50 doing we can end the
war next year and bc done with il. But let
us look at a few facts.
An army correspondent writing from
Longstreet' Corps. says there are 5000 hare
footed men IN that Corps alone. From Johns
toms (latc Bragg's) army comes a pIteous
appeal for blankets and clothing. Lees ar
my is also in need Of blankets and not a week
ago a paper rcputcd % be the Government or
gauin this city, called upon the ladies 10 devote
their energies TO knitting socks for Lees sol
diers. For some weekspast the Young Men 5
Christian Association has been furnishing
cotton yarn 70 be knit into socks for these
same soldiers. Wo1len yarn was Not to he
had Day by day the clothes made for the
soldiers exhibit less wool and more cotton.
What Is the prospect for clothing next
year! The blockade at Wilmington is now
50 rigidly enforced that supplies from abroad
cannot be counted upon. An intercepted
letter from Nassau, printed in the Yankee
papers which came by the last has Of truce,
states that nothing has entered Wilmington
for a month" We must then depend on the
do we fnd2 ANY one who buys beef has
discovered that the quarters and sides are
rapidly diminishing in size. Younger cattle
are being slaughtered every year. 1t is now
thought we will have % fall back upon milch
cows. As cattle diminish, mutton must he
substituted, and hence the source both Of
leather and wool may be expected TO decrease
every month. Thus the prospect at home
u Il. Ill.
be able to clothe armies larger than those
which are now shivering in nakedness.
An army must be fed as well as clothed.
The facts last stated in regard to the supply
Of beef, apply with even more force to the
question of subsistence than to that Of cloth
ing Very little bacon is left. beef Is going.
and mutton will hardly feed great armies,
even if the supply were double what it Is. Il
Is said that Gen. Lee, during his late visit
10 this city, exclaimed that the citizens had
no right to indulge themselves while the
soldiers were living on quarter OF pound
of meat per day. The hue and cry against
the starvation of Yankee prisoners has scarce
ly subsided, and the excuse that three Of
our largest hospitals were forced to do with
out meat for day OF two at a time has rot
been forgotten. East Tennessee, on which
We relied mainly for supplies, has fallen into
the hands Of the enemy. The clamOr about
impressments and the stoppage Of supplies
on their way to market, ,stIll rings in the ears
of the Government. The standing crops in
entire counties have been impressed at one
fell swoOp, under the plea that in no other
manner could a sufficient supply for the ar
my be certainly secured Under this sys-
TEN. and because Of real scarcity as well.
-four of a low grade Is selling this day in the
Confederate Capital at Sl20 barrel. 1t
appears, therefore, that the prospect of feed
ing the army already in the field, much less
one twice or thrice Its size, is not encOursg-
ing.
Without labor there can be no production.
Our labor is that of the African slave, who
requires the supervision Of white man at
all times, and never more than when an IN
usual quantity of work is demanded of him.
Women. lads, sexagenarians, cannot make
the negro do his duty fully and faithfully;
man in the prime and vigor of life is needed.
Already the fears Of Insurrection. occasiOned
by the absence Of the greater portion of the
arms-bearing white population. has produced
a leniency and indulgence among the far
mers, which has encouraged the natural lazi
ness OF the slave, and resulted in rapid and
yearly increasing diminution of the crop.
Take away all, or nearly all the vigorous
whites, and leave the negro to the feeble
control of women, children, and old men,
and the danger is that famine will be super
added to insurrectiOn.
places that could be filed by disabled soldiers)
and it is easy to conceive what the conse-
quence will be upon agricultural production.
The sum Is not finished yet. Horses must