Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1865-05-25
Blessings in Disguise"

We have heard considerable from the
southern papers about BLESSINGS in dis
guise," but the greatest trouble was that
the disguise was 50 deep that they were I'M
able to see the blessings. Nevertheless
there are such things as blessings in dis
guise, and now that this cursed rebellion is
played out we sec that the war itself has
actually been blessing in disguise to this
country,--a miserable means to a most
happy end. 1t has entailed an enormous
public debt, but at the same time it has de-
veloped the means for paying it. 1t has
laid waste our southern cities and sacrificed
some of our best and brayest men to the
god of war, but it has demonstrated that
we have government, it has bound Us to-
gether as no other thing could do, and
made us the largest and most formidable
military power on the face Of the globe
It has demonstrated to the world that tie
p6ol,7e are as capable Of governing themselves.
and that they are capable of conducting
long and devastating war as the most COM
pact monarchial government. Our people
will be more independent, freer, and more
fearless than they ever would have been
had not the war occurred. Our government
will be more stable, and our institutions pur-
CT and more enduring than they ever would
have been. From all sources We see
indications that the struggle between sla-
very and freedom had to come at some
time--They were antagonistic and could not
both peacably exist under the same govern
ment--We ask at what more convenient
time could it come? For our part Ie are
glad it came during the life time bbra-
ham Lincoln, .. S. Grant, W. I. Sherman,
and other noble souls who have brought us
safely through the fiery furnace. The war
has destroyed an exclusive, unjust labor
system, to make way for perpetual exbi-
bition of the industry Of all nations which
throws open the finest agricultural country
in America, to the competition ofcapital and
industry capital that need not be expen-
ded in the purchase Of hands," and indus
try from the North and from Europe that
is invited and urged to come where lands
are cheap and where labor will meet with
the richest returns. Cotton, although no
longer King, will command a ready market
at a remunerative price. There was raised
in 1860 the enormous amount of $780,
IA bales, it was then II cents q pound,
which would amount to nearly one humid
red and ninety two million dollars. 1t has
since been as high as one dollar and ninety
cents per pound. This alone, by the i'm
position of duty Of per cent per pound,
would pay the entire national debt in 80
years. But cotton is not the only attrac
ton to emigrate south. Sugar and other
commercial crops offer great inducements.
The reoccupation of old plantations and
the redemption Of swamp, brake, and for
est for new cotton and sugar fields, will call
for class of farmers and swine and cattle
raisers to feed the laborers on the planta-
tons wholly devoted to the commercial
crops. Moreover. the abolition Of slavery
opens the door; for the entrance Of
the skilled white mechanics in every branch
of trade Nor, in the new order OF things,
will it be long before the new South learns
the lesson that the increased value Of all
commodities comes largely from transport
tation, and that no small part Of its cotton
and other products may be manufactured
and consumed as well as produced on the
spot; AM certainly with the coal and 9th
er mineral resources of the South, all the
needs of plantations, from hoes and pows
to cotton gins and steam-engincs, can be
manufactured there as well as elsewhere
The requirements of this rich and almost
limitless agricultural region will cali into
existence new and thriving cities and vii
lagos, and will present new openings for
the industry of the over-crowded cities of
the North and Europe.
TIE WEALTH OF PHILADELPHIA