Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-24
Application of Capital and Industry in
the South

If there is any proposition which is sus-
ceptible of complete and easy demonstration,
it is this: that the Southern States will never
hereafter be so exclusively agricultural in
their pursuits and interests, as they have
heretofore been. Roth the capital and the
labor system Of the South were Frustrated,
nay, annihilated by the war. This capital
and labor were invested in, and devoted to
agriculture, and agriculture has therefore re-
ceived heavier blow than any other avoca-
ton of our people, during the war. As "a
burnt child breads the fire" and as men pro-
fit by experience, so pursuits are not likely
TO he extensively renewed or followed, when
characterised by losses enormous and dis
propOrtionate to those of other interests in
the country. Already men, who have all
their lives been agriculturalists can be found,
who are now seeking other employment, on
the ground that they not only cannot make
money, but not even a living by cultivation
of the soil. As rats leave a fallen house."
so our farmers are fleeing from the ruins of
agriculture.
The profits which in the past attended ag-
ricultural pursuits in the South, were not
due to the fact that the planter owned the
labor and paid nothing for it, but accrued
him ALWAYS TO command it whenever needed
The anticipated loss and failure in agricul-
ture hereafter will arise because the farmer
has no capital, and if he had it, could not
command and control the labor needed for
the successful prosecution of his business.
His limited experience has already taught
him that the negro will not work persistent
", even for the best of wages, and is likely
l.. a. r II Il.
ton and industry are most needed Under
such checks and discouragements, men wiz
not engage in agriculture, but will turn their
attention TO some more stable and reliable
employment, not dependent on the whims
and caprices of Cufee for success and pros
perity Hence, the din of manufactures
will be heard in the South, and the mechanic
arts will arise and flourish. Commerce
more than of yore will engage the attention
of our people. Mining will become a great
and important element of popular industry,
and the wood and lumber trade of the South
will be greatly developed in extent and
value.
In all of these branches of industry capt.
tai and labor are more apt to be directed
than in agriculture. Who ever heard of
capitalist having funds to invest, and seeking
agriculture rs an investment in preferenceto
the avocations we have mentioned The
returns Of the planter are too precarious and
uncertain. In addition to the cotton fly,
joint worm, chinch bug, rust droughts
storms and freshets, he has the obstacles Of
Cufiee to contend with. And every one who
knows Cufiee will admit that the problem of
his value as free laborer is one which few
have any hopes ofsuccessfully demonstrating,
though having every inclination to give him
fair trial In Virginia the days of black
labor, free as well as slave, are numbered.
The advancing stream of immigration, from
both the North and Europe, will appropri-
ate and dedicate Virginia to the labor of the
white man. Her vast mineral resources and
the facilities for manufactures, in the album
dance of water power, must necessarily cause
agriculture, ere long, to be of secondary i'm
portance. And the labor which has hereto
fore been devoted TO agriculture, and which,
from its unskilled character, cannot be trans
ferred to the mechanic arts, will seek other
fields, where the products and cultivation Of
the soil are more remnerative than here
In the cotton and rice fields of the South, if
anywhere, will negro labor be retained or
prove profitable. North of that "isother-
NAL line" Of which politicians used TO talk
so much it has not paid for years, and there
is now less likelihood of its doing so.