Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-06-08
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

II ever mas peen, ID now, ana ever
will be the true policy Of the South
to raise its own breadstuffs and man
ufacture its own clothing. These two
branches Of industry. cooperating
and comforting mutual benefits, are
the solid ground work of wealth and
independence, and had the South,
yeass ago, inaugurated and followed
mp this policy, it's consequent wealth
and population would have averted
the late war. The opposite course,
made it dependent upon the North
for many of the necessaries of life,
and that section, reaping the substan-
tial benefits of Southern labor, grew
rich and populous and arrogant,
whilst the South, boasting of the
value Of its great staples, gained but
little in wealth and population until
it is now the victim of its own folly
and subject To those whom it pamper-
cd and enriched. Will it profit by
past experience? Surely the North
is teaching it daily lessons, well cal.
oulated to open the eyes of a wrong
ed and suffering people to the neces.
sity for such state Of independence
and self-reliance as will enable them
to uphold their dignity and to ward
off the wrongs and insults which
towards, in power, delight to inflict
when their inAiction is without per.
sonal danger.
To attain this point of indepen-
dence requires the adoption of q
course widely differing from that
which the South seems, even now,
determined to pursue. The great
efforts that are being made to raise
cotton, tend to show that bitter ex-
perience has taught little wisdom
Suppose those efforts should be sue
cessful-what will be the RESULT
Simply, large sum paid to the gov
eminent in the shape of an uncon-
ditional tax of five cents per pound,
and the remainder exchanged for
food and clothing with the North,
after paying State taxes and the hire
of negroes. There is no permanent
prosperity in thus hiring negroes,
paying our own expenses and rails.
ing material for Yankee manufactur-
ers and revenue for a government
that withholds our rights and insults
our weakness.
If, on the other hand, we raise our
own breadstuffs and manufacture our
own clothing, whatever cotton may
remain for Northern consumption,
will be clear profit, and the five cent
tax will fall upon the pockets of
those who devised it as scheme for
expressing and swindling the South.
This change, it is true, cannot be eff
fected in year, but an important
beginning can be made, and reso-
luton to persevere to the end. As
the system is intended to work, the
tax will diminish competition in the
cotton market and enable Radical
manufacturers to get the article on
better terms and monopolize the best
qualities known to the commercial
world. But the wrong to the South
will not stop there. 1t must pay
first the Ave cent tax to the Govern.
ment, directly, and then indirectly
pay to the manufacturers the enor-
nous profits which they derive from
most oppressive and unjust tariff.
Yet, in the face Of all the lessons of
experience, and all the suggestions of
enlightened self.interest, more cotton
and less bread, is the policy Of the
South--as if its people were forced
by memorable fate to work like slaves
for the North, and pay for all they
consume while performing the self
imposed task. They have long per-
formed this gratuitous task but now
that they have to pay for the labor of
the negroes who were forcibly taken
from them, and to pay a heavy tax
upon the products Of that labor. in :
forest as we'll as self-respeet should
teach them to work less for their OPP
pressors and more for themselves
Manufactures will invite population
and as the latter increases, so will
the production of cotton; and by
pressing forward both interests, with
equal pace, the South can reach a
point Of agricultural and commercial
wealth never yet attained by any
people on earth.
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