The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1866-05-19
Labor.


It is labor that produces wealth.
Without il no country. no matter how
great its natural advantages, can be-
come rich. Manual labor of some kind.
agricultural or mechanical, is absolute
ly necessary. In some tropical eli
mates the earth may yield spontaneous
ly fruit and other food enough to sup
port scanty population, who have
barely energy enough to pluck. gather
and eat sufficient to sustain life; but in
all such regions there is no wealth or
power nor commercial intercourse and
influence with the rest of the world
LABOR has made Great Britain the
richest country on the Globe. True.
there are classes there, the, nobility
and clergy, who ''toil not, neither do
they SPIN" but the great class of the
people do work and work hard, carly
and late. They ''toil and SPIN to some
purpose. They dig out the coal, they
manufacture the iron, the wool, the
cotton, and fax; they plough the land.
they plough the ocean with their ships
and carry their productions to the re-
hottest regions, and their returning
wealth is mightier than armies and con-
trolls the destiny of empires. Industry
and economy have made New England
with her rocky hills and barren sands
the land of plenty, wealth and luxury.
Before the late war, the Southern
States were growing rich from the
labor of their slaves, who were made
to work, and the production of cotton
was, in fact, erriching the whole coun-
try North and South. There seemed
no necessity then for the Southern
people TO labor and they foolishly
spent much of their time and money at
the North, raising nothing of conse-
quence but cotton and tobacco and de-
pending on Northern industry for al
most everything needful to carry on
their plantations and make themselves
comfortable when at homes Now, a
great change has taken place. The
negroes are free and without compul-
sion they will not work. Look at
them in San Domingo and Jamaica =
What have they done since their eman-
| cipation They are naturally idle
and will suffer hunger and cold rather
than labor From what we can learn
from our exchanges and other sources
they are doing rather better this yenr
than we expected. but, mark our words,
they will get worse and worse and
worse. Hereafter, they cannot be de-
pended on. If they could be removed
out efthe country and their place sup
piled by white labor it would be, we
think, q great blessing. Let our wise
ones study out some plan to accom-
plish this and they win deserve place
in history. In then while we mus
| go to work ourselves. This is no lon
ger an Eden where everything is ready
for hands and mouths. We have beer
turned out of Paradise and must s'earr
our own bread by the sweat of oui
brows." We must learn to consider
manual labor as honorable and digni.
| fed. we must not be ashamed of hare
hands and tanned faces. Our patriotic
women, God bless them, must continue
to spin and weave and knit socks anG
gloves and make clothes for the loveG
ones at home and at work, as they die
during the great heroic struggle which
deprived them of nearly all save honor.
The menmay turn swords into plough
shares" and wage an easier warfare on
the yielding soil. which when suhdued
will furnish most abundant and hon
est plunder.- San Antonio Herald.