New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-11-05

BY ARCHER COOKE,

The habits of The Southern people have been
ninical to their true interest for many years pre-
eeding the war, and they are so now. The negro
has never had anything to do with it, and never
| will have.
We thought before the expiration Of the war,
that southern prosperity depended on negro slave
labor we are satisfied now that it does not, and
speaking in reference to series of years, we are
1 equally satisfied that the wealth of the South does
not depend on the negro at ALL We regret to say
that the time is not far distant in the history of the
nation, when the negro will have passed away
under the heavy pressure of the white population,
aud our regret Is for the negro, not for the white
man. The latter can take care of himself; the
negro has no friend but his former master, who
politically do him no good, nor can he
long protect him by atfordng him social comfort,
the best of which is employment
: History proves that two distinct races have
never harmonized under an equal partcipancy of
political privileges; and the question is be-
!; ing again solved. The negro will disappear. 1t
would be to his interest if the government which
has destroyed his earthly hopes in the South could
, colonize him somewhere. If that is not done, it
will be seen in the future that the white man will
, occupy the land, and the poor negro will have to
give way under pressing want, as well as the
, stronger muscle and greater skill OF superior
- race.
That the white man can work, and work sue
J cessfully, in the open fields beneath burning
sun, and accomplish feats of industry surprising
anything in the history of negro slavery, it seems
J s. US no well-read man will deny. We will not
fatigue the intelligent reader by historical detail,
for educated men supposed to be acquainted
I with history. But we will ask for the purpose of
turning the mind to this subject, where were the
! seats of ancient civilization? We're they not
under tropical or senli-tropieal climate? Were
not the great works of art and labor which distn
3 guished the old civilization Of warm climates
worked out by white labor?
t The Hebrews, the Persians, tho Assyrians, the
/, Greeks, the Romans, were all located in warm
l climates. The proud cities of Babylon and Bal
, bee, and Palmyra, were erected by white men,
! under burning suns The rich fields of Egypt
we're cultivated by stalwart white limbs, and tue
mighty pillars of the Pyramids piled under Il
} tropical climate by white people.
, The Southern States will be worked by whites.
4 Ia the cotton and rice and sugar plantations the
: white man will stand as much work as the negro
n can stand. Did not God put the white man
I, under the tropics? Did he not say that he should
J earn his bread by the sweat of his brow? And is
, It now left to an nfide philosophy to say that he
! cannot do what his Maker has commanded?
I, Ancient history proves, what is now equally
d substantiated by the history Of modern Europe,
; that southern nations have always been in advance
of those of the north in every element Of ciy1a.
:; tion-physCal, moral and intellectual.
T The people Of the South, now living as citizens
j under the laws and government OF the United
E. States, are destined the most powerful and
intelligent on this continent,
7, Whether in the United States out Of it, that
II section of territory extending from the Potomac
e to the Rio Grande will be, in all respects, far
t. ahead Of any other 1t has soil and climate that
raise all the products that grow i'll the world,
II or their substitutes with perhaps the exception of
J. few spices: while beneath its surface lie nearly
Il every mineral. Every section is Watered by
streams that give facilities for working every kind
81 Of machinery that man can invent or desire and
e besides all this, like all warm climates it il very
n healthfn Ii il is nottrue that warm climates are
T the most healthtul, why has it always been found,
s with the exception Of the Southern States, that it
: has been beyond comparison the most denseiy
populated?
: Southern wealth must not halt, nor can it de-
no N a rip ltnVp al mi m
d features and commerce.
IS We have then few suggestions TO make to the
Southern people, with view Of getting them out
of bad habits if those are bad habits which keep
/ a people poor. To the North we have been new
n ers of wood and drawers Of water. Our policy
has been to purchase everything we consume from
the North The cotton crop will be soon on hand.
a Instead ofspending at the North every cent real
Il lied from it, would it not be better to make many
Q articles of consumption at home, and enrich our
own people? Southern tailor or shoemaker
. can do as good work Northern one; why not
employ him? Yetwe know towns where a tailor
or shoemaker would starve. Will we be forever
obliyicus to home industry?
A most injurious system of trade with the North
was kept up for years before the war, and is now
being revived. We sell our cotton to the New
Yorker, we pay to him freight, insurance, aud
: generally commission and storage; their expenses
are charged to US, He takes the cotton and sends
it to Europe; he purchases and pays for European
Il goods with it, he brings the goods to New York
/ in Northern vessels; he insures in Northern
. houses; he stores them away, and waits for the
I Southern merchant to purchase their goods, pay
- him his profit and expenses; and the Southern
y merchant pays to the NorthinsuranCe and freight,
6 and makes all these accumulated expenses out of
: the cotton planter. DO you wonder that he is
poor indeed?
Is it not apparent, if the Southern planter and
the Southern merchant would encourage direct
a trade with Europe, that the enormous items of
u expense which we have enumerated, would in q
i great measure be saved, and those items not
saved would so into the Golfers of Southern
g tradesmen?
What would be the consequence of this? Would
we not soon see commerce enr1Ching our seaport
towns; vessels made in Southern dry docks
: freighted with Southern produce? Why not en-
Z rich Norfolk, and Charleston, and Savannah, and
New Orleans? The enriching of our towns not
only enriches the entire country, but is the only
sure way of benefting the poor people of all
classes. They dependent upon the rich and
if we enlarge the trade of our towns, we give
| additional employment to every kind of mechanic,
e we increase every department of trade, we null
i tply the facilities for education, draw around
comforts and privileges, which belong to powerful
}, and enlightened nations, and work out for our
5 selves high and enduring position among the
d people of the earth.
3 These are plain truths and designed to be
: plainly put; truth delights in simple and IN.
Il adorned apparel, that is power and beauty may be
l. felt and seen.
n Let it not be said New York has the advantage
e in the present monopoly of trade. 1t is very
easy to divert its channels. There is an abundance
of money waiting to flow into the very track we
l. have been marking out. Money from Europe
money from New York, money from the South
that has been seeking other channels, will all flow
into the direction of Southern trade. Let us have
O no more idle talk about the necessity of great
central depot of money and trade, and that New
S York is that place. So far from the exigencies
: of commerce demanding this great central head
every interest of society demands multiplicity
of central heads, that the momentary influence of
# the country may be spread far and wide, and not
o concentrated at point in great banks, and under
the influence of great capitalists. 1t is better to
increase political centers, as an antdote to des.
: potsm. 1t is better to multiply monetary centers,
. as antidote to a concentrated money despotism.
o The division of these money centers at points
+ capable of sustaining large commercial cities will
dttuse population, will draw out the resources of
I the respective, back countries, and develop those
!. resources which are naturally dependent upon the
fostering of the city, as the city is upon the
!. support to be drawn from the country.
Y Happily we have Norfolk so situated as to be a
great commercial depot for Virginia and North
Carolina, while the city has an access from the
back country, which can readily support it. The
same is true of Savannah, in reference to Georgia
and Florida, unless Florida viii assert her rights
: to true and independent position, and establish
/, one OF her seaport towns as her own commercial
d center. The same is true of New Orleans, fed by