The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1866-12-19
luiMIg grafton.

reason? we think not. Our friends il the North ere
beaten, and incapable q helping u.s. ana too many Of
them niurc us by over-zeaopsiy advocating our cause
Why, then, should we 3" look to the capitol" Were
We to tamelg accept the Radical ultirnatan aud en-
franchise tie gro, what should we gain: All our
best men have been in some way identified with the
lost cause IF we send them to Congress they will
be spotted as disoyal. Ks vel send fun delegation
Of negroes, too as half the aspirans who could make
passabe shibboleth the Radical tests And then,
since We must be taxed what matters it to who IS
tax-eollectcr2 Not much We have had toe much
politics in by-goHe times The South has ruled the
country by political maheavering On the national
ciess5oard; there, too she lost. The present is a
good time to remember that our troubles cane from
uneasy politicians and to hope for peace BY making
rs li,lle OF politicians as we do Of NANCY dogs.
Firmly believing that the salvation Of the Southern
people IS to come of themselves, and not Of any
Moses Or Messiah in Westinghouse commercial, not
political in its aspects-we wish to See a general
awakening Of our people to 4 jnst appreciation Of
4 sound policies and prosperous practices. Let Us
awake to the importance Of reconstructng ourselves
to orr new surroundings and building up those per-
sonal fortunes and public benefactions when the
destroyed. We want reconstruction Of dilapidaed
homeatcads public roads, leyees, and renewed has
tcning forward Of the great lines Of railway suspended
by The WE want general refrigeration Of
industry, manufactures and commerce. Every spindle
we set in motion makes a home market for uutaxed
cotton. Every pound of rags converted into paper,
every scrap Of iron beaten into plowshare, lessons
our huniliang Inconsistency of damning the Yankees
Y md or,l
wear. we can't catch catfish, or sew a button Oh
our breechcs, till we've cussed tile Yankees ana bought
a Yankee fshhook and spool Of Yankee thread to
do it with. True, we can't manufacture all we need
bat much could, we're not for the obstacles which
prejudice and Incidence put in the way. This is the
time to uproot old preudiccs and dog-ear every page
of our life in which we make progress toward com
mercial independence.
It is die duty Of State governments and Of wealthy
men CT the South to provide empoymcnts fer our
poor white people, and TO thus encourage the forma-
tioa Of habits Of industry. Without such policy,
we shall ere long hayea burden upon the commonweal
more terrible than the Old Man Of the Sea about
Sinbad's neck We vast workshops for these men
and women. The New Orleans Bulletin makes re-
mark, this connection that ought to be written in
letters Of gold: q cotton mill is much better than
poorhouse, whatever theorists may say aboutitn Our
great staple is going to the North to be manufactured,
while there are CO. 600 people drawing rations from
the Federal Government in Alabama and IS many
more IN South Carolina and Georgia are being sub
sisted BY Federal and State ail Let these things
awaken men Of action to a sense of our condition.
Do our planting friends know that we are living,
here in Shreveport, on imported -four meal, bacon,
apples, etc? We have fallen right back into the old
way Of vassalagc only attended with new Hmiatious.
we tell tie planters to diversity their crops. Ezclp-
size cotton culture has ruined our section, and, II
continued, will more certainly Pr7p,eass the South
than any measure the eXulttnt Radicals can devise
Our great mistake was to believe that a single staple
could command the world. That mistake fortified
the South TO begin struggle against crushing odds
What did We learn: Why, that the North could get
along without cotton, to large extent, while England
stimulated It's growth 80 enormously in the East that
in November last OF the 100000 bales on hand in
Liverpool, only 200 600 were of American growth
King Cotton is forever dethroncd, and hereafter
let US have no king" crop, but many prneely ones
Of corn, wheat, tobacco, oats etc Perhaps plan
tiers Mill not make money 50 fast by raising various
crops by single cropping, tut they will scnsibly
grow in personal Independence, root out habits Of III
doerce ana gradually Surround themselves with those
personal and homestead comforts necessary to the
thriving and intelligent cutyator of the soil.
Mr. DeBow who cid more than any other man to
suldfy the South with the oae-erop or King Cotton
theory Las abandoned bis theories and gone over to
the devii-taket the hindmost political economists
Of The North The war has as cmphatically exploded
the one-erop theory as any other question. Let it
rest, but let is progress.
Not second in Importance to any policy looking to
the refrigeration of the South is immigration. We
are glad to see gradual awakening to the Importance
Of Offering the largest inducements to immigrants
from tie North and from Europe Two very sensible
letters have lately been addressed BY two Mississippi
gentlemen to the North on this topic. We have not
fully realised the great truth that nc@ make the State,
not territory; and that without encouraging immi-
grafton Of good men, the sovereignty Of a State as
the New Orleans Bulletin remarks il but the sover-
eighty Of tic Stuart dynasty dying out At Rome, Of
the Bourbon chershug lis divine right in the cafes Of
Vienna or Moscow" The people Of a State need the
ncrizture Of foreign blood as absolutely as our do
nestle animals, and the man who imports fine stall
lion and decries immigration is the most illogical of
ackasses. We want good men from all sections, and
should discard those low prejudtcs which thrive in
such cfete civilizations Japan and Mexico. Whether
It be the hardy North Briton, the scandinavian, tue +
Teuton the Yankee, welcome them all. Let all
recoect that in the great struggle for sectional indie
pcndence all our resident Yankees and foreigners
we're with u, heart and hand It was but natural
they should be. Local surroundings have vast inda
ence On the conduct and opinions Of all men, and We
have nothing to fear from any people who settle
among u.s. Just to the extent we increase our popu-
atiou shall raise the value of lands and attract
capital to our proposed railroads and manufactures T
Double our population, and shall double the aver
age value Of our lands and in that way retrieve some
of the immense losses Of tie war.
Some planters propose the Introduction Of coolies
we protest. The Chinese in California stand at zero
in the scale Of cirsaton and to import them is sim
ply to introduce bestial vices unknown to us now
Planters must forcgo the idea of planting on the old
plan by the Introduction Of new labor The labor
that is worth having cannot be used gang servants