New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-10-19
WHAT THE SOUTH NEEDS.


material, and not political. The war through
which we have passed, desolated cur country,
impaired our resources, destroyed our pro
perty, reduced our strength, and worked a
violent revolution in the Internal relations of
our society. Capital and enterprise and
population are the things which we now need
to restore or prosperity and reorganize our
industry, These must be obtained at least in
large proportion from without. Under ordi-
nary circumstances they would come soon
enough; The great laws Of trade would turn
| the channels of capital towards the South,
simply because in the South capital is needed,
and its investment would prove remunera-
/ tive. Population would come; because pepu-
| latien, which is only another expression for
labor and capital is sure to seek destina-
| tien which offers the prospect Of an improve
ment of fortune. A country like the South,
possessed Of a prolific soil, genial climate,
j extraordinary facilities of internal communi-
cation, and capacity to produce the great and
important staples of the world, cannot fail to
attract immigration. Such would, as we have
stated, be the inevitable result of the working
of ordinary economical laws.
If this expectation be disappointed, some
sufficient cause for the failure must be found
\ elsewhere. What is that cause In asking
/ such question we do not mean to imply
that the South, as far as her own efforts are
concerned, has been at all delinquent. On
the contrary, she has exhibited an adaptibility
to altered circumstances, an energy hope
II
Of any other people. As far as it was possible
to rise from the state of exhaustion to which
sl,a H. ,e7,,ood sbo hoe ,;san what sba
j could do to regain her former industrial posi-
4 tion. she has done. She has devoted all her
energies to The task Of recuperation. and she
il has been at least as successful as she had any
4 reason to anticipate.
But it is undeniable that some Of her ex-
4 peetations have been disappointed. She has
struggled against the lack Of capital to replace
the necessary implements of her industry and
enable her to till her fertile lands, and she has
i been suffered to STRUGGLE almost in vain.
Industries which offer vast profits have NOT
/ attracted capital to her borders. TIE fertility
| of her soil. and the attraetiyeness Of her
climate have not allured labor to her cities. or
her fields. Other and more potent Influences
have caused this failure Of her lust and
natural expectations. And why? We have
I before explained the causes and it NAV not
/ be araiss to advert to them again. Perhaps
it NAV be as well to give the explanation il
the words Of the New York Evening Post a
Journal which a:lways sees clearly tbronch econ
j onical problems; but which might well saw
4 of itself
1--WE know the right and We approve it too
We know the wrong, but still the wrong pursue. !"
The present state of things, the Post de-
elares, keeps out of the Southern States ''al-
most every element that is required to make
them flourish. AS a general rule, there is
nothing more tirnid and cautious than capital.
1t is discouraged by slight dangers; it weighs
long and carefully the chance Of loss against
the chance of gain, before making single
step forward and viii not stir until the chance
Of loss is made to disappear. AT present.
capital will not go to the Southern States on
account of the unsettled relations of that
region with the rest Of the Union. The hatred
which the mass Of the inhabitants there are
said to bear to those of the North, the ae-
counts We hear-often doubtless exaggerated--
Of mobs and tunults, Of the cheap estimation
in which life is held and the recllessness
with which property is destroyed, all combine
to dissuade the capitalist from yenturing his
money in enterprises at the South. The capi-
talist requires peaceful, orderly state ofl
things, in which he can feel easy about his
money, and take its profits with perfect Ger
tainty. Talk to him Of a riot, bloody heads
and broken windows, show. him the shadow
of pistol on the wall, and he buttons up his
pockets at once.
Nor Will any considerable migration take
place to the South, Of those classes which are
needed there, as long as things remain in
their present condition. The feud between the
North and South IS too violent Northern peo-
pie prefer to seek new homes in the great
States Of the West. We confess that our own
expectations in this respect have notbeen full
filed. and that there is far, very far, less dis
position in our people to remove southwark
than We had counted upon. It may be an
swered by Southern men: We do not care to
/