The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1866-09-06
REPORT OF GEN. GRANGER.
What Is Needed TO Restore FIar.
mOny and Prosperity.
WASHINGTON, Aug. "a, 1866.

ldent OF the United States:
SIR-In obedience to instructions. date,
May 3, 1866, directing mc, while carryin,
out srecl6ic mission, 'sto examine O: re
fully into the disposition of the people O
the southern States through which nigh
pass, towards the government of the Uni
ted States | have the honor to report:
That In all the States visited. fuun,
no sign or symptom of organized disloyalt,
to the general government. found tn,
people taking our currency, and glad t.
get 1t; anxious for northern capital apc
northern labor to develop the resources O
their wasted country, and we'll disposed
towards every northern man who cane
among them with that object in view.
In some localities | heard rumors of Sc
cret organizations pointing to a renewal Of
the rebellion. On investigating these
secret societies | could discover in them
nothing more than charitable institutions
having for their principal object the relici
OF the widows and orphans of confederate
soldiers who had fallen in the war.
J Dur..Ss the whole of my travels [ found
IL 20 az Sdle anu Co Sn'S'l W III" ie
with the people OF the south, .s:-"ely dis
cussing any and every topic tina. came up,
as in any other section of the United
States. Twas often amohg them unknown,
aud the tenor ct their acts and conversation
was the same as when u.y name and off
position were thoroughly understood.
The people of the south may be divided
into two classes There is the industrious
class, ,abcrlng earnestly to build up what
has been broken down, steivia@ to restore
prosperity to the coantry, and interested
mainly in the great question Of providing
food aud clothing for themselves and fan,-
.iies. These form the great maierity Of the
people Then there Is another class, au
utterly irresponsible class, composed mainly
OF young men who were the "bucks" ot
seutb eru society isefcre the war. az d chiefly
spend their time IN lounging round the
court rooms and bars, in chicken fighting
and gambling. These have been greatly
broken Up by the war; ma,y ef them have
been killed but those who ren.ain are still
disturbing elements i'll the community. and
are doing much mischief It is this clxss
of men, and 4 number Of the poorer whites.
who have formed gags E1r morse stealing.
II Is they who in some instances have made
attacks on officers Of the freedmen 5 bereau
and have Ief-treated the frcednlen z. i,
they who afford the maiR pretext Tor say,
81 'aat there Is alnoRg the people of the
seuth feeling Of hostility towards the
United States government gUt they are
not the representatives, Of the southern
people Tkey form but an ins; snidcaut
minority In TIE community, aad even they
are actuated act so aHcl by feeling of
oppcsIioa to the government as by re.
iuctance to earn their own livelihood BIZ
honest labor aud individual exertioa.
That cases of autteatic outrage have
oeeurre3 liz tde south h patent to every
one familiar with the current news of the
day. But these cases are few and far be
tween, and it is both uneenerous and
aud uujus 10 charge the respcnsi
hility Cor su.h acts of iawlcssness upon the
whole 50 uti,s7a people. For se,ne mali
cioLs purpose accounts of these isolated
disorders have been eellected and grouped
/ together aud sown broadcast over theuorth
so as 10 give the pubic mind an utterly
erroGcogs IsrYessI0E a. To the condition
Of southern society. The fact is, that
wherever diSafeeton xad turbulence have
manifested themsely es outside the class to
whom have alluded there has been some
| local or specific caH-e to account for it
llawlessness, like an epidemic, has extend
ed over particular pelts Of the country,
and, like an epidemic. is equally traccable
to some injtiatory cause Chief among
these cars.s mast be named bad govern
ment, piliagc and oppression.
For five yea rs the sosthern people have
been the subj IS os gross misrulc. During
the wax their government was military
despotism, dependent solely on the dictum
Of an individual Since the war they
have been left more or less in chaotic
state their government semi-civil, semi>
military or rather division of rule be
tween the military, the fseedman's s bureau
aud the provisional governments. What
might have been the result of a different
policy it is not altogether IDLE to speculate
Every military man who served in the
south during the war will agree that the
| neart Oh the great mass Ol the people was
not thoroughly in the struggle The
number Of dcsertons from the rebel armies
abundantly establishes this fact. Had a
policy OF wise and statcsmaniike concila-
ton been followed out Immediately after
the close Of the war it is more than Iroba-
bic that the condition and disposition of
the people would now be far better than
thoy arc. But on the subject of the south
the national authority III the lately rebels
lious States was divided and broken uD in>
to opposing factions. whose action greatly
Kindred the re establishment of civil law
and good order so much needed among a
people demoralzed BY the most demorali .
zing Of all agencies-civil war. The coun-
try was flooded with treasury agents who,
with their accomplces and imltators, hee.,-
ed the people right and left, returning in
to the United States treasury for all the
enormous amount of property they seized
and confscated barely enough to pay the
cost Of confscation. Agents Of the freed
mems bureau stepped between the planter
and the laborer. stirring up strife. perpet>
uating antagonism and often adding their
qusa of extortion and oppression. On