The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1866-03-09
The Prospects Of the South.

The meddling with the system of la
Dor in the South has produced its natur-
al effect, reduced production. We learn
from our Richmond and Petersburg ex-
changes that the great wheat region on the
James and Appomattox rivers has espe-
cially suffered. The proximity Of the two
cities has proved too strong an attraction
for the negroes, who have swarmed into
them, like bees. Stalwart fellows, who
used 10 be employed in the labOrs Of the
farm, are now pcddling peanuts in the
streets and hanging about railway stations,
in the hopes of picking up an occasional
job, as porters. Upon many valuable
wheat farms not an acre has been seeded,
and that fertile portion of Virginia is CO.
creed into sterility. Meanwhile the ne
gro villages swan with an idle, dissclute
population.
Some idea of the diminished production
about these cities may be derived from the
statement of the Petersburg correspondent
of the Richmond Dispatch, to the efFe !
that during the season now drawing to a
close, single pair Of miliatones could
have done all the work for the whole city
of Petersburg, SO meagre was the supply
Of wheat brought into town. 1t is true
that this represents rather the diminished
production of the last year Of the war, as
only the grain seeded then could have
been brought 10 market. But it must BE-
remembered that much Of the standing
crop of the past summer could not be reap
ed for want of labor, the negroes, in the
sudden intoxicaton of their freedom
having abandoned their old masters en-
tirely and neglected the ripe crop. In or
der to estimate rightly the elimination
Of production, it must be remembered
that after Richmond, Petersburg was
the great wheat and -four market of Vir.
ginia. Many Touring mills were kept
constantly at work from August to July,
and large quantities, of both wheat and
flour, were exported. The letter to which
we have alluded further goes on to state,
that throughout the whole region very lit
tie wheat was sown last fall.
Further from the towns matters are bet
ter. There the negroes have become con-
WINGED that they must work or starve
The cold winter weather has had sober
ing effect upon them, and they are begin
ming to do something. But everywhere in
Virginia labor is represented as scarce.
Many negroes have wandered off with re,
turning soldiers. Many have died in their
villages of epidemic diseases and of vari-
Gus forms of misery. Others have at
tempted to settle permanently in the cities
i'll the character of waters upon North
ern officers, or small pcddlers at street
corners. The steamboats, and other YES
sells have absorbed their share of this la
boring population, and all causes com-
bined have greatly diminished the re-
sources Of the farmer.
One curious evidence of the changed
condition of affairs is to be found in the
emigration of medical men from the coun-
try to the towns. Under the old system,
the rural practitioner of physc derived
certain and regular revenue from the plan
tatlons. The farmers, obliged to look af-
ter their slaves, employed the best medi
cal advice they could command and paid
for it with suficiens liberalty to keep
respectable talent in the country and in
the small villages. Now, however, the
old planters are pennless. They find it
no easy matter to support themselves
They assume no responsibility for their
hired negroes, not knowing when these
very tickle people may leave them, and
~, ~ MI En- cnl1lo tho,,c,l,,,, Al
obligation for which they are uncertain
of receiving any return. The negroes
cannot be trusted to pay their own debts.
This every physician knows who has at
tended them even in large cities. Even
when in comfortable circumstances they
rarely pay their doctors bill, and shift
about from one young man to another, as
they wear out the patience of those whom
they employ. The doctors, therefore,
having no pleasant prospect before them,
flock in from the country to the impover-
ished cities. Richmond is full of medical
men from the country driven in by stress
Of the circumstances We have mentioned
There seems to be but one man in
Washington who understands the condi-
ton of the South and the remedy for it,
and that man, most happily for the coun-
try, is the President. If his plan could
be carried out order would soon come
out of the present chaos. The relations
of labor and capital would be established
and the planter having something to look
forward to, would work with zeal, energy
and hope. But so long as hostile fac
tion undertakes to dictate to him the mode
in which he must manage his labor, SO
long will confusion, discord and poverty
prevail.-EOening Transcript
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