Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-03-15
COpSOlInR Words

There Is no characteristic OF humanity SO
universal as the pleasure with which we
receive kind words and honest sympathy
when in distress. In this, our darkest hour,
when the future bears no promises,
and when helpless and PROSTATE, our enc
mics seek to destroy us without power in
ourselves to ward off danger, and wanting
friends sufficiently strong to assist us our
fortunes lost and our industry hampered !;
without aid and almost without hope; words
of kindness and sympathy come like cool
ing draughts to lips parched by disease and
suffering.
It was in this spirit We turned away from
the bitter, proscriptive character Of the az
ticIes which fill our Northern exchanges
upon the political questions Of the day, to
find consolation and comfort in the sympa-
thetic and cheering observations of that
sterling paper, The Nc,g York World, up
on the subject Of SoUTHERN INTERESTS,
which we give below. We do indeed have
solid grounds Of encouragement, i'll our
present distress, i'll the rich bounties Heav-
en- bestows, beyond the reach of spiteful
politicians, and not within the repeating
power of Congress Providence has bless
ed our people with climate, soil and pro-
auctions, unsurpassed in the world, and we
hope they will ever prove worthy of their
benefcent gift.
Political questions OF the grave6t impor-
tance now press upon lis. Let lis hope that
Oh, I1o of
them, that we may shut up the book of
politics entirely, and devote ourselves to
our material interests, and reap the benefits
of those advantages which have been grant
ed to us bya kind Providence, with an
abundant hand
Says the World:
cit should afford some consolation to
our oppressed fellow citizens, that the ma
Lightly of politicians cannot intercept the
bounty of Providence If the Radicals ex-
tend their bigoted sway over the South,
they have no power to extend over that IA
vored region their black climate and Mig
gardly soil. The sunny ATTITUDES of the
South exempt its people from much of the
toll imposed upon the North by its long,
cold winters. Our hay crop, for example,
takes up larger area of land, and in some
States amounts to a greater sum total of
value, than any other crop. But this is all
consumed to subsist through the winter
the domestic animals which in many parts
of the South require comparatively little
feeding. The expense of fuel for warming
our dwellings, and the more costly mode of
building required for defence against the
cold, are heavy burdens which our climate
imposes upon us, and from which theirs
advantage over us in the nature of their
productions. Their cotton crop is light in
proportion to its value, in universal de-
marld, and not dependent for market on
the huctuating harvests of foreign countries.
The ightness of this commodity, and the
steady demand for it abroad, give South
ern agriculture great advantage over that
of the West, rich as the West is in it's soil
and productions. Every other section of
the Union, as compared with the South, is
like handicapped horse in a race. If the
a few good seasons will bring her abreast,
and, if the negro experiment works well,
put her ahead.
"Even the abolition of slavery is by no
means the drawback it might at first sight
seem. If we simply reckon up the estima-
ted money value of the slaves emancipated,
and regard it as so much property de-
stroyed, the amount indeed seems enor-
nous. But this mode of viewing it is very
fallacious. Plantation hands were selling,
previous to the war, for 81 ,0O0 The in
terest on this sum Is $40, which, with the
slaves board and clothing, and the risk
ESTIMATED by insurance rates. of his death,
was an annual expense that may be re-
garded in the light of wages. When we
consider that this Negroes children had to
be supported during childhood, and him
self in sickness and old age, and assign an
average share of this expense to the annual
account. We shall make up pretty formi-
dable rate of annual wages under the old
system. Now the loss by emancipation is
simply the difference between this sum and
the wages actually paid at present Instead
of wiping out four billions Of property '' at
one fell swoop," (which, if we look only at
the transferable value, is perhaps true, the
only real loss to the planter who works his
estate, is merely the annual difference be-
tween what he now pays as wages, and the
average annual cost of his slaves previous
to emancipation. This loss is more than
counterbalanced for the present, land prob
ably will be for many years to come by
the enhanced price of cotton the planter
getting as much for one bale as he used to
receive Tor two or three. It is probable
that cotton will never sink back to the old
rates. Inc increase IN wages will make a
permanent addition to the price, and in
that case, emancipation will entail on the
planters las a collective community no
loss whatever, but only on the consumers
of cotton.
Passing to more transient considera-
Eons, we still discover reasons WHY the
South ought not to be respondent under
political oppression. The two sad, heavy
years which have passed since the close Of
the war, are not types of the years that are to
follow. The war was not ended till near the|