The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-03-22

FROM THE SoUTHwEsT.-Mr. Joshua |
Bodley, Of the firm of ]. BodIey q Son,
of this city, returned day or two since,
after an absence of near three months |
in the Southwest, most of the time in |
Louisiana. From brief conversation !
with him touching his observation and
experience there, we have cleaned many |
points of interest, some of which We
mention.
Mr.. Bodley did not find affairs in as |
troubled u condition, either in New Or |
leans or other parts of Louisiana, as he |
had been led to anticipate from pub
lished accounts. Indeed he found the
people very quiet and well behaved,
thoroughly sick of political agitations
and earnestly at work trying to better
their material condition. He was cour-
teously and kindly treated by all with
whom he came in contact. The people
there, he thinks, are earnestly DESTROYS
of readmissiou into the Union and
restoration to their former condition
under the Government. They rejected
the constitutional amendment with
great unanimity because they were un-
willing by their own act to place re-
strictions on the large and influential
class who were in the rebellion; but they
accept their situation at the hands of
tary bill, without a murmur.I The mass
| of the people are not anxious about
their political status, but they are ready
to accept whatever Congress may give
l them, and are anxious only a bout their
/ business affairs, which are sadly out
of joint The worst rebels he met any
where were in Kentucky, where they
seemed as vindictive and devilish as
ever-never having been ground, as the
/ people further South were, between the
millsTOnes of the confederate despotism
and the federal army. y good state of
/ feeling exists in New Orleans between
/ the civil and military authorities,
as illustrating which he mentioned that
when the recent city election was to be
Iheld and Governor Wells ordered it to
be held under the Military bill, and a
/ serious disturbance was imminent, be-
cause the order was. resisted on the
| ground that neither Governor Wells
nor any one else there knew what the
| Military bill was, and whether it was
| yet in force, General Sheridan, Mayor
Monroe, and Governor Wells, united in
a conference and agreed to postpone the
| election till the terms OF the Military
bill could be ascertained.
In reference TO Southern restitution,
| Mr.. Bodley says there is not so much of
! 1t in Louisiana as in other Gulf States,
not because crops have been better but
because there are better facilities for
d
the North. Corn was worth, on the
Mississippi, 81, so, and back in the inte-
rlor from $500 upward, according to
/ distance of transportation. He thinks
the southern States have not corn
enough of their own raising to last lon
ger than the first of April, after which
there must be great distress in remote
/ localities The crops for two years have
measurably failed on account of floods
and worm; but the people are now ma
KING great efforts to make good crops
the coming season, of corn, sugar and
cotton, according to locality. In Loui-
slana there is great demand for labor.
The numbered negroes is one-third less
than before the war, and they pretty
much control the labor market on the
Plantations They are masters of the
situation, and by their refusal or
neglect to work often injure their own
| interests and diminish the production
/ OF the country. The freedmen's bureau
in Louisiana does not accomplish much,
Tor the blacks there are pretty well able
TO take care of their own interests.
Mr.. Bodley visited a now noted salt
mine on Bayou Teche, about ten miles
/ from New Iberia, which was discovered
during the rebellion. salt spring di-
rectly over it had long been known,
and was used for the manufacture OF
that much needed article after salt be-
came so scarce in the COnfede-acy.
with "a view Embarrassing the flow, the
rebels bored III the spring down TO what
appeared to be "A rock, when, to their
surprise, they brought up fragments of
the finest rock salt. They sunk shaft,
FOUND rock salt in apparently mex
I haustible quantities; and the mining
was prosecuted on a large scale till
stopped by the Federal troops, who de-
stroyed the works. Mr.. Bodley brought
home specimens of the miner al salt,
which Is of the purest and whitest
u N a WNNW II no
cent. of pure salt.
When he left New Orleans the great
Hood had not reached there; and the
streams in that region being low, it was
hoped the overflow would not be so dis
astrOuS in the lower Mississippi as i,
has been further north, where ut some
/ points the waters have been higher
than ever known. The weather at New
Orleans was balmy as the middle of
May with us; the thermometer at so de-
greeSi the orange trees in full blossom
and shedding their perfume on the air;
the white clover in bloom; peas, rad
lsheS, and other vegetables on the TIA
pies, the people wearing linen coats and
/ other vestmentS of SUMMER and NIL
nature clothed in her livery of green.
WEST LIBERTY NORMAL. SCuooL-A
bill was passed by the Legislature ut
its last session, authorizing the State
Superintendent of Schools, to purchase
the West Liberty Academy for a branch
Normal school, at cost not exceeding
six thousand dollars. We understand
the Academy is in debt for something
near that sum and the trustees are will
lngto dispose OF the property to the State
Tor the sum appropriated, and for the
purpose contemplated by the Act
Prof. White has not vet, however fell
himself authorized to cOnsummnte fhe
purchase, for the reason that his nu-
thority To do so appears to be contingent
on the organization of the State Nor
NAL School, at Marshall College, Ca
bell county, also provided for by re-
cent act OF the Legislature. That act
provides for the establishment of the
school at Marshall College, and for n
regency OF seven, four of whom nre
the State Superintendent OF Schools,
the Secretary OF. State, the Auditor
and the Treasurer-the other three /
10 be appointed by the Governor. !
IL appropriates ten thousand dollars
year for three successive wears. on |
condition that the county OF CabeIi do
nate at least $4,000 in money or nro-
perry. The Board of Supervisors of
CaoelI county are authorized to levy n
tax FOR this amount ana purpose, if the
people ofthe county vote in favor of n.
SO 1t Will be seen that the establish
ment OF the State Normal School itself
depends on subscription OF SIC. COO by
the people OF Cabell county, and whet6-
er that subscription shall be made will