The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-02-22

FRIDAY MORNING, FEB. q.

MncoRsrauvri0s o. 4kI soU1n.
Az We understand tho mattsr, the Recon
stzuction Bill passed BY The concurrence Of
the Senate, in The ameadnsuas Of he House.,
on Wednesday, the 10Th, in time to require
the approval or ths- reto of the bill BY the
President. If approved, all right; if vetoed,
it will pass, Notwithstanding, and become .
Law in spite of the President; which will also
be al right. And hence, We take il, thai it
viii be all right any way; unless Mr.. Justice
Field should set up his authority 70 nullify
the action of Congress in the premises.
If the law goes into effect, it will prove
the beginning Of the end. The rebels viii
hloviaAe slightly for nine days, end thsA ~
gin to settle, and conclude to accept the stu
alton, submit to the authority Of the Govern
ment of the United States, adopt the neces-
sary measures to resume their position in the
Union, and engage in business and industrial
pursuits, TO replace the uasta- and decay
which have resulted from the rsvA90 Of war,
and the idleness of imbecility. And then
the South will begin to recuperate once more
under new organization of it, industrial
forces.
But the recuperaton will be slow and ftful,
because its system will be vicious and inefi-
Gent The great mass Of its population,
white and black, are deplorably ignorant,
and dependent in their habits. They are
poor laborers in the midst of social and
landed aristocracy, who monopolize the land,
and whose policy is opposed to selling or
renting to these poor people. even if they
were able to rent or purchase. And, as in
such q state Of society, the rich grow richer,
and the poor become still poorer, as in Eng
land and Ireland, things will grow worse for
the masses in the South, as time progresses.
If President johnson had carried out his
original policy, and con6scated the immense
landed estates of the prominent traitors Of
the South, and distributed them in small
parcels to the poor inhabitants OF the coun
try, and thus broken down the rebel aristoc-
rscy, and elevated the people, and stimulated
their industry, be would have founded sys-
tenn which would have made the people Of
the South eventually industrious, prosperous,
intelligent and happy. AS ii s, he has con-
signed the masses of poor, ignorant, landless
and hopeless inhabitants to perpetual strife
with the aristocracy of landholders, for q
scanty subsistence, op the soil, which they
have neither the means, nor the spirit to
leave.
History proves that the ownership of land,
offers the greatest Indictment and inducement
10 the masses, for the promotion of thrift and
industry; and the poor whites and blacks Of the
South need the very greatest Indictment; and
they must have it yet, by some means, in
order to rescue the South from udnumbered
evils, imminent and near at hand.
In France, Belgium, the Netherlands
Sweden and Norway, very large proportion
of the agricultural population, are owners Of
small patches of ground, from three to FIVE,
ten, twenty, or forty acres; and they are
stimulated by this ownership, to habits of
intense and unremitting industry. Tney are
generally in comfortable circumstances, indie
pendent and improving, and in far better
condition, than the landless laboring masses
of the rural districts of England and Ireland,
under the tender mercies Of the aristocracy
Of great landlords, and their more heartless
agents or farmers.
There is vast deal OF human nature in all
races Of men, and the similarities and differ
ences of the development Of masses Of men
depend as much on circumstances as on race
1t is notorious that next to the desire to
obtain an education, if not even before that.
in strength and efficiency, as motive power.
to exertion and industry amongst the freed
men Of the South, is the desire to own land
The beneficial effects Of the idea of owner
ship, was witnessed during the period thai
the freedmen cultivated the abandoned lands
of the planters in South Carolina, under the
impression that they we're 10 be the owner
of these lands. A wise policy on the
part of Government would make this
motive available for elevating the character
and condition Of the masses Of population in
the South, BY some means or other. And for
ourself, We proclaim our conviction, that the
welfare of millions Of the people Of the South,
ought not to be sacrificed to maintain q tebel
aristocracy in monopoly of ali the land Of
that section.