The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-08-31
COIl'UjNTBIA.|
Saturday Morning, August 81, 1867,
irne Dethroned king.

a b. =
- :. The Northern papers are getting
alarmed, lest the supremacy and con-
: troll of the great staple of the South
SHOULD pass from the hands of those in
this country who have hitherto held
them with but little rivalry. The lords
of the spindles and looms of New Eng
land are also beginning to entertain
serious apprehensions, lest they be
deprived of their cheap supply of the
raw material, and be compelled to go
abroad and buy foreign grown cotton.
The New York Times has been
looking into this matter, and has
come to the conclusion that the cot
ton crop planted this season does not
promise an increase over that Of last
year, even without the usualaccident
of flood, worm and frost. To account
for this state of things. the Times
goes on to say, that there has been o
Withdrawal of labor, but omits en-
tirely the cause Of this diminution of
labor on the cotton-fields. Itignores
the fact, that the class of the best
, oultivators of cotton in the world had
(, been seduced from their work in this
great agricultural department of the
South by illusory theories of future
social and political elevation.
The most amusing position which
the Times takes, in its endeavors to
solvo the problem of the great de-
crease in the production of cotton, is,
that the lands have deteriorated, and
that there is no new land suitable for
the cultivation of the staple. We, of
the South, know the absurdity of
such an argument. Thelands, instead
of deteriorating, have increased in
value in their productive qualities,
and if the proper labor was to be had
in sufficient quantity, they would
yield in greater abundance than they
have done for many years past.
The Times makes most remark
able suggestion, viz: that conven-
tion of cotton growers and cotton
spinners be held, to confer on the
extraordinary causes which have
prostrated the interests of both, and
tsto devise means by which the cot
ton contest with England may be
waged in the mutual interest of
each" Such an assemblage would
be q greater farce than that held in
Philadelphia last year. The South
ern cotton growers and the New
England spinners have no mutual
interest" There is no affinity of
any sort existing between them. The
former have been always clogged in
their operations by the latter and
their representatives i'll Congress, in
the shape Of high tariffs, heavy taxa
tion, which increased the price of
almost every article that the planter
hSCuCu3 alul iu utt,.lIlOu W ILL tillS,
since the emancipation of the cotton
laborers, they have levied tax of
three cents on every pound of the
raw material grown in the Southern
States, thus not only lessening the
revenue of the land owner, but de-
priving the colored man of SO on
every bale of cotton which may come
to him as the product of his labor.
This unjust tax upon both the
whites and blacks of the South should
at least be taken off. The freedmen
should be encouraged by their North
EN- friends to form habits of indus
try, and persevere in the production
OF the staple they so sorely need for
their factories. They ought to say
to the class of laborers for whom
) they profess SO much friendship,
that large production of cotton is
infinitely of more Importance than
any party OF political success. They
ought to hasten, by every means in
their power, the restoration of the
Southern States to their rightful
DOSitiOn in tho TTpiOo All tb;, non