Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-01-23
Z TI1e NeeoIaae.l eonth.

A.
Ia The Public Ledger rather Ostentatiously
. pu blishee priv9te1etter on the fteQnditiOn,.v
land prQspect- of business 10 the South, ,ad-
'idressed- to one OF Che largest coDmetciat@
oSSS;esS 1sSSS cisy y EE91s%d E6ES@ d
travelling in theS South. As>yery, probably
the large commeTcialz house contributed
Fsomewhat to the sad state s0f thugs which
vthe letter describes, we, are deeply indebted
to them for Producing it,, But As,soe, have
done nothing to bring about this end, have
mo drop of blpodahd no des0lation on our
locohsciences,; there Is peculiar pleasure in
producing confumatory ayidence to the
same effect. "A friend writesItoERsnfrom
Nsw nr'1Tns on the sth Of January Phil
b. IL is ol ssi ;oarse impossible i0r me to Write
you from this place without1saying sOme-
thing asto the first impression prodaeeglOn
me by the. changes everywhere visible.
~ l.eama up the river by daylight,f Cnlti,Vv
walton never extended lower than forty
miles from the BaliZe, but from that point
. up 1t Is scene Of utter desolatioif. Ohe
large sugar place was at work, gnd. .uBe-e
only; elseYhere,s sdesolation, ruins and sol
itude; weeds Instead of cane; vet i am
! told that on the bayeus and in, The. interior,
OF the State the work of destruction Is still
more completely !" sIe lsrUiggi dsiinnI "A
Passing over the great changes as to in-u,g
dividuals, what chiefly strikes me is the
perfect quiet of this city; its police are
notoriously bad, yet its streets are 1safer84
than those dot Philadelphia or New. York;
There Is great gloom. but an absence OF
excitement. The position Of aifairs Is ren-aho
dered worse by the disastrous results Off
last years planting, owing TO, O. series OF = a,
natural causes, such as have hardly ever
occurred IN the same yeaTa This hasr
h brought ruin on many whose prospects aE. ~
the beginning of the year were good
Hundreds Of planters 1are here trying to-
obtain advances to cultivate their spiaeesidT
during 1867 but, at present, they have met, .
with but little success in their applications.
AS you have much later newsas to- MasI-D
ngtonmoyements, say ynothing as t07pol-, 81
{ itlcs, but it is obvious that no investmeDtsu,r
can be safely made in country whose fate 10
is SO uncertain that no'one can say 1wheth-D
eT, IN six months, 1t will be- State, a Terroo1
ritory, or simply under a military despot- ~
ism. Robbed OF their negroes, their land D"
was the only possessionleft, and that Is be-T
ingfnade yaleless. New Orleans is apaT,sgo
thetic, quiet, commercial" There are nc. .,ir
plans, no hopes, no prospects. y"
10 The farce of the Riot committee rOfTIu-u
yaniry has been played out, and in time you ,,pf
will hear all about it, Mr.. Boyer, of PENN
sylvahia, has acted very we'll, and done 'sN
what he could under the eireumstaneesI-1E
When General Frank Blair attended to give -,
evidence, Mr.. Boyer said openly before his ..
come here General 2'a s'rWe have come tor
make case, and we only want Radicals a. I,
and niggers." The labor question is set
tling itself in this State ia spite Of the "
Freedmenis Bureauin aotolerablysatis(ae1,T
tory way. The, negroes behave well and ry
are civil. On some places they don't work q"
well, In Others they are as Industrious asiisa
before. Old, well known planters havegidl
little difficulty, in getting laborers, chiefly
their old hands. The labor contracts aret
verbally very one sided, ahdiH favor. Of tbeB9H
master they were enforcedd Itisla qaes-sns
tion of faith. and the negro prefers to trust "A.
his master rather than the Bureau people.
In direct opposition to what was said16ha0
the case, sugar places are doing better thane1Te
cotton, so far as labor is concerned, In a.
other States, Alabama and Mississippi for
instance, there are greater difficulties. Theon q
smaller planters sgOutbid .eacho other, and
promise what they can't perform, If the s,,.,
country was without political Interference,
these things Would settle themselves. At Dod
present the prospects for this generation ofniU
proprietors is yery'bad. But whoever mayo
reap the benefit these rich river lands must
continue to produce, from their great nat9HiH
uraladVantages. The poor uplands of the iIof
Atlantic States, upper Alabama, and ,theyNa
bill lands of Mississippi, are being desert
ed, and there is a large emigration Of feGu
groes and planters to the West, IchieflyitO adt
IeXas' lJbsi3loo tnj ,lo5i ui r8his dtBo8 '