The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-03-12
The suffering in the South.

General HOWARD mas dohe
act in bringing to the attention o ,,;nr
,-... the amount of destitution p'e'"e
q a.. son,hsrn States, now two years eou-
ouered and peacefully submitting " .r.
1--we If the conquerors, anu '"o !e"'S
,~;,hout representation In the ha'iona'
snnno;Is. Congress appears to have been
s,.r,,ea at this communication from an
officer appointed especially to look after
the interests and welfare of the negro |;
vet who, in the discharge Of that duty,
through his subalterns, unavoidabiy BE-
came aware of that poverty and des'i'u-
ton prevailing among the white popnia'ioh'
in the midst Of whom dwell the hes'o0''
who as wards of the nation" were put
under his guardianship. The General
sol;cjtude was excited by the informa'ion
which reached him, and he instituted inc
INQUIRY which revealed the SAD 'aoies h'
communicated to Congress. :.
We say General HOWARD deserves cfeui'
for his humanity and his industry in this
matter. The Senate, fully approaching
the distressing facts collated by him,
promptly passed resolution appropriating
a million of dollars for the relief of the
sufferers, whose condition has thus been
made known to them.
The House Of Representatives will now
have to act upon this humane measure,
and we trust it will elevate itself above
the sectional and party prejudice which
has marked so much of its legislation.
People regarded by that body as part OF
the nation and as fit subjects of taxation
can hardly be left by them as deserving
neither sympathy nor aid while starving.
Congress, having carried its objects over
oil opposition from the other branches Of
the Government, should certainly now
give the kindlier feelings of the heart a
little play, and show that the bitter partl-
san strife of two years has not deadened
all sensibilities TO human suffering.
1t is very fit and just, while on this sub
ject, to refer to the policy of Congress as
having, in great degree, contributed to
the suffering which now prevails in the
South. The unsettled relations of the ten
unrepresented States, and the incessant
alarming legislation in Congress with re,
gard to them, have destroyed confidence
repressed enterprise, driven off capital
and paralyzed industry. The South has
been taxed-taxed more heavily than the
North-whilst not dollar has been dis,
bursed amongst her people by the Federal
Government which could be avoided. The
very taxes collected have been rapidly
drawn out of the southern depositaries and
placed in the large northern cities, where
money was superintendent. The impo'
yerished South has been drained-first by
the land tax of '62, which was held in re,
serve till the end of the war, and then put
in force upon her people, who were com
pletely destitute; aud secondly, by all
other taxes imposed on the North and
South alike, and the cotton tax beside
How is it possible that so large a part
of the country, impoverished by war, car
stand such drain while it is deprived o.
all disbursements of the common fund o.
the nation The profits of southern indus
try are all thus carried off and deposited
or disbursed in the North among people
who grew rich on that war which devas-
tated the South. The North has had its
millions for contracts, protection, fishing
bounties, river and harbor improvements,
and offices, and its hundreds of millions in
pensions and war bounties, and the South
has had not one dollar
Is 1t wonderful that we should have
staryation9 Is it wonderful that the hui
name General HOWARD, flor he is humane
notwithstanding his strong prejudices,) in
the pursuit of his office of looking after
freedmen, should stumble upon the poor
whites, whose distress and want but show
the operation of that partial policy which
no people on earth can long endure with
out ruin and starvation? Not at all. Con
gress ought to have anticipated tins condi-
ton of things as the necessary conse-
onence of its own unstatesmanlike and
cruel policy. AS long as that policy lasts,
this restitution and starvation will not
only continue, but increase, aud Congress
will have to continue to vote millions to
feed the poor Of the land which itself has
exhausted, or shut its eyes and stop its
ears to the gaunt forms and piercing cries
Of the children of Famine.
If Congress would put an end to these
horrors, lei it change its policy-let it end
the sectional war it has pursued SO relent-
lessly towards the South-let it consider
the South deserving something besides tax
ation-let it look upon the South, as in
deed, a part Of the Union as part whose
prosperity Is but the national prosperity,
and whose growth and increase in wealth
are but enhancing the power and resources
of the nation. Let these be its views, and
let Its measures reflect them, and starva-
ton will end in the South. That land, once
the abode Of happiness and plenty, will
soon be restored at least to comfort. In
dustry will revive, enterprise be encou-
ragged, trade stimulated. and General
HOWARD will hardly find occupation in
taking care Of freedmen, while the south
ern communities will take care of their
own poor.
Congress, by its recent act for recon-
sructing the States, hard, though it be, has
a. last given pledge for that restoration
which, if it be faithfully performed, will
restore these States IN nartic;nat;on in ~