New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-11-29
THE NEGRO AND THE SOUTH

The Memphis Aralanche declares in substance
as follows: After a fair trial, the negro has
failed. To bring him up to high standard Is
impossible. 1t is of no use for the farmers OF
Tennessee to waste their time and money on
him, for already their crops have fallen short
one-fourth. The loss of his labor makes seri-
Gus vacuum but practical measures can be
adopted which will restore everything to Its
former vigor. An association must be formed
at once to get labor from abroad. A new sys-
TEN of farming must be inaugurated which will
require least labor. This will be grazing and
grain growing, and the farmer must teach his
children to work. The main idea is, to turn
grass and grain into stock 1t Is true the
negro did well during the war, and he was
power in the State but now he Is sadly de-
moralized, and his mind is charged with
Radicalism that he will not permit decent
white man to approach him on anything like
friendly terms. AS for growing cotton any
longer, il is out of the question. One cannot
stand the tax. and if Congress does not remove
it the golden goose will die. Even now the
worlds market does not depend on our snowy
fields, and it never will again.
We had understood that the South raised
so much wheat That cotton alone is short may
be stated to be because the weather was unia-
vorablc and injurious insects abounded. Had
these causes not operated, one will wonder
why cotton did not yield as bOuntiiully as
grain. We are told they will get laborcrs from
abroad. These we suppose will be Irish, for
Southern agents, now in Europe, say that Ger
mans are ont of the question. Suppose, now,
ten thousand IIishmcn with their families land
at New Orleans, come mp the river TO Memphis,
and taking the railroad for Western or Middle
Tennessee, hire out 10 work on the pianta-
tons. Every planter in Tennessee knows that
such help will not be worth picayune day.
More than all, these planters have not the re-
hottest idea that any human beings on the
face of the earth. except their old negroes, VIII
accept the rations which they continue TO give,
of a peck of corn and few pounds Of bacon
a week. Let nobody get the foolish idea that
Irishmen are coming TO America 10 starye. In
their poor cabins along the railroad, they live
in a style the Southern planters would call a
perpetual frolic. Ireland is known as the En-
erald Isle because the grass is 80 green, and an
Irishman is accustomed TO milk and butter, and,
above all, to potatoes. Think of these long
weary miles through the South, where scarcely
spear of green grass is 10 be seen. Milk is
rarity, butter myth and il is doubtful wheth-
er a dozen wagOn-loads of round potatoes are
raised for market between Nashville and Mem
phis To expect that an lrishman is going TO
live on seed-tiek coffee rusty bacon, and corn
bread, when there are good wages beefsteak,
and Democratic caucuses in the North, is an
absurdty.
At last it is granted that Cotton is not King.
When the King dies the name of his successor
resounds The successor of the dead monarch
is Labor, and before him every knee shall bow.
We have so much land that even skilful cult
yators in the most favored regions of the North
relax their grasp on large farms, for the contest
with the cheap lands of the West ls overpow-
ering, and one who has not skill in other pur-
suits must, himself, work or die
That plan of teaching white children TO work
is good one, and the sooner it is carried out
the better. Mr.. Topp, the President of the
Charleston and Memphis Railroad, stated, be-
fore the war, that there were over 10000
country people in Tennessee who had no work
TO do, while the corresponding class in the
North were active in various mechanical in
dustries
Now, as the white people are going to
work, and OH the new system, we hope they
will not take oflense if we give few
directions In the first place, as grass
is to be the leading crop, the seed must
be obtained from Louisville or Cincinnati
But do not imagine that these old cotton
fields, which have been cropped for fifteen or
twenty years, will bring grass, for they will do
no such thing. To try it is to throw away the
seed. You must have land which has been
cleared only few years, and where the dead
ened trees begin to shed the bark; or, what Is
better clear new land, no matter if it is billy,
raise crops for one or two years, then SOW a
mixture of bluegrass, clover, and red-top.
Then you must NOW the weeds as often as
they appear, and keep off the cattle for year
at least, for the soil is tender, and the stock
will pull up the young grass by the roots. But
do you say you want this fresh land for the
growing of grain, that you cannot do without
it, and that it was the ton-felds you were
proposing to put in grass Alas young man,
that old system of farming. which resulted in
demandsEfor Westernl Territories-which re-
suited in war, and finally in the negro being,
as you say good for nothing, is precisely what
is the matter with your cotton crop this year.
You raised corn and wheat on your fresh land
and your old -6elds--bare, red, dusty, and