The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-03-20
COLUMBIA.
Wednesday Morning, March 30, 1867


@NNe~A~e ~
throughout the Southern States con-
vey an impressive lesson to those en-
gagged in agricultural pursuits, and
one which we, in common with many
of our contemporaries, believe it to be
their paramount duty to heed. To-
day, thousands and tens of thousands
IN South Carolina, Georgia and Ala
bama are literally without bread, and
without the means of procuring it.
The benevolence and charities Of
other sections may mitigate this evil
to some extent, but alas, we fear there
are many widows and orphans to
whom succor will come slowly, and,
perhaps, too late. Such condition
OF affairs in the "sunny land of the
South is one that, by no means,
should exist again, SO far as human
efforts can prevent it.
There is one way to do this, and
one only; and although it may be re
iteration, yet the fact must be k pit
prominently before every one who
tills an acre of ground-that the ear
nest appeal of our whole suffering
section is, that the farmers should
plant corn, even if there be not 1CO,-
600 bales Of cotton raised in the
South. Why should the planters Of
Che South raise cotton, with popu-
lation starving around them, to sup
ply the factories of New England or
foreign markets? The Government
tax is heavy-about one-ffth of the
former price of the staple; the pro-
ccetis must be spent for bread and
meat from the West, and much Of the
money received is spent on the pro-
ductions Of the looms Of New Eng
land, enhanced, as their real value is,
by high bounty tariffs and unju>ti1i;t-
hle profits.
Surely our people Will see the folly
OF this suicidal policy of keeping the
nlllls of Lowell running full time,
When thousands at home are lacking
bread. If the South did not supply
the cotton, that monster monopoly of
s.ntton manufactures in New England,
secured and fostered by unjust legis-
satinn against every other section of
the country, would be stricken down.
We would get cheaper goods from
England and elsewhere, while we
would be laying the foundations of
home manufactures throughout the
whole South. These matters should
be carefully considered, and the die
fates OF common sense, prudence and
patri otism prevails over old habits
and prejudices. Let cotton slide for
one year at least, as a production for
export, and we have little doubt but
the result will prove so clearly that
the wants and interests of our section
have been vastly benefited, and that a
new policy will be inaugurated in the
agriculture of the Gulf States of the
South.
But, besides the necessity of such
change on general principles at this
tdsle, and the peculiar
In which the people of the South are
politically placed, there is still the
greater incentive-the higher duty
to raise bread for the people. An
other year of want and suffering will
almost decimate the Southern popu-
lation, and they will have only to
emigraoe to more favored sections OF
the country, or-starve We trust
that this matter will be continually
kept just now before our planters and
farmers by our cotemporaries of the
press in every State County and Dis
trict in the South, so that if the dire
results which must follow the old svs
tenn should come upon US, the press
Will be clear of any blame in the pre-
misses
7 - ID