The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-03-01

PORTLAND.



the memorial OF the st. Louis Board of Trade,
urging Congress to make an appropriation of
from fifty to hundred millions, as NAV be
needed, to relieve the necessities of the stary
ing farmers of the S0uth-the cost OF the sup
plies to be a loan upon the next cotton crop
and to be paid out Of the proceeds of the first
sales. We are not convinced of the wisdom
either of this proposition, or OF the following
comments upon it which we cut from the
Bangor Jeffersonian: g ma ~ a1i if gs
We will pay our part of $780, 900 900 for hemp
to hang, or lead and powder to shoot these
southern planters" who without cause and
with multiplied warnings ofther ruin, took up
arms to destroy the Union, and run in debt
thousands of million dollars the very Treasury
they are now trying to get their hands into
We W IL pay fair share also for rope to
hang that rebel Board of Trade in st Louis
We will also pay for the rope to hang any
member OF Congress who shall vote to pay
from the national Treasury one dollar in any
guise, form or manner, to any man or set of
men who have been in arms against the Union
and the lives OF its loyal defenders. E.
This pOt-valiant swagger about '.paylng" for
powder and ball to shoot prisoners OF war
would be atrocious If 1t were not absurd. The
Southern people have forfeited their political
rights. For their own sake, for the sake of
humanity, we trust they win never regain po-
litical supremacy in this country till they have
learned to respect the rights OF the least and
humblest of their fellow citizens. Til they
accept the results ofthe war. in all their length
and, breadth, we are in favor of holding them
under the military power. But we are not in
avor OF hanging, or shooting, Or starving pris-
oners Of war. The st. Louis plan for reliev-
ing the distress at the South may not be the
wisest but it is better than none, and unless
something else is quickly done, we shall favor
that i7
There are by estimation million and
half of people in the States of North Carroll
na South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and
Mississippi, destitute and dependent for daily
bread upon the charity.of others hardly better
off than themselves. A large proportion of
these sufferers are widows and orphans, who
have lost every thing but the bare land they
live ON, and have not even the seed to plant a
new crop. There is not grain enough at the
South to carry the population through the
month of March. With sufficient help to en-
able them to tide over till the time for
green corn, the miseries of famine may be
averted from these women and children
Without speedy assistance we shall see over
that broad territory such scenes of misery as
disgraced British craftsmanship in the East
Indies last summer. 1851 D
These statements are not vague and uncer-
tain rumors. They are confirmed by the in
vestigations ofthe War Department and the
Freedmen's Bureau. The Southern State
governments themselves offer to pay the cost
of transportation for all supplies which may
be forwarded from the North. They would
not do that without reason. Congress has
placed at the disposal of the Secretary of the
Navy, national vessel to carry out supplies
we hope every inch of stowage on board that
vessel will be packed and crammed do liui.
We hav, provided through the Freedmen's
Bureau for two classes Of the Southern people
the freedmen and the loyal whites. 1t was
our duty, in region which had been devastat-
ture had been overturned, to provide first for
those who were most likely to suffer. 1t is
now our duty TO provide for these others who
are also suffering Judge not! Who are we, !,
to condemn these women and children to a
lingering death by starvation One quarter
of the population of South Carolina is now in
absolute want All over the South the farm
ers are arranging as well as they can to put in
a crop We cannot refuse them the poor boon
Of seed to plant, and corn meal to live upon
till the harvest ripens.
In Boston we observe that Messrs Edwin
+. Waters of the Advertiser and Charles G..
Greene of the Post, are collecting funds for.
this worthy charity. In other times Portland
would not have been behind hand. But our
misfortune ought not to prevent us from talk
| ing part in this work. The smallest sums
will be useful. There should be collections in
our churches. We would be glad to see a fair
for this purpose. Meanwhile, to bring the
matter to definite and prompt issue, it has
been suggested that the publishers of the
Argus and Press should for the present take
charge of such voluntary contributions for
this purpose as their readers may desire to
make, and forward them to the Boston
Committee, by whom they win be made imme-
diately useful. All moneys so received will
be promptly acknowledged through the col
| umnS of the papers,