Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1867-11-21
The Question Of the Hour.

and manage to exc out a livelihood
until the dawning Of better time
shall come to dispel the dark clouds
which are lowering overhead 2 With
disappointed hopes and expectations,
| plans thwarted, efforts wasted, money
lost and purposes foi|ed, no wonder
the question comes home with signal
force to the multitudes of minds that
are made to realize its import. Re
peated calamities the yisiiat'ons of a
mysterious and inscrutable Provi-
dence-have brought in their train
repeated Encouragement and impov-
erishment to a degree paralyiging if
not crushing to many once stout
heart and manly frame. And yet,
to remain supinely bowed down un-
der the pressure Of even these great
misfortunes, will never do. There is,
hardly any condition Of life so lowly
aud AFFECT that is not susceptible
of being rendered worse, and there
are none 50 likely 70 hurry along that
path Of declination which leads from
worse to worse, as those who fold
their arms aud give themselves up to
Encouragement and despair. There
are times ia all meu's lives that try
their souls, and those only who nerve
themselves to tue task of buHrt'ng
the waves of misfortune and keeping
their beads above the breakers, can
hope to rise superior 10 the fate to
which otherwise they would assuredly
be consigned.
A disposition honorably to labor,
even where remuneration may for
time prove inadequate, will, if
steadily manifested in PERSONS
character, command respect and ap.
probation, and be almost sure to
secure that individual from want,
and finally to raise him to condi
ton of comparative ease and indie
pendence.
The times through which we are
now passing are about as disjointed,
politically and financially, as could
well be imagined. Much might be
done to mitigate the severity Of the
evils attending this state of things
were our people generally to indulge
that reciprocity of feeling in their
daily intercourse and pursuits which
would lead to an interchange of in
dustry and labor for the benefit of
each. The principle of barter here
suggests: itself. Time was, during
the early settlement of the great
West, when money being scarce,
the people were led TO the adoption
Of this principle, which proved a
most powerful agency in the build
ing up and advancement of that vast
and important region. A farmer
having need of the services of me
chanic, or a mechanic needing arti-
Giles of subsistence from a farmer,
would stipulate to exchange the com
modities of the farm for mechanical
labor, and vice ytrsa, as the case
might be; and by similar mode
OF arrangement, which ran through
all the different classes of society,
wherever it could be made practical
BILE, trade was upheld, towns, vii
lagos and settlements sprang up and
Aourished and general prosperity
reigned.
To large extent this principle of
barter still exists in many parts OF
the West, especially in the pioneer
districts, where a feeling akin to
communism prompts every one to
make common cause in the building
up and advancement of a neighbor-
hood, by bringing into active play
the labor and industry of the masses
to promote the general good.
We do not see why such prn-
ciple could not just as well be en-