Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-01-12

frfNN--' AAtANNhSA hato aAlhEAANA Nv bi4C
cotton tax, it has resulted in destroying
the culture Of cotton as a remunerative
branch of agriculture, and has inflicted
a blow npOn the manufacturing interests
of New England from which recovery
is doubtful The speech of Senator
Sprague, Of Rhode Island, in the Senate
of the United States Just before the late
recess, fayoring a repeal of the cotton
tax, is the first wall from New England
over the PROSTATE condition Of the
country financially and industrially. In
that speech this champion Of New Eng
lands manufacturing interests said
/ am humiliated in being obliged TO
admit the fact that, with this poor, de.
spised, short-sta pied India cotton, fabric
is to- day produced by the skill and labor
Of Englishmen equal to the best fabric that
American machinery has yet been able to
produce. The question
is not whether YOU shall tax an existing
interest, but whether cotton is an existiag
interest. | fear that the
fabrics produced from the cheap cotton
which is now grown in India will, in spite
of all tariffs, find their way into this
country, and be consumed by the Ameris
can people, and then, lei me ask, what will
be your position in New England? +
The Senator from Massachusetts (Mr.
Wilson, tells us that We are seven times
richer than we were before the war. / wish
could believe it. What have we to show
for all these alleged riches We have
spent So, 100000 900 we raised $500, 000,-
600. We had the South before the war.
Have we il any more now than We had
before? Is it any more prosperous than it
was before the war? Ia it worth as much? p
How has this appeal been answered ?
So implacable is the hatred of the Radi-
Gals for the white people of the South,
that they Of the Senate have refused to
repeal the tax upon cotton, but they have
graciously agreed to suspend it for the
present year That will not encourage
the people Of the South to plant cotton
to any extent, and it should not. Let
them devote their energies to the grow
ing Of provision crops necessary for their
own sustenance, and after that to cotton.
Then the small amount of cotton pro-
duced may find remunerative market
We know the cotton manufacturers of
New England will suffer from this policy,
but it is legitimate result of the Radi-
cal policy toward the South They can
not destroy the latter without greatly
Gripping New England, and Mr.. Sprague
is sagaeious enough to see this But the
cotton manufacturers are not the only
ones who suffer from Radical rule. The
wood choppers in the employment of the
Salisbury Conn iron manufacturers are
now paid from fifty to sixty cents a cord.
Last winter the pay was from one dollar
to one dollar and fifty cents a cord The
Fall River (Mass.) Times states that the
factory operatives of that city held a
meeting on the 3lst ult, to consider the
question of the reduction of wages in
the Fall River mills, and what should be
the proper action of the body in view of
that circumstance Several gentlemen
spoke mostly in a pacific strain, the gen.
eral sentiment being opposed to striking,
and advising that no more Of tie operas
tives should turn out until all reasonable
measures had been tried to effect COM
promise with the mill-owners. An
effort is to be made to have the mills
run four days week at the old rates
of payment The Time, hopes that some
amicable arrangement will be made, for
if it should fail, a great deal of suffering
must ensue. These instances show what
Radical rule is doing for New England.
But other sections of the North suffer
equally with New England from this
cause A thousand workmen employed
in the Scranton railroad shops, which
have lately been running on eight hours
time, suffered a reduction of ten per cent
in their wages on New Years day, and
another establishment in the same place
with seven hundred men made similar
reduction At the same time a con,
siderable number of workmen were dis
charged in different workshops of the
city. 1t is announced from Washington
that several employers have notified their
mechanics that they must reduce their
wages, and as the government is reducing
its force at the arsenals and at the navy
yard in that city there are many persons
out Of employment While the Radicals
in Congress- have been legislating for the
benefit Of the negro, the white laboring
meu Of the country have been neglected
and now, when starvation menaces large
communities of negroes in the South, we
are told that equally large communities
of white people in the North are upon the
point of extreme suffering These are
the fruits of Radicals, and they are truly
bitter fruits.