The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-11-25
Material Reconstruction.

T
will have come to an end. The Fourteenth
Constitutional Amendment, on the 4th OF
next March, will unquestionably be part
of the organic law of the land and the laws
for the reconstruction of the Southern States
universally accepted those to which all the
political machinery of the South must be
adjusted or further trouble and embrrrass-
mont surely come. All this is now frankly
acknowledged by every Democratic paper
IN the South Frankncss is not much of
virtue when everything is to be gained by it,
and to give hardened old rebels like Wade
Hampton credit for honorable frankness in
submitting to Gov. Scott after the election,
is questionable exercise of faith.
From the beginning, rebel leaders have
always shown great deal of talent for talk,
and Union soldiers can testify, not little
for fight. Now they have an opportunity
to display talent for work Material recon
struction is to be accomplished, and they
are called upon to assist in its accomplish
ment They have made good beginning
by adopting the machinery placed in their
hands by Congress. But machinery is Of no
value unless there is force behind or within
it to drive it; and if the machine be large
and the work to be done by it vast, the
force must be adequate and be constantly
and skilfully brought to bear upon all
,,ortc ot the sana fine
To those who believe in special acts of
Divine Providence, it does look as if the
Almighty had permitted the rebellion to be
prolonged until the Congress of the United
States had passed the iustice-embodying
laws OF reconstruction, and the people in the
election of Gen. Grant ratified them. With
in six months after the surrender Of Gen.
Lee, the South could have had the tide of
emigration set in her direction, but rebels
would not allow it. They preferred to pro-
long the quarrel, 10 denounce all who came
to her from the North or other sections of
the world as ''carpet-baggers, and all who
encouraged them among their own people
as ''scalawags - and the result is that four
or five new States have been built up in the
West from material the South might have
had if she had displayed the least sagacity
or common sense. The plantations of the
South might have been worth what they
were before the war, if free course had been
given to the Yankee, the German and the
Irishman. The two former are known to
make every country rich they emigrate to,
and every country poor they emigrate from
The South wants them. Material recon-
struction cannot be accomplished without
them.
If the Wade Hamptons are sincere, let
them take all Yankee carpet-baggers by the
hand instead of giving them their foot or
their revolvers. The Yankee has beaten US,
and the sooner we acknowledge it the better
it will be for Us. Any further chewing the
cud of rebel pride and rebel superiority will
only make fools of US in the eyes of the
whole world. The Yankee claims to be
our equal, and if he thinks himself our supe-
rier, he keeps the thought to himself; but
our equal he will always insist that he is.
The Yankee is shrewder than we are. While
we talk of our first families, our large planta-
tions, our Southern honor and Southern
chivalry, he is at work examining the coun-
ty records and learning what It all amounts
to in dollars and cents, and soon finds that
it will not keep the sheriff from our doors,
or prevent our paying him ruinous rates of
interest
So, when we talk of what we have been,
and try to live on I" have beensn and fill our
pride with "have beens,r be chuckles and
says ''jest So" and keeps at work, and
soon what were our +" have beens' are his IN
reality. The Yankee can be kept away from
us only by showing him that we are more
enterprising and sagacious than he, and the
moment he discovers that he will be off to
another country to try his luck with another
people.
The Yankee believes in railroads, and has
built and now owns three-fourths of all there
are in this country. He acknowledges that
he has lost great deal of money in railroad
stocks, bat says that for every dollar he has
lost in the stock, he has made three on the
land and lots, towns and cities through which
the railroads run. When he subscribed a
thousand dollars to the stock of this or that
railroad, he has been careful to send some
one, or go himself, along the line of the road
and invest four times as much in land or in
lots. The Yankee knows how to throw
away dollar in order that ten may return
to him. And this is something we have to
learn A few years sge the Western States
thought they were crushed to the earth with
State and individual debts Now they are
the most Independent in the country. and
are aiding railroad and other enterprises for
internal improvement in every direction.
Our Legislature is row in session. Let
our members be fearless and sagacious and
North Carolina may soon become the Illinois
of the South, and be known as the most
,enterprising and the NEST independent
State South of the Potomac The assessed
valuation OF real properly snIlinois is four
hundred and fifty millions, and that is not
half its value. By bold and yet discreet leg
islation, North Carolina may beeome as rich
as Illinois, and have her bonds,taken up as
rapidly in Wall street as the most enterr
prlslng and progressive Western State. Let
lis strike out boldly, now that We are free
L,1r IL =