The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-18
Improving Condition of the South.


Improving Condition of the South.
From Me ~. Y. Times.
A more hopeful feeling is rapidly spreading
throughout several of the Southern States,
whose restoration to the Union has been com
pleted. The subsidence Of political excitement
has been followed by a calm review of the
situation; and this, again, by conviction that
material prosperity is within the easy reach
of the people. They have found out, too,
that little effort will pay, aud are addressing
themselves to practical measures with an
earnestness that promises the hsppiest results.
The generally improved condition Of the
cotton growers is stated and explained by the
Mobile Register. Now, for the first time in
their lives, they are really their own masters.
Before the war, they were deeply and per-
petually in debt. Their expenditures were
always in advance of their crops, which were
pledged to their factors. From the bottomless
pit of debt they have been extricated by
adversity. Without credit, they were COM
PEELED to pinch and economize. The result is
habit of thrift to which they were previously
strangers, and the product of the last crop in
their own pockets instead of those of the
middlemen. Notwithstanding all disadvau-
tages, therefore, as the Register admits, the
planters of Alabama are better of than for
years past, while their industry rests upon
sounder foundation than it has ever had before.
Our Georgia correspondent has shown that
in that State, also, decided change has
occurred in the right direction. The planters
and farmers are satisfied with the returns of
the year. They have discovered that depen-
dence on the soil is more profitable than de-
pendeDce on the Democratic party, and are
prudently inclined to make the best OF advan-
tages under their control. 1t is not clear that
they have fully learned how to render imme-
diately available their unO0cupied lands, or to
tempt into their midst the diversified industry
for which their State is admirably adapted.
But good deal is gained VIXEN they confess
the want, and seriously consider in what man
ner it may be satisfied. This point gained, we
may hopefully look for more correct under
standing of the circumstances which must
precede any large influx of Northern skill or
capital. With this capital they may, per-
haps, dispense. Left to themselves in this
respect, their progress will be slower than
otherwise it might be; but still it is possible,
and may be sure. Additions to the popula-
tiOn are, however, indispensable, and whether
these be had from the Northern States or from
abroad, the measures adopted to inducs them
must be broad and Just. If the good sense of
Georgia will assert itself so far as to cut the
knot tied by its Legislature on the negro ques-
ton, and to recognize as essential the cond-
tions which have made the growth of the
West marvel to the world, they may restore
to the State its old preGminence in the South.
Quite as encouraging is the new aspect
borne by South Carolina. There, if any where,
we might expect to find depression. The pre-
ponderance of the colored element, and the
upyielding attitude assumed by the whites,
were causes of difficulty not easily overesti-
mated. But even these are rapidly losing
their dangerous character. The dependency
they originally occasioned has disappeared,
and plans are in operation which promise to
secure the development of resources that have
Ann koo of
railway facilities which will contribute greatly
to the commercial importance of the State.
The recent judicious course of influential
planters has tended to improve the credit OF
the State, whose means are being made the
basis of material improvement. The climatic
advantages Of the higher districts, and the
evident disposition to make them the seat of
industries to which they have hitherto bsen
strangers, are further reasons for the increased
confidence which the white citizens now dis
play.
The same self reliance which leads South
Carolina to project great internal improve
ments, and which prompts Georgia to increased
attention to the resources at her command, is
in some degree apparent in Eastern Tennessee
and parts of North Carolina. Both are States
rich in natural advantages, and needing only
the assurance OF peace to grow rapidly in
population and wealth. Nowhere on the con-
| tinent are agricultural and mineral resources
more happily blended than in Tennessee;
nowhere is there finer field for manufacture
ing industry, or one in which enterprise would
be more bOuntfully rewarded. 1t is satisfac-
tory to know that the fact is beginning to be
appreciated by the people of the State, and
! that, despite the drawbacks Incident to law.
less spirit its undeveloped wealthis gradually
attracting attention.
ReYerdy on his KNEES.