The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1868-01-11
and crushed ut tho hands of those whose dutv


would be, at least leniency and its performance
relief; distracted by commotion and weary of
hope; burdened with debt and stricken by
poverty, the people, of tho South arc passing
through 81 ordeal, that challenges comparison.
in the history Of the world.
. Time in its progress moves on, and We find
ourselves Mt the beginning of new yonr-
about 1000 years since Noah and; his dcscen-
dants commenced to people the Isles of the
Gentiles. And what docs tho neh year;prom-
isc us ?-tho veil that ovcrhangs the future
precludes satisfactory answer. Docs it PROM
sc repetition of our woes, or does it promise
more than these and even worse? Let the
prophets answer, and the future verify the
truth of their sayings.
). Could the Radicals and people of tho North
come down South, and see the state of affairs
in'existcncc here, then reconstruction of the
Southern States would bc an easy thing. We
need reconstruction, recupcration, regeneration
and practical application Of all the adjectivcs
in the order Of Improvement to build up the
wreck of this once prosperous country We
are truly and emphatically in doplorable con-
Hition. There arc thousands and thousands
of instances of distress and suffering in this
gloomy land that once knew not want. "Hard-
times is the universal cry everywhere. The
truth of the old proverb that, drowning men
catch at straws" is being demonstrated more
and moro every day. Sucing has become y
virtue and forbcarancc curse. "Gct all you
can and keep what you have" is the motto of
the present.
The termination of the war left the Southern
people insolvcnt. The emancipation ofslavcry,
the reduction of Confederate currency to
pought, the crippled system and inadequate
supply of labor, followed by the depreciation of
zeal estate and tho high prices Of provisions
and live stocI,rare the principal causes that
Aavc combined to render it impossible for the
people to pay their debts. For n time the
high price Of cotton held out hope that not
withstandng the unreliable and inadequate
supply of labor, the compensation realized from
its production would supply the deficiency of
the labor system and eventually enable the
people to pay off OLD SCORES. But this bud
of promise has never come to maturity. Farm
lcrs, factors, merchants, freedmen and all have
been caught by the fall in cotton. A large
Eul.ber, who undertook to raise it last year,
did not make enough, Ly half, to reimburse
their factors tor the advance made. A majuri-
ty of those, who planted on u scale Of twenty
hands and upwards have made complete and
signal failures These are not ovcrlrawn pic
lures til y unfortunately but too true.
Unless tho tax is removed, guess there won't
be many who will attempt to rnisc it this year.
There arc not many who are ablc in pecunin-
ry point of view to plant much of it.
Large plantations that worked fifty to two
hundred hands before the war, are now grow
Ing up in weeds and grass Fences and build.
ings are going to rack, and places and spots
that were once cmblcms of prosperity, indicate
poverty and ruin. Inccndiarics from the North
and Office seekers have dcmoralized and led
astray the poor ignorant negroes, very much to
The dctrimcnt of the contract system Many
of the freedmen are renting lands and squat.
ting about here and there, some in tho wild
woods, somo in the old broom straw fields that
have been falow ever since the close Of the
war. They are without stock, provisions, i'm
plcn,cnts and everything necessary for cult
vating the SOIL Thus, as they have already
done, they will manage to live the year round
upon an acre or two, by planting little corn,
n few potatoes, and keeping n hog or two,
which covers the excuse Of all they steal of a
similar kind. In this manner the labor of the
country is rendered unavailable, and the con-
sequence is, that moro is consumed than made
So scarce was corn Mt tho hcpinninr of lost