Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-10-01


more pig iron melted, more bars rolled,
more steel made, more coal mined, more
lumber sawed and hewed, more vessels
built upon our inland waters, more
houses constructed, more manufactures
of different kinds started, more cotton
Ispun and woven, more petroleum col
lecteG refined and eXported-than in
any equal period in the history of the
country before, during, or since the ~
RAILROADS EXTENDING.
! l. Third-We may say that during the
war, or soon after it's commencement,
| the railroad system of the North was
made unit by the completion, and it
will never be known how much this adj
ed to our war power; But again quote
Mr. Wells; he says" since the termina-
ton of the war over five thousand miles
of new railroad have been constructed
and opened for use in the United States,
to say nothing Of the lines in the South
ern states which have been reerected and
lreOpened." t.a fi-EIg3I
Gentlemen, when you hear US who are
business men complaining of dullness
and stagnation, please refer to the tables
of the comparative receipts of several
of the great railroads which are given
week by week in the Financial Chronicle,
and when you see how they increase
year by year, although rates are lower,
| ask who exchanges all these commodi-
ties on. which the freight is paid, and
them consider whether the use of paper
money may not have induced too many
men to engagein exchange, or to become
traders rather than producers siaii Sd O.
AGRIcULTUBE MORE Productive. i'i
I
Fourth-The agricultural products of
the United States have steadily increas-
ed both in quantity and value since the
termination of the war, and the product
of agriculture increased il quantity all
through the war. We are rapidly re-
storing the number of animals, both
horses and cattle, to their normal proper
tion- 1t may be that this year the crop
of grain will be in full proportion 10
no unnatural or forced stimulous to
manufactures by which labor has been
diverted from agriculture. f.sf. -
THE SOUTHERN STATES ~;
Fifth-Let US glance at the condition
of the South 1t is alleged that the re-
construction plan of Congress has been
failure. Let us test it by economical re-
suits. 1t is alleged that the South has
been ground down under military des-
potism; thatthere has been no labor that
could be relied upon, and, lastly, that
they have had no capital. The last ale >
CATION we will admit, because we know
that the tendency of Northern capital to
the South has been checked by its inse-
curity. The crops of this year are, there
fore, free from mortgage, for no one
would trust a planter this last spring.
Now let US see what is the result.d If =
the South has had neither LABOR nor ,eapi-
tai, their crops must be the spontaneous
production of nature, and they have
First-An annual supply of food for
theconsumption of the whole population,
say 10000, 900 to L, 100000.
Second-A crop of cotton with promis-
es 10 equal or to exceed that of last year,
which has been proved by the investigs-
tion of our Cotton Manufacturers lAsso-
citation to have been nearly or quite 81
100000 bales, or much more than the
compilers of the commercial tables will
admit, and more than three-ifths the
largest crop ever raised before IL slas,s
Third-A crop of rice which the
Charleston Daily News asserts will prove
sufficient to drive all imported rice out
of the home market during the coming
year. : - = 8
Fourth-5O, 900 to 10O,0 900 tierees of su-
gar. .ila a.
Fifth-A crop of tobacco 80 large as to
make it one of our main dependencies as
an article to be taxed.
THEY ARE RICH ALREADY.
In short the south has a saleable sur
plus o. the aggregate value of 400 to
500, 900, 900, and all this with their har-
vest of food is, if we can trust the evi-
dence of their Democratic leaders, the
spontaneous product of hature! What
may not be the result when Gen. Grant
Is elected, peace assured, labor rendered
and capital safe. n
THE WAR WORTH IT'S cnsrg 20
Letme express my profound conviction
that as a purely economic question, the
war will pay for itself, since theincreased
production of the Southern States, which
will follow the abolition of slavery, will
N the next twenty years more than pay
he entire cost of the war by which sla-
very wos ended. The question of taxa
ion is therefore mere question of dis
jributi0n of tha burden, and we must see
% it that the late rebel States do. not
.hrow off all the burden and reap only
he benefit by allowing them to aid the
party in repudiating the
lebt. l-.-,.....s .iss1 - j,s,s.l-.7
Like the Titan or old, this nation has
,een bouud TO rock and scathed with
he lightning Of Jove, but the Prone
hens is unbound, and to Us may be APP
lied the. closing words Of that noble
,oem of Shelley's. In the past years we
ould have said that it was our fate
To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite:
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night:
To defy power which seems omnipotent;
To love and bear; to hope till hope creates
From its own wreck the thing 1t contemplates,
Neither to charge, nor falter, nor repent,
This like the glory, Titan is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free,
This is alone Life. Joy, Empire and Victory.