Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-03-20


but two or three exceptions scaroeiv o,n
can be named that has not douh.
led and thribbled and quadrupled. and j.,
some instances increased more tGan lor
| fold in value since 1860, and from heinz,
worthless foot balls kicked about bv snoc,
ulators, have now become the most valD9-
BILE properties and franchises in the Who'll
United States.
So must it be in brief period with these
stocks of North Carolina if the State ONLY
acts in the line of her true interest. Bnt
even II this were not so, and if North Car
olina had no assets whatever, her true rol-
icy imperatively demands just this course
respecting her public debt. The leas,
scathed of any of the Southern States dur.
ing the war there is no State in the Union
! that has suffered so much since the war
from a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of its public aE
! fairs in this regard. There is no dcnyino
that the good and glorious old NORTH STAG
is resting under q cloud. There is no de-.
nying that her good name has suffered.
and friends who were once proud TO speak
her praises are now forced to be dumb
Her honor and credit, once the very high
est of any Southern State, is now the low
est, and this results not from any neces,;
ty, but from neglect and failure to act in
the line of her true policy and true inter
est. Consider for moment what the DO
sition of North Carolina might have been
to-day if she had earlier taken a boldcr
manlier and nobler course Compare her
for illustration with Missouri, also a form
er slave State, and in many other respect.
similar to North Carolina. Her debt it is
true was nearly double that of North Car
! DINA; but some of her public works ar,
| productive so that she requires to Law Unly
q four mill tax to meet current expenses
and pay her interest At the close of the
war her securities were 1000 below these
| of North Carolina, the one selling at H.
and the other at 50. But with the adop-
ton of her present Constitution. whose
| provisions Of finance are similar to those
which we hope to embody in our Consti-
| tuition. was inaugurated new policy, and
brighter era dawned upon the Sfate OF
Mis- souri,. Under the leadership of new
men, and inspired by new ideas, bold,
manly and progressive policy was adopted
and Governor Fletcher in his inaugural,
uttered the startling policy and threw down
the bold pledge, that within twelve months
free Missouri would honor and redeem the
obligations that Stare Missouri had imposed
upon her. And most nObly has that pledge
been redeemed. Since then she has paid
q per cent. of her past due interest in
cash, and funded the balance, and her 500
| bonds, without back interest are now sell
ing above 80. Not only has she at "a single
bound placed her credit which before The
war was the lowest of any of the Southern
States far in advance of any Of them, but
she stands almost abreast with Ohio, Con
necticut and New York.
But this is not all; the effect of this poll
cy is seen in the reflex influence, and in
the perfect tide of immigration that has
poured into her borders, so that the in
crease Of her population since the war, D.
computed at more than F4OO, 600.
What Missouri now is, North CaroIu,
may become, by the adoption of the 5aor
liberal ideas and the same wise financial
policy. Let North Carolina forget tia
past and stretch forward to what is hrior.
her and within her grasp, and her rccupH
alton will be more rapid and her prospect
| ty be greater than the most sanguinc darc-
to predict There never was another in.
! stance afforded where wise and honest
and liberal policy promised 50 large q rev
enue or was so much for people, inter
est There never was an instance whore
the words Of Holy writ: " there is tHlj
scattereth and yet incrcaseth; there is th@t
| wlthholdeth more than IS meet and 10
tendeth to poverty" had such u pregnant
illustration.
! Why, sir, in this city, are gentlemen now
almost daily in receipt of letters from cap
italists wishing to invest their money i'm
your State. Already significant attention
is directed to the old North State. Occu-
plying the central and chosen position,
equally distant from the long, icy winter
of the North, and the hot Presidential sum
mers of the SOuth--stretchlng from the sea-
on the east to the sublime and magnificent
mountain scenery Of the west-wiih her
rice plantations and cotton fields, and pine
| forest-her fields of wheat and maize her
orchards and her vineyards-her rivers amt
water powers-her marbles and mines and
minerals and oaks. Why should not NORTH
| Carolina be what she is entitled 10 be and
ought to be, the banner State OF the South
Atlantic coast Why should not the tide
of emigration be diverted from the cold
prairies of the West to her genial and
healthful cline, and her fertile soils, and
her exhaustless mines, and her primeyal
| forests
Mr.. President, this is no fancy sketch,
| no mere flight of the imagination. Al this
can be done, and done speedily. The
dark pail that once rested upon the State
/ like the miasmi of death is now lifted for
ever, and it remains for US to accomplish
the rest. Adopt sound financial policy, q
liberal Constitution and wisely admins
tered Government, and the work is accom-
| plished. Let us then open our doors. he.
us take away the only remaining obstruc-
ton. Let us restore to the good Old North
State her ancient fair fame, her honor, her
credit, her time-hon0red name for honesty
and integrity. Do this and the most en-
thusiastic among us does not dream Of
what is in store for North Carolina.
Mr.. President, when this Convention
first assembled. was not without my mis-
givings We were strangers we repre-
sented different sections and different il
terests, and for the first time different
races [ could not be sure that all these
diverse elements would harmonic, and that
forgetting private interest, our effort
would be combined only for the general
good. But have no misgivings now. In
the language of the Elder Adams, when
pleading for the immortal declaration,
Through the gloom of the present, l seq
the brightness of the future as tie sln IN
heaven" Over this cloudcd present So"
the dawning of brighter day, and ! hNF.
no hesitation in predicting that one Of or
proudest memories in future years VIII %.
to have been a member of that Conycutoa
that restored North Carolina to her Consu-
tutional relations to the American Union