Litchfield enquirer., 1868-02-06
The South.

The South is hopelessly bankrupt, is in some danger of famine, and is going on from bad to worse-owing, Conservatives tell us, to the Radical legislation of Congress. , That this charge is & monstrous falsehood is evident on its face: Not state has yet been reconstructed under the Act; and there is no claim that there has been any such interference an the part of the Militia ry Commanders as could occasion the dis tress prevalent throughout that part of the Union. The causes of this distress are en- tirely independent of any legislation. con- servative or radical; and, we fear, cannot be reached immediately by any Acts of Congress or State Legislatures.
 It is no easy matter to build up new society, on new basis, after such revolu- tion as the South has undergone. The Southern white believes in the slave sys- tenn; that being out of the question. how ever. he wishes to approximate as nearly as possible to it. He strives for an impossi- oAAO AOAlAbtAOu LII ooSioA SyooSAA~ under which the negro is still to perform all the manual labor, and the white reap all the profits of that labor. Whether the ne. gro shall be compelled to assume such 6 position is the real present issue between Radicalism and Conservatism. Our claim is that no American citizen has a right tc the labor of any other American citizen especially when he has neither the cash tt pay for his services or the credit to assure such payment. The Southern white has right to expect the Southern negro to dt the labor necessary for his own support but not for the support of the whole popu lation, white and black.
 Here lies the real cause of all the presen trouble at the South. The Anglo-Saxon O that locality is far better off, materially than the Anglo Saxon who landed on Ply. mouth rock in December 1920 He has plenty of cleared land and comfortable dwellings,; but he has not yet made up his mind that he must earn his livelihood by the sweat of his brow. He is ready enough forswork"in the ''gentlemanly" sense, but he has very little conception of what the settlers of Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota mean by "work." Yet, till he does learn te do just such work, the south will grow poor er,more complaining, and more reasonable every year! The negro will never again do as formerly, all the manual labor over large part of the area of the United States The most ingenious system of "peonage' Conservatism can suggest will never make him the useful slace he once was.
 We are perfectly we'll aware that it i much easier to preach manual labor thar to practice it; and it is with pain, not with pleasure, that we see men compelled b, circumstances to that to which they are to tally unaccustomed, and for which theil lifelong habits have not only disinclinec but almost incapacitated them. Still it i to this rock-bottom that the Southernel must dig down, or his social edifce will al ways be weak, his condition unprosper ous.
 But we are told that the negro will not even support himself-that he prefers stea Ing to work! Which ought we to expect should set the example of honesty, thrift, and industry, the Southern black or the Southern white? The former being Conservatives tell us, an initiative animal might perhaps follow such an example if il were set them.