The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-01-14
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The Tribune on Southern Rel,ef.li
From the New York Tribune.l

The Tribune on Southern Reller.lf
From the New York Tribunel
'sRooT, Hoe,voR DEP
This is not what you would call an elegan
extract; but it is sturdy, rugged 'Anglo-SaIon
and,perIectly intelhgib1e. Itls the rule which
We insist, must be. applied to the irenei 0
Southern Distress In 1855, the planting sea
son was quite psst in the further South whel
the war closed. SO that full crops could, not bt
made. In 1866, there was o pervadlng, terrible
droutb, which,. in connection with shauoV
ploughing, lack of ferlizing, and inadequate
cultivation, rendered the haryest--of cereal.
especialy-a ,ssad failure. Last winter ant
sprinr. there were devastating rains and floods
in the Atlantic, as well as the Gulf States
which 40 DELAYED planting that the worm strucl
the cotton when half matured, and reduced thu
product materially; add to which, the price ha!
fallen from forty-fve to fifteen cents per pount
within year or 30. The corn crop was prett.
gion-snd the South. is now exporting thu
staple, whereas, she used to import largely o
it in her great planting days.
Yet the CRY of distress again rises from very
large sections Of the cotton region. ''The mug
gers won't work-they are stealing, and getting
planters can't or don't pay what they promised
and are turning off their hands to starve. say
another. And hereupon arise clamors for re-
ief-for tax remisslons, loans, gratultleS, &C..
Gc. Many are talking as though Congress car
ried the purse Of Fortunatus, and could pou1
out gold Tor greenbacks) Gd hbit,ina. =.
We protest against its attempting TO 90 any
lions of people; II it could, it would thereby dc
arless good than harm. What Congress can and
must do is to secure to every one hls !lnahen-
able right to live and labor, and protect him IN
the possession and enjoyment Of whatever ne
produces or earns: That done, iet IL answer % u
stern Injunction RooT, Hoe, Oh DEF -.
Doubtless, there is truth in the complaint
on one side that ssthe niggers won't work, !"
and on the other that the old planting arlsto-
craey are neither able or disposed to pay falriy
for black labor. For, l.. "The nlggers" DON'T
like work any. better than whites doahsye
been taught by slavery to associate it with
deeradation-are naturally indolent and i'm.
provident-an have been led (more by rebel
fabrication than otherwise) to expect that they
we're somehow to be subsisted even though
they thd not work. We do not believe that o
majority Of them have been thus mlsled, but
30 many have that such futile expectations are
shareholders and their clan esteem paying
ssnipgers" for work an absurdity and wrong
-utterly subyersiye OF the resolutions of
49," Payment for slaves they. quite eompre-
hend; payment for work to slayes-or those
who would have still been such but for 'sthe
Abolition despotism" and it's most unconstltu-
tional "inyasion" of and 'swar on the South, !"
they don't begin 10 see through; and they
never will. Hence they are always schemlng
to reduce the wages OF blacks below the cost
OF their subsistence they always will be.
Plainly and simply, the plantation n9 economy ~
free labor. The new wine may be put into old
bottles, but it will not stay there. The exper-
lment has resulted in disaster.
We hsye conyersed with many Northern men
who have, within the last three or four years,
conducted industrial operations at the South
and growing cotton. Not one of these, when
asked, Had (or have) you any difficulty in
procuring all the labor you wanted when you
wanted it p"-has failed to answer, 'Not the
least, provided We had cash In hand to pay Tor
It." Hen were working for q dollar per day
in Virginia last May, when less efficient labor
was bringing from s1.50 up to 50 and over per
day throughout the States north of the Poto-
mac and Ohio. Blacks were hired at s. per
month and rations (making the net cost of
their labor about fifty cents per days Work. to
grow vegetables on the Sea Islands OF Soutn
Carolina when as efficient labor could not be
obtained by our market gardeners for Sl.50
per day.
Yet the planting system is nevertheless
failure. The planters cannot promptly pay
their hands; so they fail to satisfy and retain
them. Working the land on shares has-partIy
owing to the enormous fall OF cotton-only
plunged both planter and laborer into still
deeper embarrassment. So, very few contracts
have. as vet, besn made for this years labor;
and these at wages which will barely support
existence, We doubt whether half 80 much
cotton will be produced in 1868 as was in 1867.
$50 the niggers steal" Yes, they do-at
least some Of them. Almost every slave was o
pilferer. He argued that he ought to enjoy
his labor, so he took them whenever he sup
posed he could escape detection. There were
slayes too pious to steal; but there were many
more who prayed and stole alternately, and
considered the stealing (from. their masters)
about as righteous as the praying. And many
Of these will steal now rather than starve.
Hence, many get lynched; hunted down, shot;
while absurd bugaboos Of "negro insurrec-
tions.n .negro conspirac. es," &C., heat the
teleeraphic wires. Where these have any sha-
dow Of foundation, they are generally based on
lswless raids in quest Of food.
We look the crisis full in the face, without
the faintest desire to belittle it. We seek not
to lay the blame wholly on one class nor an
other. The demon Of slavery is rendlng his
victim preparatory to going out OF him. We
proclaim that the South is wretchedly poor,
and that many of her people are now or soon
will be suffering for want Of food; and still We
say, s:Root, Hog, or Diel" Such is the dictate
OF experience, of common sense, of true philan-
thropy. Reconstruct the lately Rebel States so
fast as may be repeal the cotton tax il it can
possibly be spared; sternly enforce the reign
OF equal rights and equal laws; but let there be
no attempt to mitigate the existing or the
prospective distress by national contributions
Mr the relief the sufferers. That course would
only perpetuate the evils it is designed to cure.
To lend the planters public money-.even If We
had it to lend-would only protract the sway OF
q system which has survived whatever useful
ness it ever had; while it would excite expecta-
tions which could not possibly be realized.
Where one sufferer would be relieved bylt,
forty would await relief frcln it only to be dis
appointed, and would neglect or miss opportu-
mites to earn ct least food, because OF such
futile expectations. The best that the nation
can do is to say promptly, peremptorily, con-
clusively, to the South-to whites and blacks
a!:ke-"Root, Hog, or Die!"
REPLY.
From the Few York Journal Of Commerce.
1.-THE best that the nation can do is to say
promptly, peremptorily, conclusively, to the
South-to whites and blacks alike-Root, Hog,
or Die" The nation, thus advised, has thrown