New Orleans Republican., 1868-01-19

you jump at your conclusions toe much.
Suppose this state had never seeded,
would we have been in our present iorlorn
condition? Suppose that instead Of going
TO war we had spent the same money in
building levees, in draining our land, in
paving our streets, in building a line OF
steamships TO Liverpool, one to Havre, one
to Rio Janerio, another to Havana, had
established banks, drawn our own
bills of exchange, done our own
importing and exporting, built ware
houses, elevators, had millions
Of bushels ef grain passing through cur
port, had thrown open our doors, and
| invited people from all parts of the world
to come here to settle, to reclaim our waste
| land, to cultivate and put to use our now
halfused fields, to develop the resources Of
| the state on all sides Had we done This,
instead of going into this su cidal war,
where would Louisiana have been to-day
On the summit of prosperity, instead Of in
the vale of Humiliation and weakness. No,
my seoesh friend, it is you, and your asso-
ciates that have brought this ruin upon
and now you are signing over the Goals and
ashes. But we are not totally ruined; there
are left TO us elements of prosperty-all
the elements that we ever had-the same
rich soil, the same genial climate, the
same noble rivers and beautiful lakes.
We have lost slavery, but the
men are here, and can be useiully employed
as of old. Perhaps not as efficiently as then,
but in time successfully. Many of our sugar
planters have succeeded admirably during
the past season. have heard of one who,
purchasing a plantation for $4,000 last
year, raised crop that. after paying all
expenses, netted him S42,O00-S2O00 more
than the plantation cost him. mother has
made $780, 600 by the working Of one place
A planter who was advised not to use all
his force in cultivating sugar, but to put a
part of his place in rice, tried it, and raised
only between some 100 and 200 hogsheads
of sugar, but rl I'D also S22, 900 worth of
rice, which crop was harvested, sold, and the
money in his pocket before September. A
gentleman living down the coast sold
his crop of oranges grown on five acres of
ground for six thousand five hundred dol
lars. A country where such results can be
realized may be ruined, but we can not see
il in that light. We must remember that
the past season was very unfavorable to
the growth of sugar, and the profits in n
favorable season would have been much
greater. As to cotton, we would remark
that if in spite of overflow, q bad planting
season, and in spite Of worms we could
and have raised twenty-five hundred thou
sand bales, what could we have raised if
we had had favorable season2 Our old
number of 100000 easily. What is the
use of eroaking then and crying over the
past? Slavery is dead and secession is
dead. 1t is vain to keep them about our
houses, and try by the perfume of praise
and the sweet waters of admiration to pre-
serve them. Like other dead things, they
are bound to decay and become offensive
Let them be buried-the sooner and more
thoroughly the better.
There are other elements that enter into
our present depression. A fall Of cotton
from City cents to fifteen cents has caused
our merchants to lose heavily. The fail
ure of the banks and private bankers, the
depression of city notes, and the wiping
out OF all the circulation Of all our old
chartered banks that used to furnish facili-
ties to the commercial community, are
sufficient reason for it all without any refer
ence to a radical congress. But we are
not dead or buried yet. If we will bat
accept the situation-will but be true to
ourselves, andeach put his shoulder to the
wheel, we shall soon be out Of this slough
of despond. B.