The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-12-11

rsoprcrrv1 CAPACITY or m. sourn.

ieyive greater benefits nom correct knowledge
Of her condition and resources. may be mista-
zen Int h occurs to me that our people are too
nrone 10 conclude that We are ruined" Matters
are had enough it is true, but not as desperate q
DOR morbid fsncies might color them.
The condition of our Industrial wealth may De
correct index of our past and future prosperity.
The South produces the chief expora OF the
Upion-cotton and tobacco. Let Us iook INTO one
Of these as shown to Us in 1860 and is5S. -o, H.,
The cotton crop had grown RON z,&4o'fso oa'es
in Is49 to 5,l96 944 bales In lS59-an increase OIL
ITO per cent. The steady Increase In production
VAS always exceeded BY the demsnd for con.
sumption; and to-day. cotton clothes more people
han all other fabrics In the world. r-r-1
The crop Of ls59-60 was the largest one ever
made. Putting it at 100000 bales, in round
numbers, and at $50 per bale: 1t was worth the
Enormous sum of $3.50, 900 000. Less than one
million bales were consumed IN the United States,
while four million sought foreign markets. ms
gave life and activity to the largest commeice On
The ocean; the export trade being the OASIS OF
still greater import trade. Its demand Tor the
looms of England had become so great IN isot'
that according to the London Economist. mree
tourths Of the commerce On .n T.; agntactnrsd
forms More than anything else II anected MIL
inr mspufac turing and commercial interests ior
the constant conversion of II into dinerent Io,ms'
sunk mines, bnilt machinery, erected manu,sc
tories built ships and crested marvels OF wealth.
Az enormous was the value OF tne couon o.oP
of '59 co. much of it was unnecessarily lost 10 me
producers The South spent much OF 1t In buying
food which could have been raised at home. Then.
again. the planter had to FEED not only ms lspo.
ing hands, but also the children. he hsd 70
clothe men, women and children, pay taxes on
them as properly, pay doctors bills, and lose al
| their time If they were sick All these concomt-
ants Of slavery drew heavily on his cotton crop.
This year we may estimates the cotton crop ss
eco COO bales and the price 500 per pale. LUIS
will hiring into The cotton States 5000 COO oOs. or
| within ope-fftb as much money Is wnen we Ply
| duced 5000 600 bales. Nov let us look at the
charges sgsnst these COG 6sles q ,srses
| crop. The planter NO longer o,cns the negro;
but the labor 10 still here, though lamentabiy IN
efficient. he hires the negro now, ana ,eeos
him. There his charges end. He does not clothe
| him: does not pay his taxes and doctors BILL and
does not lose his time in sickness. He does not
f ed or clothe bis wife and children, or pay their
taxes and doctors bills, as formerly. put INC
difference does not end here. The South buys
but little food from the North now. She can pro.
duce and this year she has produced all she wiz
need of food for man or beast. have lust re-
| turned from trip of several hundred miles on
horse back In some of the counties in MISSISSIPPI
| and have never known corn, peas, potatoes ETC.;
40 abundant Better still, there has never existed
| in that State such determination to hitsodnd ali
its resources therefore conclude that ne pres
| emf cotton crop of 2 200 900 bales soW bring as
much money 10 The South as did The. eaormouse
crop Of our most abundant year, $3.50. us rs
| thus apparent that, except In its efficiency, the
| labor Of the South has but little changed since
1860. We then had to hire our slsves-that IL,
their labor was charged with sll the expenses Just
same labor, hut scithon these items Of cost For
these and other reasons, conclude that the Soutn
ia not so badly "used up"
Ind eed, am satisfied that 10 one year more'
/ with uuiet and Justice, she will enter upon Gu.
: reer OF prosperity such as she never knew before
| The BANKRUPT law has lifted load of debt from
! the shoulders of her people, and they are now
, | free for all new enterprises. We have all peen
TOO poor during the past two years to get much 10
! debt for nobody would trust us. This mas peen
the salvation of all, for it has caused our people
TO do what they never DID oeiere.aoe Ttusn
o themselves. In past times every cotton planter
2 who made fifty or hundred bales OF cotton BE-
q Iopged to a commission merchant IN memphis
q New Orleans Mobile, Savannah or Cnarleston.
8 He was a regular bull" and would toss up his
credit when and where he pleased. he drew
2 bills (" on his coming crop 10 buy more negroes
to make more cotton, etc., etc IL was rouao ..
Indebtedness that had no visible endlug, ano ,ns
10 | commission merchant generally mao morBaBo
~ | Cd his land and negroes. -.
1t This has greatly changed. The war and its ext
D. Qepcies have been the bear" and southern
credit has been pulled down." 10 one year IRON
This date the South will be less in debt than shs
has been in thirty years and her resources Jus
developing, will yield more wealth annually tnat
q: She has ever reaped before just think OF coun
te | inv with less than eight million OF whites AM
lie four million of blacks producing not only al sh
de | REQUIRES for her home consumption, but also ON
m single crop from which she may annually expor
Of $500 In eighteen years the goa d MINES
d | here 10 a ruined" country which VIII Ioreve
tv hereafter yield the vast Gum of 500 600 600 ever
he year, from cotton alone, to say nothing OF ne
l0 tobacco rice and sugar. At this rate ner co,'o
he crop would pay oil the national debt In hftee
Ia. years. Surelya country SO favored by heave
he | has brighter future. =.
. Iu In a laie number OF your paper saw an est
~ mate taken from the New York Herald as to th
,er cotton crop of Mississippi. This estimate give
Georgia $50 600 and Mississippi 800 600 bales
"a. IsG8 In ls59-'60 Mississippi produced upward
,sa 200 600 bsles--nesrly onefourth OF the large
| raisad WHY she not produce III
ce sane relative proportion this year Her lands a.
d. newer her soil richer and her labor Is as ethcie
the as that of Georgia. 1t may De Ieasonaos ~ 81
the cude that if she produced nearly oneourth OF q
ma entire erop of 1860 she will do so this year.
1rn timatine this crop at 1000 600 bales place o.
proportion of it at one-ffth-say 400 600 bales !
slo0 per bale the crop VII, De worm aoo
or he raised between the Tennessee line and the II
the from Vicksburg to Meridian: yielding sSo Ooo y
and to her citizens living in the Northern nan .,
can | state, All can see what an interest Mempnis
in This. 10 say nothing Of the crop raised In we
Tennessee and Arkansas. =.
Can IL he doubted that, In a year or two, v
south will have abundant resources! what
oa he 40 with her millions of dollars yielded by
0Ist | cotton tobacco, rice and sugar! sue can
rs Ioneerbuy negroes, and she viii not expend OF
hall she has thrown away In years past "
;,s will she do with her surplus wealth! she VIII
20 vote much of it in developing still more
!, of | boupdess resources. First, among ali the mo,
10 do this and as the basis OF progress ana
-and provement she VIII speno nuon " ~ A. ~, 81
d to so &c 10 invite popuIapon' r. 49, ,ba haunt
e. to 90 TO q WILDERNESS; nv et..sIrv attrac
kin men. not beasts aho ney al. haa' srs 70,
ches TO those secuohs ol oui eosuy nn,oa,;o, y
did leading lines OF .ravri snu enia,a that she
,w;,h well began before the war. She will constr
railroads throughout her limits as the most re
n an bic plan of inviting immigrants from other la
/ re- 10 setue aunonf ~ - ar-a,ass occord
the her lands valuable or yaiueless sccoru
as they are near or remote from the 81
him. channels Of travel ana usos anu
Me-. hese are now al sne mas, snS WIN a. Ia
vers, the Nortn mas cone 20 Msee ~ laN1 N ~ hi
char | build rahroaos 10 every onecuou; tuese VIZ
Of at wife Immigrants, ana tnese WI" aou 70 W. pop
now ton emo wealth. ana give w pon'oa' p 'oI
es a numbers 0nd tceutut Consisting ".S Po..".. Y
ircnt that our people have no dislike 20 honest me
snv cline II they will work with Us 70 dew
lages the varied resources o. our MI
curt, people VIII FOUL euhl'e s :, - = ~ -, -