Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-01-01

B@- Gentlemen frosr hichmonc
Charleston and Mobile, represent thing
as at a lower ebb in those cities than il
onr own. The condition in New Or
leans is hardly BETTE. The stagnatiol
and depression is universal throughou
the South. And the only thing whicl
gives to property any value is the hop
thst the rule Of usurpers and tyrants i
soon to end. There is no other rationa
ground to hope. Without that our land'
and houses and lots will very soon o'
worthless. The stagnation of the mer'
camille, agricultural, manufacturing anc
carrying business is not the result o
scarcity of money. Give us the govern
ment of England or France, or Of the
United States Constitution duly observed
and we shall hear no more complaints
about the scarcity of money. The in
slant we have such government We
shall have money enough and pros
perity, even under heavy taxation, will
return. Values will be stable, aud
monied capitalists will seek investments
They who say the scarcity of money is
the cause, fail to look beneath the sur
face. Money is convenient to grease
the wheels of the machinery OF COM
merce. no doubt. If A has corn, OF
meat, or cotton, or wheat, or goods, OF
houses or lands to sell, IL is easier to
take money for either, as a common
representative of values, with which he
can purchase what he pleases, than 1t is
to hunt up the very men, b Q and ID,
who have the articles, which, if he had
the money, he would purchase with it.
And to the large and rapid trade OF
commercial cities to dispense with money
would indeed be exceedingly difficult at
this age of commercial progress, But men
can live and prosper by the exchange OF
commodities, for which at last money
furnishes only greater facilities. Give us
good government good order; to know
that what men have is their own, and a
condition in which capital commands
labor, as in the countries of Europe, or
in Great Britain or New York, more GER
tainly than ownership of slaves and the
lash ever did, and this whole country OF
the South, as well as the North, will
spring as a phenix from the disasters
and desolations Of war to be the greatest
nation of the globe. We should
prosper then by simple exchange of
commodities as best we could make
them, far more certainly without dollar
than we can now amid the dangers,
alarms and uncertainties of unconstitu-
tional usurpation, though all the gold OF
the world were ready at our feet with
which to purchase Southern products.
We are beggars, and cannot buy money.
We have no reliable labor with which to
raise the staples which will command
money. Our blacks, being sovereigns,
will not work enough TO support them
selves, and this is denied them. The
negroes are allowed to rove as Migrants,
and to seize little by little and by stealth
the surplus, if any, which white men
would make. There is no security; and,
on the present conditions, white men
must abandon the South, and let the
Radicals and negroes make a hell of it,
which they are doing as fast as possible.
What good is King Log doing in Wash
ington by removing officers and changing
the instruments, but still executing the
osders of the Rump usurpation What
has become of the republican govern
ment, which, as the executive officer, it
is his duty to secure :? What of the faith
of the government involved in the con-
ditions of surrender and parole 2 Is
that government reputable whose chief
executive officer is forbidden to observe
the faith of treaties? We tell the Presi-
dent that the dear people of Tennessee,
who in the day of their sovereignty he
protested to love so well, and who have
given him the means of greatness, are
oppressed and crushed against his
amnesties, against right, and on thep
tence of greater liberty.