Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-10-29
The west and south'


Wa took ooe4sion not long since TO en- 81
49, ;oto a mnute calculation as to the POM
tea, aseot Of the next census. We demon
stra.e5 bv figures that the power would py,>
ona Of the hands OF the East and the Thl
80 ronld control the governp'eh,' |
South, by means of the the, anr ve;obt ;r
would haveFgreatly inc->Is, 49, rotr,
Gonoress. and ATTEMPTED TO STU" Nv" Aa'u
80 A.. No-snwest and South wonlo
ooI,ticaI issues, as their political
.-I .s.,erial interests we're Identical. a
80 article in the New York Wor10
n~.ros IN the same end and we are torololy
etynck with some of it's conclusions:
ave have little hope OF any lar reaon.
;,r roIit;cal and financial reforms until
90 stho census of 1870; but We look
so.~.-a with great confidence to the next
sacada During the next ten years our
,oI;.;cs Will turn upon questions of finance,
cnrrancy and taxation; and. owing to the
rev geographical distribution of political
pover. the influence of the West in our
noI;tics will be predominant. Tie popu-
Istion of the New England States is nearly
stationary; in none of the States east OF
ths Alleshanies has the progress of popu-
lation kept pace with the marvellous
Growth of the free and expansive Vest
na5;t not been for the war, the influence
~ .ha West in this decade 186O-'7O) would
havs been far greater; the uppermost idea
fn tbe Western mind being ordinarily ma
sez1aI and industrial development; an idea
which has been eclipsed and overborne by
aha great civil CONFUSION consequent on the
Presidential election of 1860-the year
when the last census was taken. Before
The new appointment of Representatives
on the basis of the neyt census, the en-
crossing question of this decade will have
disappeared from our politics, and the in
creased ascendancy of the West will be
fully felt Westward the star of empire
takes its way" and the weight of that Sec
tiono in the period between 1870 and 1880,
will be increased by the aceumulations of
the t,0o preceding decades. In the present
decade, the West has not welded the in
fuence due to its increase Of population
from 1850 to 1860.
In questions purely financial the West and
the South are natural allies-the chief in
dustry Of both sections being agriculture
and the influence of the South in national
politics has been practically abolished
since the census Of 1860. Bat, during the
next decade, the South will be in the
Union with increased power. The South
will have III increased representation in
Congress III consequence Of the abolition
of slavery, which will cause .Jioe,i fths of
its colored population to be counted, in
stead of three ffths as in the last census.
The weight OF the South i'll the national
councils will thus be increased; and, from
similarity OF interests, the South will
reinforce tho West, and their joint infiu
enco will operate as unit But the West
will take tho lead, and the increase of its
Representatives will enable it to dictate
the politics of the nation. After the next
census, the will of the West cannot be sue
cessfully resisted; and all speculation re-
speeding the future course of our politics |
will go widely astray, unless they are
based on correct estimate of the tenden- !
cies of Western opinion.
There can be 10 doubt that the FREEDOM
inant sentiment of tho West is vigorously
opposed to n pr elective tariff There can
he no better proof of this than the fact
that free-trade doctrines are making rapid
progress among the Republicans of that
section. The two most popular, able, in
fuential and widely circulated Republican
journals in the West--tho Chicago Tribune
and Cincinnati C0mnaerctal-are out-spoken
intrepid advocates of free trade. The inter-
ests of thatsection enlist it on the free-trade
side. The West Jas we'll as its natural al
ly, the South, is 4 community of agricul-
turists; that is to say, community of con-
sumers of manufactured goods, and not of
producers It is the interest of all consul
mers that goods should be cheap !; and it ;
is the professed object of protection to .
mako goods dear, in order that American
manufacturers may be able to hold the
home market. The West and the South
are reliably anti tariff, and, during the
next decade, the combined West and
South will have controlling majority in
Congress, --the West gaining great access
of strength by the growth of its popula-
ton, and the South by counting the whole
of its colored population, instead of three
tifths of it as heretofore. AS the new GEN.
aus is to be taken next year, we are already
In the dawn of great and final triumph
of free-trade principles in our tariff legis-
lation.
''On the important questions connected
with the national debt, the interests of the
West and South arc also identified. A
very small portion of the government
bonds is held in either section. The South
has been precIuded from purchasing them
by its poverty and its pressing need of
capital for active uses aud the West by
high rates of interest which afford more
profitable employment of capital than in {
vestment in government bonds. There