Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-09-17
From the Baltimore Gazette.
The Trade OF the SOuth.


New York Evening Post for saying that the
great dry goods dealers on Manhattan
Island eagerly welcome Southern buyers.
They have become" we are told, "most
desirable customers" The West has lost
caste. 1t is no longer a favorite with New
Workers Money is scarce there collec-
tions are made with difficulty, and the
credit of the merchants ia at low ebb.-
Instead OF going to New York to pay oil
old scores, they go there with lean purses
and long faces They are no longer the
bold operators they once were. They pay
tlmidly, and when they pay at all they pay
slowly. Such is the indictment now
brought by the New York merchants
against their old and once favorite custo-
mers of the West. There can be no doubt,
the Post says, that "the Western trade is
in very unsatisfactory state. and that
the people there arc living beyond their
means" IA
1t may be just, but il looks ungrateful.
1t Is doubtless quite trne that 1.-the WeS
| tern trade IS In very unsatisfactory state;"
that the West is living beyond it's means"
and that its people are running into
debt" But this condition of things is less
owing to the eXtrava8ant habits of the peo-
! pie, than to the fact that the tariff which
was enacted for the benefit of Eastern
! udduuluCIIISfS, intl OI HIuelS, IumUeimen,
/ iron masters and other special industries
bears with extraordinary severity upon the
almost purely agricultural population of
tho West
SO long as the war lasted the price of
breadstuffs and provisions ruled high
throughout the entiro West. Subsidies in
the shape OF contracts for grain, contracts
for salted meats, contracts for cattle ON the
hOof, contracts for horses and mules, rour-
ed in upon the Western producer. He re-
Veled and rioted in greenbacks. His in
come, like that OF thousands of others, sud-
denly increased to an extent beyond even
his widest dreams. To live luxuriously
was like new revelation. What wonder
was it that out of this factitious prosperity
should have arisen sort of loathing for
the old condition of life, and reluctance
to return to it Men who gain easily usu-
ally spend lavishly. And whilst money
was coming in, not by dribblets, but-to
use q we'll known Western phrase-by
cords, it was not in the nature of West
ern man to stint himself, either in it's use
or in it's abuse.
| Times have changed greatly with him
since the war. A huge public debt has
been piled up. Taxation heavier than that
borne by any other nation grinds the faces
of the poor, and lays its most Onerous
burden upon the producing classes. The
Eastern manufacturer is coddled and on
riched by protective tarif-the Western
producer is stripped and impoverished by
high rates of wages and the high price of
commodities. His direct taxes are com
paratively light; his indirect taxes are
enormous. There is nothing that he eats.
nothing that he wears, nothing that he
uses, but is shingled over with taxes. If
farm produce had q purchasing power
equivalent to the increased cost of living
in other respects, there would be less rea-
son for complaint. But such is not the
case. The New York Post well says -
'"The produce of the farmer no longer
possesses the purchasing power it had ten,
or even five years ago. 1t is hard to con
vince Well-to-dO farmer, who ten years
ago raised only two thirds the amount OF
wheat, corn and other produce he grows
now. and who then found the means
readily at hand to clothe his family we'll
and lay in his supplies, that now, when he
raises One.thlrd more, OF even In some in
stances double the amount of produce, he
should not be able to live in the style he
and his family are accustomed to. Indeed,
he cannot understand it, and his going
into debt, though no doubt deplorable, il
inevitable. The lessened purchasing
power of Western produce, when ex-
changed for manufactured articles, for gro
ceries, wines, spices, medicines, farming
tools, iron, steel, saddlery, in fact, for
every article he uses, slowly, but surely,
works mischief which we hardly venture
to depict"
But whilst the West is living beyond its
income and-unless some modification is
made in the tariffs destined to grow
poorer yearly. the South is getting rich.
She has learned a lesson by the war. Pow
erty has taught her economies she never
knew before. Two millions and half OF
bales of cotton last year lifted her fairly to
her feet. Three millions of bales this year,
with more rice and moro sugar, Will give
her larger command of money than she
could ever before call her own. Her peo-
pie have wiped out their debts her mer-
chants have bought sparingly. either for
cash or on short credits, and now that she
is making largo profits and spending but
little money, she is greatly courted by
those at the North who previously shun-
ned and denounced her. Now, when her
merchants visit there, they are welcomed
with unusual warmth, and as the Post
quietly remarks, the closeness with which
they transact their business ''seems to give
comfort and assurance to those of our
great houses who do business with the
South"
So King Cotton has once more taken
possession of his sceptre. The West has
had its day. The turn of the South has
come, and thus "the whirligiP of Time
brings about it's % revenges"
The RswlIns Subscription F"nd.
The telegraph yesterday announced the
adoption OF II resolution by the merchants
and brokers of New York to subscribe $50,
0OO for the relief Of the family of the late
Secretary of War, Gen. John 4. Rawlius
Fifteen thousand dollars were subscribed
on the spot, each of the following gentle
men giving $1,000, viz: Z. S. Grant, 10y
telegraph,) A. Il. Stewart, Fl. b. Clafin
Thos Murphy, Moses Taylor, J. NJ. For bes
NJ. FL. Grinnell, Jas. Seligman, Jay, Cool
d Co., Richard Schell, W II. Vermilyea
Henry Clews, Paul N. Spofford, Fisk 4
Hatch, and +. A. Merritt The following
committee was appinted to raise the fund
Horace Greeley, j. Selgman. o. ID. +
Grant, George Opdyke, M. Ii. Grinnell
and General Buttertield.
To Cook Vegetables.
! A German professor says that if an,
portion of a vegetable be boiled in pur
distilled or rain wattr, and another il
, water in which little salt has been added
decided difference is perceptible in the
l.. e Il