, 1869-04-23
ALABAMA.
The Past and Present Of
Mobile,
Agricultural Prospects Of the State.
The Labor Question, Black and
White,
Effect of Grants Election.
"Carpet-Baggers" and Northern En-
igrants,

CarpetcBaggers" and Northern En-
igrants
EtitoTidl Correspondence ef The Chicago T1ibuus,
NOZZLE, April s, 1850.
The city Of Mobile Is the commercial entrrpot OF
the State Of Alabama 1ts business consists almost
entirely In "hAndllng" the cotton crop OF the
State, sending 1t to Market investing the proceeds
In Manufactures Of all kinds, and selling the
same TO the pIodueera OF the cotton Mobile Il tha
mlddle-man Of the cotton planters Of Alabama, and
the past growth Of the city wAs measured bY the
number Of bales produced in the State, and is fu-
tu1e prosperity depends very much upon the same
staple Verify, cotton Is Ktng IN Mobile. Before
the rebellion as high as 100 900 bales were receged
and shipped from this port TO Europe eud New |
England The war destroyed thl7 business during
it's continuance, for the blockade ut the entrance
to the bsy was close and comparatively |
little OF the commodity found its way |
out to sea- and much Of thar Hts1e was captured by
the government war steamers. For the next three
years the product Of cotton IN A1abaIna was light
Excessive rains In the spring, drought In the sum
ner and the worm in the fall nearly ruined the !
crops Of 1856 and 1851, besides which the labo. Of
the State was sadly detnorallzcd and consequent
II inef1cient and Anly Johnsonlsm had thrown
the politics Of the State into the widest confusion
It tsuo wonder then that Mobile !sngulshed AMI
retro9raded between 1851 md 1867. The only
business that nourtshed was lawsuits. The only
men WhG thrtsed were MATERIALS, slct11s RcSls-
tcts In Bankruptcy md lawyers Nearly the
whole property OF the city has gone through the
courts, and hardly citizen can be found who was
solvent before the reheluon,. but hAs become IN
solvent since.
But Mobile has touched bottom. and is now trav-
citing the up hill rond, aud slowly emerging from
ruin, distress, bankruptcy and despair. Business
Is far from prosperous or brisk but the people, as
whole, have made Eon,e haadway during isis:
they hnye more than held thclr own. Real estate
Is advancing in price, though very low get. Real
property, improved and unimproved may he col
sidered worth onethlru to one-hhf tts selling
value before the war, anu rents bear much the
same proportion to former rates- population hAs
not fallen Oh, but rather increased There arc up
wards Of 90 900 people In this city, OF whom, per-
haps, 600 arc whites and IL goo are conred Tho
latter c1ass were much more numerous here year
or two ago, but several thousand have scattered
| on in consequence Of q tack OF employment and
subsistence, and mostly returned to the pianta-
tIons whence they came.
| There were purchased In Mobile, during ithe
past year, s50, ,000 bales Of cotton, which brought
! about 3108 per bale, making m aggregate Of
&33 000, ,0o0. The proceeds OF this cotton were In
I vested In supplies " aud sold TO the people Of
! the State. This crop has put new fece on at[1rH
all over A1shama- A good corn crop Was pro-
duced, and also considerable wheat In the north
| ern counties, The farmers raised enough bread
| and meat for domestic consumption and had a It,
| tie to SPARE This LETT them tho whole value OF
their cotton With which to purchase household
wants, farm Utensils and for the payment Of debts
| Another such crop as that Of last year will set
Alabama On her feet again: and the prospect now
is good that larger product Of corn and cotton
VIII he secured this than Last year. It Ii true the
| snrtnr ia backward. but much greater number oY
acrps II, hc n,an,c1 and netter culti5sts than In
any rormeryear. The old compliant that the negroes
Win not worr Ia no longer heard: not only the
blacks work. but the Eh,tcs arc beginning to nat
their delicate hands 70 the plow and the hoe. It
IL no longer dspraceful for white men to labor ID
Tho fields Of Alabama with black men, as was the
case In thc'-days when the patriarcha1 Institution
Cursed the state, The planter now Boys to his
| coorcd hands. Come, boys" follow my exam
| plc and keen paec with me In the neld." Former
ly he sent his hands to their unwilling task under
a white oyetsecr On horseback, with nm umbrella
oycr hts head and a whip In hls hand, while h.m-
self teclsncl In the shade, OF "p,easured" ut a
Northern watering place, and his sons idlel nway
their time with horae-raclu- cards and liquors
| md tho poor white class too pnoul t, work
alongside OF ..slave n!Gyers,n picked up mser-
| ah,n nna nrecarious living with o1,n nua nsb line
and by odd io,,s. such ss chasing "fucit!yes from
lo,.or far the plantat,on lords All this has mast
ou,ov 1tanr ot thc nohr whites an atill shftiess
,as h,t ,h.r con ~ - Inn Nv NJ ,1
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'nu' 'ueetause t"su W sAU |A - .I" - -. ..
c'al sche u 1a'ot Al eoalst'e'oA W ~ eon!A1,
WIZ tnacA Aleo' IVY tne '"ttet a'e "" 1 1'..-no'
ons ltse nut ,no,. wv 'a-,n.rs ~
~ ts.s,. ,,.. an1s .,n sno AMI ~. sn,J tca
cuase tuei. W. u ue ~. .. 49,. III .s1
"iy II '"e courts. .u!n. uni " y. 1ett W. W.
w" i4cAs' ~. *." ..n.,a,.na.. ~ .bs., 49,,
VI tnt e'iN "A" -. .sa, ~.