The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1869-12-02

Fductive capacity Of the South,
points the eye Of feason 70 tiB fact
that III 1aH our history there has
newer been time when the South
could derive greater benefits from
q correct knowledge of her .condi-
| ti0n and resources, and that our
| people afb too prone to conclude
that we lire ruined. Matters are
bad lenodgh, it lis true, but not as
desperate as. our morbid fancies
might color them. The condition
of our industrial wealth may be 3
correct index 6f our past and fu-
t1re PROSPERITY. We produce the
chief experts of the Union cot
ton and tobacco. Let us look into
one of these ais shown To us In the
years 1850 and 1868. alt4 eas1
The cotton crop of 1859 and
1860 was the largest ever made.
Putting it at five million bales, lib
round numbers, and at Fifty dollars
per bale, it was worth the enorm-
Gus sam of two hundred and hftE
millions OF dollars. As enormous
as was this sum, muchrof twas
unnecessarily lost to the producer.
Tie South spent much Of ID iii
buying food which could have been
raised at home; had tO feed and
clothe not only his laboring hands,
but the women and children; had
to pay taxes on them as property,
and had to pay doctors bills and
lose all their time if they were
sick All these ooncOmitamts Of
slavery drew heavily on his Gotten
crop. This year we may estimate
the cotton crop mt two million
bales, and the price at one hundred
dollars per bale. This viii bring
INTO the cotton States two hundred
million dollars, or within one-fsth
as much money as when we pro-
duced five million bales our Iarg-
est crop. Now let us look lit the
charges against these twO million
bales, as compared with those
against the five million bales. The.
planter no longer owns the negro,
but lie hires and feeds him, and
there the charges against the crop
ends The planter DOES not Glothe
him. does not pay his taxes or doc
tors Biil, and does not lose his
time In sickness; ne does not feed
of clothe his laborers wife and
children, or pay their taxes and
doctors bills as formerly. But the
difference does not end here. The
South buys but little food from the
North now. She can produce, aud
this year she has produced, almost
all she viii need Of food for man
and beast. We can therefore safe
ly conclude that the present cot
ton crop Of two million bales win |
bring as much money To the South !
sts did the enormous crop of I'VE
million bales Of onF most abuud-
ant year. I'll
1T is thus apparent that, except
ID its efficacy, the labor Of the
South has but little changed since
1860. just think of country with
less than eight millions OF whites
and four millions of blacks, pro-
luciag not only all she requires for
her own consumption, but also onai
single crop from which she may
annually export two hundred mil /
ions uf dollars. In eighteen years
lie gold mines 6f Ga6Fornia have
produced but seventy niikHi6ns oft
aollals, vet here Is "a ruined cour-
.ry which viii forever hereafter
gield the vast sum of two hundred
llillion CUffTs every year, from
s0ttom alone, Cd say nothing df her
.0bacoo, rice and sugar. IiI one II
tear ff0n this date tle South win II
~ less iii debt than she has been
u thifty years allsi her resources,
ust developing viii yield more
wealth ananally thal che has ever
,aaped hafara. The south Jill one
eemF tnefN a7it @aie& and snstSC.