The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-01-04
TIE POSITION OF THE SOUTH.
A Plain md Forciblc Statement of the
Financial Advantages ofthc Southern
Stated

Financial Advantages ofthc Southern
States.
The Washington correspondent OF the New
York Express writes:
Letters from tho West state that the strin-
gcncy in commercial circles there is greater
than it has been since 1S57-that tho country
is ovcr-stockcd with goods, and that til 2 farm
ers refuse to send their grain to market in con-
sequence of the decline in prices since 1867.
At the South the aspect is more cheerful.
The high pnce Of cotton will put $3.50 600 600,
for that product alone, into the pockets OF the
reconstructed" OF that section, to say nothing
of largo amounts for tobacco in Virginia, North
Carolina, Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky,
and for wheat aid corn in the same States
and in Georgia and Tennessee. Tho whole
value OF the surplus crops OF the South this
year cannot be less than $500 0O1, 1000, OF which
probably S100 600, 900 are paid to the negroes
IN tho shape OF wages, and so0, ,0Uo,0 0CO more IN
the shape of food.
Another year Of equal prosperity would pat
the South in O comparatively sound condition,
although, Of course, there arc and must be for
many years numerous cases ct individual sui
fering.as OF persons in advanced IRE, totally
ruined by the war, their houses and furniture
DESTROYED, and all their investments OF money
completely worthless. When we consi1er that
the accumulated savings OF two hundred
years have been destroyed at the South, we
cannot cease to wonder that her recuperatlon
should he as rapid as 1t is.
or the immense importation of foreign
goods, cloths, silks. velvets, laces, jewelry,
wines and other costly merchandise, the South
now takes comparatively little. Her consump-
ton is mainly confined to tho necessaries OF
life, and will be for some years. Hence her
recovery from losses will be more rapid. The
Southern people, with few exceptions, never
were 4 luxurious people, in the sense that the
New Workers and Parsians are. They cher
he'd for the most part the homely virtues OF
their ancestors, and lived well >apon tho pro-
duce OF their fields, their forests and their
rivers -;ontent with roomy houses, wood-frcs
and old. fashioned furniture. Hence, in their
present depressed condition, they are more
contented than q stranger would suppose 1t
possible for them to be. We hear of few sui
cdes there, and the number OF insane persons
in Virginia is only half the number IN Maine,
regard being had to population.
In its best days there was very little money
in circulation in the South. Now there is still
less. In the commercial panic which seems to
be approaching, the South viii therefore suti> r
less than the North from any contraction OF
the currency that may precedc the restoration
to prosperity. In the South there are no real
estate spcculations, eve. in the environs Of the
cities; no artificial values given to toTn-.';s ~
embryo Palmyra5 or BIDylOlS. FtS.C"U ieH.e
is emncntly the rule there, so f.r as real estate
Is concerned. They aic not L Gregarious peo-
pie, but love clbow-;oom above everything.
Cities they regard Us necessary evils, and rs
such not to be encouraged unduly beyond mod
crate dimensions. For the greater the city the
greater the evil.
1t is very evident that business at the North
is overdone; that there arc too many nom
producers there. too many merchants, too
many traders, too many agents, too many law
yers, too many doctors, too many persons: in
short, who stand mercy as Intermediates be.
tween the producer AMI the consumer. One of
the New York journals estimates thai there are
two hundred thousand people out of work
within sight OF tie spire of Trinity Church.
Within an equal distance OF the State House at
Boston there are doubtless fifty thousand more,
and another fifty thousand in the interior OF
New England. Most of these unfortunate
persons are anxious tor employment, but cannot
obtain it. Even the high tariff, which 30 en-
riches . he great manufacturers, does not put a
morsel of bread or aH ounce OF meat into their
mouths.
What visible outlet to all this surplus labor
is afforded, unless at tue South? The West,
for the present, is pretty we'll filled up with Ia
borers Of all descriptions, and thousands the; c
arc out of work. The South, then. is tae only
vacant field easily accessible on this continent
for the unemployed masses OF the North.