The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-12
SPIRIT or TIE PRESS.
wDtFopIAL oPrNIons or RHH LKADrNe JoURHALs
UPoE oURRRHT roPIos-CoMPnKD HvERY
DAT FOR rHH gvRNMa vKLRaRAPH.
The New south.


Fsort me ~. Y. Tribune.
In all the many letters we have received
from and conversations we have had with
Southern men during the last six or eight
months, we have not had an intimation Of
regret that slavery has passed away, nor the
hint of desire that 1t should ever be restored.
And. now that 1t is gone, we hear from no
Sontberner suggestion that its overthrow
was not a great blessing to the whites. There
are still some who tell us that they apprehend
4he extinction of the bucks as one OF its conse-
Crenoes. and this fear has some historic justi-
fcstion. A race signslly inferior in energy,
numbers, wealth, intelligence, persistency,
and almost every other quality that would ena-
BILE 1t to hold its own, placed in close contact
with a superior, If incapable OF absorption, is
in danger of gradual extinction. Still, the
blacks have shown such tsnscity of life under
slavery that we cannot doubt their endurance
,nder the novel temptations and trials of
freedom. We presume they will not increase
SO fast as they have done; we know that they
are destined, because Of our immense, inoes-
SAINT immigration Of whites, to constitute
smaller and still smaller fraction of our people
st each successive census, 80 that the child ia
now born whs will see them bat twentieth
where they have been an eighth OF the Ameri-
can people; yet we believe they will be more
numerous in 1900 than they were in 1860. II
they can be induced very generally to shun
cities and buy lands, they certainly will.
Next in Importance and hopefulness to the
general rejoicing that slavery is dead, we rank
the improved prospects Of industry at the
South. On this point, there is no conflict of
testimony, no diversity of judgment. Wages
are higher than they have been, and labor is
In more eager demand. Those who grew last
years crop generally did so well that they are
plsntipg more extensively this year. If the
season be fair, there will be more cotton and
far more sugar grown than in '68, with at
least an equal amount of rice, tobacco, corn
and meat. Lands, though still low, are SELL
ing faster than last spring, and at much
b CHER prices. Improvement is the order of
4he day. The most effective implements and
machinery are largely bought. More fertilizers
are sold than ever before, and the market is
still widening. Phosphates, mari, guauo, are
the current topics, replacing the Freedmen's
Bu eau and the Reconstruction acts. The
planters are not only willing but able to buy
al pay for them. Thus the profits of the
Ia crop are used to insure and enlarge the
ntAt. Instead of speedily wearing out one
J.! utation and then removing with his "force'
1o arew one, the planter meditates enriching
1he il and enhancing the crop of his present
hor stead to the end of his days.
' course, there is a background to this
pi g.. There are malignant, implaoable
K h4, banded in Ku-Klux and other mid
~ fh vi bduhhtiOuS W udTdSS, OutTdR0, duJ
XII here are inveterate white loafers. hang
lng about CROSSROADS taverns and stores,
drinking bad whisky and talking worse poll
i,', who will never work If they can help it
al there are worthless, thievish, vagabonC
NJ 3roes, who prowl over the country, skulk
ing about the edges Of plantations, hiding il
forests, shooting pigs, robbing corn-cribs, ant
grumblipg that they can find nothing to do
Some of these will get shot before they know
1t; others will find themselves in prison
others still will persist in their wretche
course, eking out a miserable subsistence b,
occasional hunting or fishing. But 9Th
schoolmaster is abroad" the children gene
rally attend school wherever they can; 8,
vagrants and prodigals, white or black, ar
gradually becoming scaroer. There are 10
calities in several States, especially West Ten
nessee and Eastern Texas, where the bad ole
status of two or three years ago still continue
or has been little modified; but these are bu
a very small proportion of the South, o
whose counties niue .tenths have to-day a
quiet and law-abiding citizens as Iowa o
Massachusetts.
The influx of immigrants and of those VIII
are prospecting with view to immigration
is large and increasing, and is no longer re
PEELED by generally sullen demeanor. Ia
debted land-holders (still a numerous class
are eager to sell, even to "Yanks;" railroa
managers offer to carry, and hotel-keepers
entertain, at reduced rates, those who visi
with q view to purchase and settlement
With good season and such peace and orde
as the general confidence in President Grant
fairness and firmpess is calculated 10 secure
the South can hardly fail to make lars
stride towards recuperation in the year 1869.
The Democracy and the Suffrage Amend