Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-09-30
WBATTHE SOUTH Is CAPABLE OF
PRODUCEEG.

BILE presents.
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WHATTBE SOUTH Is CAPABLE OF
PRODUCIEG.
The Washington Chronicle pres
diets that in ten years, with a sys-
tenn of fair dealing between capital
and labor, the cotton crop will be
ten times greater than that of last
year has turned out, that is about
100000 bales, and Boston pas
per predicts that the South will
make 100000 bales when i'm
migration flows into her borders
under the auspices of peace and
freedom. The South will not reach
the half of the Chronicles esti-
mate in the next ten years under
the most favorable auspices, and
the man is not born who will live to
see the production of 1OO,oOO,OOO
bales. There is little doubt that
the crop will be increased several
million bales in the next ten years,
provided labor of the proper kind
can be procured. For instance, the
New Orleans Times says:
"Here is the State of Louisiana, which,
though its surface has only been scratched
here and there, produced in 1868 six hun
bred thousand bales of cotton. The four
parishes of Tensas, Carroll, Madison and
Concordia alone produced 100000 bales;
and yet a stranger passing through the
State would be amazed to see how little
of the land has been cullivated-what a
vast ares OF ground capable of producing
a bale and half or more per acre has
never been disturbed by ploughshare or
hoe. 1t is equally true OF sugar. There
are lands now lying idle which could be
made to produce all the saccharine now
consumed in the United States, and thus
save the people the seventy millions in
gold which, according to the last Treasu-
~ report, we're sent out Of the country last
year to pay foreign producers. With two
hundred thousand good laborers we could,
without seriously taxing the natural re-
sources of the State, add two millions Of
bales of cotton to the present product Of
the Stateo
The crop ofLouisiana was nearly
two hundred thousand bales larger
than is put down by the Times,
yet IFS statement in regard to the
four parishes of Tensas, Carroll,
Madison and Concordia, shows that
the State is capable of producing a
very large crop of cotton. But
where are the two hundred thous~
and laborers to come from, who
are necessary to cultivate so large
a crop as the Times mentions? If
Louisiana could get all the immi-
grants who come South, she might
in the course of few years pro-
duce a million bales Of cotton. The
want of these laborers will be a
serious drawback on the State, and
Louisiana will not be alone in this
respect. If the cotton States could
induce q large immigration OF good
laborers, the cotton crop could be
doubled in few years; but the in
crease in the yield of cotton will
necessarily be slow from this
cause. If the negroes could be in
duced to work as they did before
the war, the result would be seen
in a very handsome increase in the
cotton crop. The South has within
her borders the elements of i'm
menso wealth, and it will be
worked out in time. The cotton crop
of last year is estimated
to be worth $500, 100000, while the
other agricultural products, such as
wheat, corn, sugar, tobacco, rice,
etc, would yield a considerably
larger amount at q fair valuation.
All that the South has to do to
make the cotton crop a source OF
great wealth, is to produce all the
provisions and breadstuffs which
the laborers will consume while
makingtho cotton. Then whatever
of the latter they produce will be
mainly profit on investment and
labor. This is being done to q
much larger extent than before the
war, and the consequence is the
people have received a greater
profit from last years crop than
they did from the great crop Of
IS59-GO, which exceeded 100000
bales. Now that negro slavery
does not rise up before the North
ern people to prejudice them against
the South, they are beginning to
appreciate the Importance of this
section to the Union; and on this
point the New York Herald says
"Well might the North buckle on ali lis
armor TO keep the South in the Union, for,
spart from political considerations, and
the patrolic sentiment of maintaining the
grandeur and glory of the republic intact,
that part Of our common country Is the
source of our commercial wealth, and more
valuable to the North than ever Iudia WAS
TO England. According TO the latest sta
tistics the value Of Southern exports last
year was over two hundred and fourteen
millions, while that OF the North was lit
tie less than Two hundred millions.
There is this great difference, too, in the
nature of the exports Of the Two sections,
thai large portion Of those Of the North
is IN the preCiOu metals, which il a meas.
ure lmpOvershes the country, while those
of the South are the products Of The soil
aud bring US gold or its equivalent. Cotton,
OF course, s'he great staple, though tobacco
Is valuable product, and sugar, rice, and
other things form a part of the exports
The domestic trade of the South is still
more valuable to the North, for il supplies
our manufacturers with the raw material
they need, and takes back Northern man