Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-01-08

cheerful. The high price of cotton will
put $3.50, ZOO, 600 for that product alone,
into the pockets of the "re reconstructed u
of that section, to say nothing of large
amounts for tobacco in Virginia, North
Carolina, Maryland, Missouri and Ken
lucky, and for wheat and corn in the same
States, and in Georgia and Tennessee
The whole value of the surplus crops of
the South this year, cannot be less than
$500, 900, 900 of which probably 500, OOO,-
900 are paid to the negroes in the shape of
wages, and $50, 900, 600 more in the shape
of food.
Another year of equal prosperity would
put the South IN comparatively sound
condition, although, Of course, there are
and must be for many years numerous cases
of individual suffering-as of persons in
advanced life. totally ruined by the war,
their houses and furniture DESTROYED, and
all their investments of money completely
worthless. When we consider that the
accumulated savings of two hundred years
have been destroyed at the South, we can
not cease to wonder that her recuperation
should be as rapid as it is
Of the immense importation Of foreign
goods, cloths, silks, velvets, laces, jewelry,
wines and other costly merchandise, the
South now takes comparatively little. Her
consumption is mainly confined to the
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 luxuri-
Gus people, in the sense that the New York
ers an the Parisians are. They cherished
for the most part the homely virtues of
their ancestors, and lived we'll upon the
produce of their fields, their forests and
their rivers-cOntent with roomy houses
woodfres and old-fashioned furniture.
Hence, in their present depressed condi-
ton, they are more contented than a stran-
ger would suppose it possible for them to
be. We hear of few suicides 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
will therefore suffer less than the North
from any contraction of the currency that
may precede the restoration to prosperity.
In the South there are no real estate specu-
lations, even lnithe environs of the cities );
no artificial values given to town lots or
embryo Palmyras or Babylons. Festina
Lente is eminently the rule there, so far as
real estate is concerned. They are not
gregarious people, but love elbow room
above everything. Cities they regard as
necessary evils, and as such, not to be en-
couraged unduly beyond moderate dimen-
sions. For the greater the city the greater
the evil.
It is very evident that business at the
North is over-done that there are too
many non producers there-too many mer-
chants, too many trades, too many agents,
too many lawyers, too many persons, in
short, who stand merely as Intermediates
between the producer and the consumer.
One of the New York journals estimates
that there are 100000 people out of work,
within sight of the spire of Trinity Church.
Within an equal distance of the State
house at Boston, there are doubtless so, 900
more, and another 50,0 900 in the interior of
New England. Most of these unfortunate
persons are anxious for employment, but
cannot obtain it. Even the high tariff,
which so enriches the great manufacturers,
does not put morsel of bread or an ounce
of meat into their mouths.
What visible outlet to all this surplus
labor is afforded unless at the South p
The West, for the present, is pretty we'll
filled up with laborers Of all descriptions,
and thousands there are out OF work. The
South, then, is the only vacant field easily
accessible on this continent for the unem-
ployed masses of the North.