Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-01-28

u
an armful 1t is wonderful to see what an
immense business is done on the great Leyee,
which is some six or eight miles in length.
Acres and acres are covered with bales OF
cotton. hogsheads of sugar and molasses Up
and down the river as far as the eye can reach
it is one forest of shipping. The 5s,ooO,ooo
bushels of grain which Chicago received last
wear is not worth half much as the cotton
received and sold in the market during the
same time. Before the war New Orleans
was the second commercial city on the Ameri-
can continent The din of commerce rolled
along her streets, even when fearful epidemics
were raging, Staying hundreds and thousands.
am informed there was no place where
money could be accumulated with more ease.
The agricultural system of the South. what
ever may have been its effects upon the coun-
try section, was eminently adapted to build
up and enrich this city. The products of the
South were not only sold here, but the planter
and his slaves were supplied with every article
they required Since the war, owing to the
decreased production and consumption of the
as far as quantity is concerned. but from the
increased value of the exports, they are worth
about as much as before the late struggle.
However glance at statistics prove that New
Orleans is gaining rapidly, and this too in the
face of miserable management of both State
and city affairs The great claim set up by
Mrs. Gaines to fabulous amount of property
in this city, greatly interferes with business and
particularly real estate operations. Her claim
has cast dscrcdt on the title to a large por-
ton of the most valuable property in the city.
1t is impossible to describe the alarm which
has there been created. especially among the
industrious poor people who have managed
to save enough money to purchase and secure
their small homestead, but Mrs. Gaines AYERS
that she now has the documents establishing
all her claims. while on the other hand it is
declared by eminent lawyers, that her claims
have no foundation whatever.
Vices and crimes of every kind prevail here
to a great extent. some half dozen theatres
are in full blast every afternoon and evening,
the Sabbath not excepted-in fact Sunday is
gala day here. Gambling houses are on al
most every street. Passing along st. Charles
street in the evening the Illuminated signs of
Faro" ''Keno," Roulette" 3 card monte. :"
&C.. &C., can be seen on both sides These
places are thrown open to all without fear or
modesty. A law has just passed the Legisla-
ture closing up gambling houses in the State.
and it is hoped will at once become operative
and effectually suppress the great evil, but 1t
will take time to make these old evil doors
feel the true essence Of the law.
Nowhere in the Southern States are the
lands better adapted to the raising ofthe great
STAPLES of tobacco, corn, cotton and cane than
the State of Louisiana. The soil is rich
reddish color, covered chiefly with a black
stratum and wherever cultivated with half in
dustry it always produces these staples in
luxuriant abundance. 1t is but fair to state,
however, that while cotton is grown with so
little labor and exertion, the cotton worm
often destroys entire crops, and as corn has
no market beyond home consumption, the
planters are rapidly substituting cane for cot
ton in their fields. The average product per
acre is a bale of cotton or hogshead of sugar
and the sugar never fails. The new conner
South may be informed that cane planting is
a slow process, as it requires several years to
seed and get under production large planta-
ton. In this particular, cotton is much more
easy, and quicker returns are realized, though
it costs more labor to gather and dispose of
the crop, while the crop itself is subject to
more and greater contingencies.
In reference to social matters, as general
rule, none of the natives or old-bred South
erners have any great desire to associate with
anybody from the North This indisposition
is more or less influenced by politics, and no
matter how faultess in manner or connections
a northern man meets with great difficulty in
gaining admission into southern society. Per
haps such feeling is almost unav odable, for
it cannot be expected that the people of the
South can, however much they may be dis
posed to do so, obliterate wholly and at once
the feeling of humiliation which is an inevita-
Bile sequence of defeat. Although SO badly
wrong, no cause was probably ever dearer to
people than was their independence to the
men and women of the South. Hence their
failure is naturally profound modification
which will be lasting in proportion as it was
forcible. 1t will take at least one generation
to efface the humiliation of the result of our
civil war. But one fact is plainly to be seen,
that many of the northern men now in the
South, were disreputable men and had no
standing in society North, and it cannot be
expected that the people of the South will ac-
cept as social equals this class of men whom
the North has rejected. Their influence, to-
gether with the recollections of the war is in
deed sufficient to render nearly all northern
men subjects of suspicion and distrust. To be
charitable, it cannot be expected the society
of the South can always separate the wheat
from the chaff.
In the matter of recuperation from the in
dustrial and financial disasters of the war; the
greater portion of the South is rapidly re-
covering A majority of the planters are fast
coming into possession of an ample compe-