Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1870-12-02
FRIDAY MORNING, DEC. 2, 1870.

~~b1By reference to another column it will
Be seen that Mass Meeting of the citizens of
this county has been called to meet in Pert
Tobacco, on Tuesday next, the 9th instant, to
send delegates to the Baltimore Convention,
which convenes on the 18th inst. In our
issue of last week we endeavored to impress
upon our people the pressing necessity of
some general action on their part looking to
the introduction of new element of labor in
our midst as the only possible remedy for the
evils We are now suffering. In this conuec-
tion, We alluded to the Improbable results Of
agricultural industries, attendant upon the
present system of labor, and the consequent
depreciation in value of our lands. We re-
ferred to the fact that there were iu our couu-
~ large tracts of land lying waste and USE
lsss-paying the owner nothing-a burden
Instead Of profit, and which, unless some
remedy is sought and found, will, for years,
exhibit the miserable folly Of our people in
trusting exclusively to wholly precarious
and unreliable species of labor. For this most
unenviable state Of things we suggested as the
most feasible remedy, the encouragement, by
concert of action and joint contribution, of the
immigration of foreign white laborers to our
county. To aid in doing this we urged the
economy of giving away Gf necessarily to a
bona eide settler portion of land, if the re-
nainder be thereby made more profitable
Further reflection upon this point has satisfi-
ed US of the correctness of our views. For,
apart from our wretched system of labor,
there can be but little doubt that the large
farms owned by our people are the greatest
drawbacks to their material advancement and
prosperity. Said Edmund Burke, upon
memorable occasion, in the House of Com
mons: But be the price Cof land1 what it
may great object is always answered when
ever any property is transferred from hands
which are not fit for that property to those
that are. The buyer and seller must mutu-
ally profit by such bargain" The remark
is to-day as true as an axiom-it is indisput-
able. Break up and divide into small tracts
the large farms, sell at reasonable price or
upon long credit with interests the plan
recommended by that distinguished son of
Virginia, Commodore Maury, to promote im-
nigration and thus develop the resources Of
State. The introduction of white laborers
ipoks upon as the best and only corrective
Re evils of his own State. Ours may
classed in the same category-no
than Virginia, indeed; not 50 well
the earnest attention Oft peo-
be close
cssd to this subject, and great I'D has
oeen already accomplished. Here nothing
kss been done, aud we think it is high time
nfsa tould be up and at work, else we
lect to be, and will be, left far behind
Zee for material development and pros
If we make no effort to better our
lion we cannot expect it to improve Of
itself, on the contrary, we must look for that
material decadence which inevitably attends
the relaxation and want of enterprise in all
industrial pursuits. To another aspect this
subject is one worthy Of our most serious con-
sideration. If we are content to remain, as
We are at present, wholly dependent upon ir-
responsible negro labor-if we are to make
no effort to seek remedy by the most potent
specific that can be applied, the introduction
Of white laborers, we, 10 effect, practically up
hold the negroes in their opposition to their
employers interests-in their midnight oath
bound leagues To short, we but open the
door to the repetition, in the future, of those
scenes we witnessed last fall. So long as the
eolored Iaborer feels that his white employer
is entirely dependent upon him, be can never
be made to realize the fact that the interests
Of both are identical. But when he begins to
see that white labor is being introduced, that
the state of dependence is being slowly but
surely done away with, then, and not till then.
will the scales Of prejudice drop from his eyes
and the seal facts of the case be felt and ap-
precisted. Until then, beyond all peradven-
ture, he will remain hostile element in our
midst. In taking this view of the case, we
are not disposed to rake among the now
smeuldering ashes of the past to stir up new
feuss. On the contrary, we have and do now
advocate mild policy and a generous for
bearance towards those who, doubtless, were
made our enemies by false misrepresentation,
yet, . wise policy and a due regard for our
swn interests prompt US, as far as possible, to
euayd against such condition of affairs in the
faturs. Undoubtedly one of the best safe
guards We can adopt, and probably the only
remedy now remaining open to US is, to en-
courage the introduction of white laborers.-
We believe the scheme to be feasible, and
hope that our people will take the matter in
hand on Tuesday, and, after sending delegates
to the Baltimore Convention, take into con-
sideration the practicability Of organizing a
County Association to cooperate, either with
the State Association or otherwise, as may be
deemed best. -"
~We have received a communication
from Wegg aud also one from Oliver N. Bry-
an, Esq, but too late for insertion this week.
We hope our friend Bryan will attend the
Mass Nesting on Tuesday next, and give us