The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-09-30
Impudence and Ignorance,

The New York Tribune, which patron
ICES the southern people, and speaks OF
them in lprdy-compassonate style, says
in its issue of Thursday last:
"No greater misfortune could he added
TO the ills which the South has already sui
fcred han its entire abandonment rs field
of labor ard enterprise hy northern and
western men, who care nothing for pOl;tl-
cal advancem but who are able to pro.
mote the agriculture and manufactures oil
the southern states. These men are OF q
class which the slave States never pos
srs>cd. Virginia, State Of immense pro,
ductivc resources, has grown poorer anu
poorer for several generations, and yet ever
suce the days Of Jefferson there has Deeh
perpetual talk there OF doing something 10
restore wealth and prosperity"
Such impudcnce is insutEerable, notWith-
standing that 1t is the offspring OF lsno-
rance. 1t seems to be utterly useless for
the southern press to attempt to open the
eyes of the northern people as to the char
acter Of our farmers. The census Reports
try in vain to inform our traducers Us TO
the facts. They are determined to 1--we III
ignorance. We have again and again Gu
daavorrd to correct the mistake unae!
which the Tribune lies and we Will make
one more effort. Some weeks ago we to0t
the trouble to Gull the following iacts IRON
the census of 1860:
"Ncw York State, with q population o
. goo az nroduced in 1850, 1851 Jos, bush
els Of whent and &c, G61 ,049 bushels OF In
dian corn-belng 4 little over two bushels
of wheat and less than six bushels OF corl
IN ench inhabitant. The wheat fell at lcaS
seven millions Of bushels short OF the guam
Iitv necessary 10 supply the people OF tina
State for one year.
Virginia, with u population OF 1,136. BIS,
nroduced in 1860, II, Isl, 9I7 bushels OF
wheat and 3S,519. $3.50 bushels of Indian
corn-being nearly nine bushels of wheat
aud twenty-four bushels Of corn to each in
habitant. The wheat exceeded by five
millions Of bushels tue quantity necessary
to supply the people of this State for one
year.
But We shall perhaps be told that il j.
not New York farming but Yankee farming
that the crllicisers Of Virginia speak Of
Very we'll. Let us see what the census
tells OF Yankee farming:
In 1860 the six New England States-al
OF them, remember-produced 1858, 80
bushels of wheat, or eleven quarts to eacl
inhabitaut this is the very language Z
the census report-and 9,164 ,505 bushels O
Indian corn. or less than three bushels t
each inhabltant.
The single county of Loudoun, in Virgi
MIA, produced 596,291 bushels OF wheat i
1S60-more chan double the total produc
OF The three New England States Of Massa
chuSetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Now, when ii Is remembered that the to
bacco crop IL the one upon which Virglni
It f.,n ia nsi
to be seen that we have nothing to leaf
from any northern State in the art Of agri
culture. We shall doubtless be told tna
the New England States produce grea
deal OF hay. True enough but the wlnte
there is 80 long that their stock needs
Vast quantity OF that article, and therefor
they can sell comparatively little OF 1t
whilst our cattle can make their owl
living in the fields almost all the year. s.
that even in respect to this article New
England has nothing to boast OF.
New England, IL VIII be said, makes mo
ney in her manufacturing establishments
So she does. Let her, then, boast OF these
But it is the height OF impudence for IN,
northern man to speak disparagingly o
the farmers OF Virginia. We cannot but
feel contempt for the northern man who
knowing nothing Of the facts which VIZ
have herein set forth, undertakes to up
braid Virginians on account of their want
oil success in agricultural pursuits"
These stubborn facts make the Tribune.
airs Of superiority appear very ridiculous
We do not mean, however, to object to
the coming Of the class OF mon that the
Tribune would send to us. Let them come
We have land in abundance, and at cheap
rates, to accommodate them all. We have
tine climate, pure water, good society,
churches, schools, aud whatever the best
class OF immigrants would desire to find in
new homes. But all these we could not
have 1--WE were the inpoyident aud lazy
poo ple that The Tribune represents us to be.
Virginia Is poor now only because the
waradesoia.ed her fields ana destroyed her
labor. She was the richest State IN the
Union In 1860. The Tr7bune's allies have