Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-10-13
THE WANTS OF THE SOUTH.

We direct attention to the following COM
munication from the Hon. Frederick Watts,
Commissioner of Agriculture, directed to
the President of the National Agricultural
Association held at this place on the 4th,
9Th and 9th inst. 1t is replete with sound
common sense, full of practical suggestions,
and is calculated to do a vast amount Of
good by directing the minds of Southern
men to their necessities and the proper
manner of supplying them. We trust our
agricultural readers may ponder the article,
gather its wisdom and use the means in
dicated to place them on the high road of
prosperity and success:
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,W WASH
INGToN, D. c., Sept. %, 1S71.-To the
President of the Agricultural Congress,
Nashville, Tenn.-Sir: congratulate you
upon the assembling of your convention.
The meeting of Northern farmers and
Southern planters in a Southern city, upon
the invitation of Southern gentlemen, for
the purpose of discussing mutual interests,
is suspicious of better understanding be-
tween the people Of both sections, and indi-
Gates disposition to bestow upon questions
affecting the material welfare of the country
some portion of that attention which has of
late been directed to questions chiefly politi-
cal. Surely there exists no good reason
why those who live upon the same
soil, speak the same language, and
share the same heritage of blessed privileges
should not agree to join hands in the COM
mon cause of material advancement, al
though they may not be OF one mind in the
consideration of other questions. Such con
ventions as yours make such agreement pos
sibe, and give assurance of its permanently.
Your meeting accOrds with the various
industrial and agricultural meetings of the
year which have had a national scope
and purpose, and trust that it may be
followed by others of like character, which
will bring in their train, prosperity to all
sections and increased development of our
national wealth. 1t is the South that to-
day most needs this prosperity, and it is in
the South that the sources Of national
wealth have been most neglected. The sit
tings of your convention may, therefore,
well be devoted in large degree to an in
quiry into the best means of fostering the
industries adapted to the South, especially
agriculture.
Official intercourse and correspondence
with Southern gentlemen and the tone of
Southern journals convince me that the
whole people of the South fully realize that
their industrial methods have not hereto
fore been conducive to their best interest,
and that enduring prosperity can only come
with the introduction of new methods.
What these new methods shall be is a
problem which a glance at the present
wants of the South may help to solve.
With the complete restoration Ct order
and tranquility in the South, which it is the
hope of all good men may not longer be de-
layed, an opportunity will be afforded for
capital to take fresh courage; for labor to
assume more settled conditions; and for emil
grants from the Northern States and from
Europe to push into every Southern State
with the same sturdy enterprise that now
leads them into the shadows of the Rocky
Mountains and upon the far-Of line OF the
Northern Pacific Railway. These are the
three great wants of the South to-day: cap
ital that shall be active, labor that shall be
iudiciously employed, and population that |
shall possess the waste places and make |
them vocal with the hum Of busy industry. |
The time is near at hand when all these ell |
ements Of material greatness may be pos |
sessed by the South if it viii but learn |
lesson from the example Of those commun- |
tiles and nations which has become rich |
while it has become poor.
Undoubtedly, the first of the new meth |
DDS essential TO the new life of the South
is Investigation. of industry. The exam