The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-06-06
af(iooltburp Atoisttr
TUESDAY. June 6. 1871.
Recuperativc and Progressive Power.


countrys past history, more strikingly
shows the extent of our resources and the
energy of our population, than the exhibit
ton Of recupcrative power, after losses,
and devastations Of war. Whole blocks
and sections in our cities are destroyed
by fire, and in an inconceivably short time
the traces Of the devastation are entirely
obliterated The destroyed buildings
are replaced with more beautiful and more
permanent cdifices, and the industries
and the properties Of the people are ap-
parently unchecked. So after dcvastations
of war. The country was apparently
Frustrated, the energies Of the people cx-
hausted, the industrial enterprises ruined
upon the declaration Of peace after the
war of independence. The United States
had a population, at that time, Of little
less than three millions of whom half a
million were slaves. The mouth Of the
Mississippi was held and kept sealed
from our commerce by a foreign power.
There was an absence Of steam, canals,
and even passable highways. No staple
which would be likely to be produced by
pioneer population could be sold at the
seaboard for the cost Of transportation.
Debt and bankruptcy and financial ruin
and hopeless poverty were the circum-
stances in which they found themselves
and these certainly were not such as to
prompt to industrial energy or commercial
enterprise.
But instead Of that depression and
helplessness and acceptance Of poverty as
the inevitable condition Of the country,
what do We sec? Cities and towns sprang
up like magic. Wealth flowed in as by
the touch of conjuror's wand Com
merce and manufactures developed like
the gourd of Jonah. Habits of industry
which had been unsettled by the anxicties
and uncertainties Of war, again became
fixed Agriculture took its position
among the rcmuncrativc enterprises Of the
country. Material prosperity followed
and an uncxampled growth in population,
while the arts and sciences and education
and the luxuries of older countries kept
pace with the influx of wealth. And all
this from the most unpromising conditions.
There was an absence Of aught which
could in Justice be called u currency.
The people were writhing under the intol-
cradle pressure Of debt for which no means
Of payment existed. Industry had been
paralyzed by the uncertainty OF markets
and the prccarousness Of possession.
Idlenoss tempted to dissipation which is
always the ally Of restitution. Tools and
agricultural implements were the rudest
in pattern and finish. But with all these
disadvantages the development was sure
and the progress rapid. Eighty years
passed and our territory had expanded
from eight hundred thousand 10 three mil
lions Of square miles. Our population
had increased from three to thirty mil
lions. The value Of our products were
increased in a much larger ratio than our
population. Churches and clergymcn,
schools and colleges, newspapers and per-
iodicals, art and scientific associations,
benevolent institutions and the appliances
for culture in every direction attest that
our progress was not merely material,
haps moro forciblc) Illustration OF the re.
operative power of our country in the
condition Of the South since the late wal
of the rebellion In the language Of the
Special Commissioner Of the Revenue
in 1863 this section Of our countrywide
in 1850 represented nearly one-thrd Of
the entire population, and, emitting tho
value of the slaves, nearly two-scvcnths
Of the aggregate wealth Of the nation
found itself, as the result Of four years Of
civil war, entirely PROSTATE without in
dustry. without tools, without money
credit, or crops; deprived of local self.
government, and, to a great extent, Of al
political privileges the flower Of it,
youth in the hospitals, or dead upon tho
battle-felds, with society disorganizcd
and starvation imminent or actually
present Furthermore, the first efforts Of
the people Of the South to improve thcil
condition were also in the highest degree
dlscouraging. During the years 1866
and 1867 the crops, both Of cotton and
grain, were, to Il very great extent
failures. The freedmen were not dis
posed to work for hire demand excessive
wages, and after accepting them, toe
often render poor service. The genera
result of all attempts to revive production
seemed, therefore, up to 1868, to leave
both freedman and planter in condition
more destitute and discouraged even thar
at the close of the war.
Since that year (1S67) the industrial
rcsuscitation and development Of this sec
ton, has been remarkable The broker
and exhausted lines of railway intercom
munication have been restored and many
additional ones have been created; Tho
soil is becoming enriched, increasing tho
quality, and quantity Of the great staples
Of product new machinery, better i'm
plements, more valuable and cheaper
labor, have replaced the semi-barbarou
Inconvenience Of the antc-war period
As an example, before the war large
proportion Of the net annual profit Of thu
South was expended in the purchase o
labor. 1t is now found that laborers cal
be obtained without expanding anything
for them, and that the capital thus for
merly diverted can be saved and applied
for the purchase Of some other form o
productive power such as tools
machinery, and animals, while the value
Of manual labor can be supplemented anc
increased.
But the possibilities Of the South, ar
not the only evidences Of material pros
perity already realized, Manufacture
are springing up all over the country ,anC
the number of these and their capital, ar
already largely in excess of any forme
period. The farms are to-day in bette
condition than before the war. Thei
commercial relations arc much more en-
couraging than ever before, while thei