New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-04-20

Northern business men, whe growl over dull
trade, and abuse Congress for its shortcomings
In the settlement oil taxation currency, and
other questions enterprising Mcawbers in
quest oil " something 10 turn up" who cherish
vague notion that good or bad times can be
modified by the speeches of demagogues or
votes of ounces, ought to east their ewes south
ward, and remark how rapidly the scat of
war; in Dixie is recuperating from the effects
OF military occupation and the ravage of fire
and sword.
We doubt if one of Sherman's - bumners Z"
could to-day track that famous march to the
sea by any line OF ruined roof-trees and
devastated plantations such as we used to
read about If marks of death there be. thew
are hidden by the luxuriant flowers of new
gardens and the bloom Of new cotton crops
The fields are alive still with dusky laborers.
and the old routine of Southern life renews its
sway with a dash of new life, out of the ex-
hubcrant spirit of free labor.
The croaking complaints heard few wears
ago, Just after the war, In reference to the in
capacity OF Tree labor, arc no longer ventured.
Facts are against them. Cotton crops rebuke
them Thrifty negro planters, exchanging
greenbacks for store goods present living
and laughing commentary on all such falaces
OF the past. A hundred customers for goods,
the only purchasers for the same articles
ten years ago were old masters family" are
beginning to convince those few Southerners
who cling to prejudice that there is still "a
future for the South and that one need not
- die IN the last ditch " vet awhile. One of
The most noticeable Innovations on old fashioned
Southern communities is the 'country-store
now becoming fixture of the rural districts
down in " Dixie Under the slave regime,
when planters owned and occupied immense
estates and subsisted hundreds of servants and
iaborers, steward or overseer was the only
custodian OF goods and small wares. The
planter, or his agent dealt with city merchants,
buying stores of clothing and other supplies i'm
bulk, and generally selecting the cheapest and
coarsest articles for his purposes. No such
establishment was known as the store of a
small-ware merchant in any country town.
ltinerant peddlerS, of the Yankee" genus
perambulated the country, stopping at negro
quarters, and selling gewgaws and kickshaws
to Sambo and Dlnah, sometimes bringing laces
dress patterns, and ornaments for the white
family. But the mass of supplies of all kinds
was bought wholesale and distributed bv the
ovcrsccrs. Now that large plantations are
broken up, and the negro depends upon his
own labor for support, he looks for his per-
sonal wants to be supplied at his door and
does not look in vain The small dealer
"opens store near every thriving community
OF freedmen. lie takes the place of the over
seer IN dealing with the city merchant. lie
does not purchase coarse blankets negro cloth
and cheap brogans alone, but lays in a stock
OF tncr goods to tempt the taste of Gus.
TONERS.
With freedom, the laborer feels new arnbi-
ton and desires. lie works to obtain comforts
for himself and family. He aspires to modest
luXuriesto the rOckingchair, the clock the
musical instrument, the picture, and the book
All these wants create a market which is grow
ing better day by day. Before long the indus
try and trade OF one freedman will be worth
more to merchants here at the North-and in
New York city-than were the cheap necessa-
rIes bought for ten, twenty, or fifty field hands
on the old plantations. The creation of a col
ored yoemanry will soon begin to tell upon
manufacturers ut the North. Four millions of
consumers to buy and USE the products of
Northern and Western industry have been
added to our nation-four millions of working
people, whose toll is destined to make the South
once more garden, to build up her cities to
rcplcnlsh her treasures, and make of her
towns and villages new commercial depots to
which the merchandise of the world will flow
again. The result is inevitable as the recur-
renee Of seed time and harvest. 1t is only a
question Of time and the day is near when
the coiored peasantry of our Southern States
Will interest the mechanic and manufacturers,
be he Republican or Democratic quite as
deeply as they now interest tho politician.
Under Gods providence, the results now be-
ing worked ont quietly, between the forces of
nature and the labor of man, are of greater i'm
portance to the nation than speeches in Con
gress, whether by SpraSue, or Dawes, or But
lor, or Cox. Cotton is assuming, once more,
his prerogativcs, he is no longer king of the
slaye-realm, but he will presently claim power
as the ruler of u free-labor market. Northern
capital and enterprise are finding the way to
Southern water-cOurses and mill.sites, and the
harmony Of remunerative cultivation and pro-
htable manufacture will presently adjust the
labor interests of sugar and cotton States-N
I. Republican.