The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-04-01
The Old Times.

w. .,,,,ded saturday in an article on the
e..,n;,, r;c,ssi,1dcs that generally ioilo"
crc,t wars to the times succeeding the war o.
1s1o Tn people Of this age can but poorly
onnrcciatc the circumstances which then eN
;s,ed and their effect upon the industry O
the people. 49,,
At that time there were, Of course, no TI'
roads, and not a great many stclh'Doa.>'
which were only useful on large rivers i"'
roads were bad, and the cost OF '"''sl"''"
rio, 90 great tina, only the leading S'aln. y,
the country could be taken to h"ih''' .,
was tobacco. Only limited dlStf'c'S,'
on GREAT water-courScS-sent wheat a"" y. "
"a nort,, The West, Of course drove ">
cattle ~, the hoof 80 places OF safe.
&, therc WIS but little money ma yer! ~
tc 10 command it i'll the country ~
dropch,-as there always was every year I'D
come area neglected by the summer r'hS-
brought great distress with it. The suffering
,xoplc had to send their teams a long
r,y 70 . fortunate region where there was
corn for sale. 1t not u~nfrcqueutiy rcn'inoco
one Of the Israelites going over to Egypt
after corn. There were poor people OH
horses going many miles to get a bag OF corn
and vehicles of all kinds going on the hunt
to pay SO, and S12, and sl3 per barrci iof
corn; for although it was n purer age ''ai'
that VIC live in, the price of nccessarles ran
up with the demand.
Sec now what III advantage we nave.
Railroads come in to distribute the ncces>;t-
rics of life; and there is no section so far Sc
cluded from reach that it can suffer ior
these ncccssaries. Nor can the prices OF
Them ever rise to the height that they reached
in thosctimcs, unless, indeed, the crops OF the
whole Union fail !; which is hardly posi-
bic.
Tho rcoplc in 1918, aud from that day, TO
1925. were quite PROSTATE. Thousands were
ruiued who never were able to recover, ana
"swcarins out of iail" was n common oc-
c1;rrncc. As there WAS no bankrupt law, Il
MIN might have TO swear out many times.
And while cotton brought money to the
South. it injured Virginia seriously IN draw
ing away some ol ncf tc>t cl'lZelis b" 'li' N"''
States. They often left their lands unsold
aud their houses r~loccupicd, moving OIL
with family, slaves, and stock. For so serious
Il loss the rise in the value of slaves caused
rv the demand for labor to cultivate cotton
did not compensate the Commonwealth; for
in selling the slave she lost his labor, and WAS
thus consuming her capital.
1t nay be understood, then, that Virginia
was depressed greatly. One advantage she
lad was that she owed little, and the taxes
were light: but even these were hard, as
there was but little money.
Comparing the present with those times,
VIC arr Of opinion that the bcuetit of rail-
roads more than offsets the heavier burthcnS
we bear in public and private indebtedness.
Besides. We lave a greater division OF labor,
and are manufacturing II great deal more
than were our forcfathers of that day. We
have more consumers Of the products OF
agriculture, and these consumers are creating
wealth, as we'll as the farmer, by their handi-
work. In short, the condition OF things
now should enable us 10 recover faster from
%prCstrAion. and achieve a greater prosperity
than could the good people Of those old
times