New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-04-26

| your government 10 ana mas Oeen expenOlng
for generations in the shape Of duties and
| tariffs, and protection direct and indirect
for the benefit of chose industries, and how
little for yours. i
"Surely considering the progress that has
been made, and is now making in physical
research and scientific discovery, It is moi
much out of the way to ask the government,
80 to direct these discoveriesand researches
as to encourage them. so that you too may
have the benefit of them. And all that il
needed is to bring there meteorOloqists
Offices, implements and means together in 3
spirit OF friendly concert, in order to confer
the greatest boon upon those who earn bread
by the sweat of their brow that agriculture
has received since this continent gave il
Indian corn, the potato and tobacco"
10 inspire confidence in this new enter
prise. he calls attention to what his sea re-
searches have done, and asks: "What was
the bottom of the sea with sunless treasures!
The voyage from this country to Brazil was
shortened twenty days; to other countries
It was shortened thirty days; to others,
forty, fifty and even sixty days. Naviga-
ton was rendered more safe, dangers of the
sea were lessened, and millions, not only of
dollars, but of pounds sterling, saved to
commerce annually in the shortening of
| voyages, and the saving of time, and the
out let or hindrance, to enjoy these benefits
and blessings"
He also tells us that out of this grew the
discovery Of the telegraphic plateau in the
ocean. on whose smooth surface rests to
day the cables which have transmitted to
| you the price of cotton this forenoon, and
| the doings of all the chief nations Of the
Old World. A new illustration of the
beautiful harmony existing between all the
| great achievements of man as between the
| wonderful works of God.
The practical value of Maury's charts
were most fully shown during the late war,
and are beautifully illustrated by Raphael
Semmes' great work, ''Service Af1oat," a
work that will grow with time, and ever
command the respect and admiration of
the thinking world. A century ago the
utterance of such promise would have
consigned its author to the ridicule of the
world.
To-day We hear Maury's predictions with
joy and look with confidence for their exc
cution in the early future How wonder
full, how grand the change! How surpass-
the thought that nothing henceforth, as in
the past, shall be lost to mankind by that
spirit of skepticism which was for centuries
the bane of the human race!
We Of the South have been too prone to
doubt the capacity of our own people for
these great achievements. Maury should
be an object of our special care. His great
genius is, in measure, lost to the nation
and the world by an unwise exclusion from
his proper place. He is peerless in his de-
partment.
We should see that these promised fruits
OF his genius are not lost to us and the
world.
1t becomes us of the South, in no spirit of
vain Boosting, but to stir the men of this
generation to more active exertions, to new
achievements, fOndly to cherish the me-
mory of our great feats in the past.
We can remember with pride that the
first great freight and passenger railway in
the world was organized and constructed
on Southern soil, and that at the LAYING of
its corner stone, July 4, 1898, Charles Car
roll, of CarrolltOn. spoke of it as a great
highway, which '.in the future would serve
to bind this great country in bonds of union
and fraternity"
This and other similar recollections should !
be fondly cherished, but only as incentives
to future exertion. |
STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE SOUTH.
Il may offend your pride, but will compel |
the consent of every intelligent man in this |
audience, when tell you that the Southern,
and especially the planting states. as vet |
know lmperfectly the alphabet of agricul- |
ture.
Leaving out Of view the unwise course
pursued by the Northern States in their
early farming experiences, it must be ad-
mitted that each State Of the South has in
regular routine gone first through process
of rapid exhaustion of virgin soil, then
driven by stern necessity, they have begun
less prodigality.
Starting from Mason and Dixons line
and travelling South, every intelligent OBJ
server has been painfully impressed by this
fact.
The early settlers of Maryland and vir-
ginia did with diligence what the more
Southern and Western pioneer in farming
is doing today.
He robbed the earth of all native fertility
BY making incessant drains upon it for the
same prOduct-that which for the time COM
handed the highest price. They grew to-
0acco upon the same lands year after year
Until nature stopped the larcenies.
Ihey plowed shallow, neglected rotation
u crops, ignored drainage, manures and
ne cultivation OF grasses, until many be-
anne too poor to make respectable emf
rants to the West or farther South.
We are practically more ignorant of the
udiments of immigration than of the
cience Of agriculture.
We cheeffully extend broad, loose invi-
alton to the ''hewer of wood and dra wer
f water from all quarters of the world to
OIuc anu dolu0 WlCn us. |
we forget that onr more enterprising
armer friends in the Northwest add to this
aviation through ticket by ste amer and
all from the remote east to shutdown, with
lrgin coil, at III 25 per acre, accompanied
y an illustrated map and an expert lecture
n climate, soil, metes and bounds to accom-
any them as guides in their pilgrimage.
he emigrant to Germany lands in Kansas
18th perhaps two changes of steamer and
nree of cars, all clearly indicated on his
trough ticket, with no intermediate swim
lers to annoy him.
what have we as a substitute for '
his effective system! Nothing; literally 6
othing.
Among the curiosities of Louisiana legis-
ltiOn may be found some law creating an
Bureau" I
Who knows of it, that is not compelled.
J we are, to wade through all laws, good I
nd bad, silent and speakingl This must
e reformed, or the whole thing is failure.
Besides this, the planter must make some i
to offset the inducements {
fered in the West by cheap lands for per-
anent homes. He must do as one parish, +
least, in this State has already done-set
part fraction of his land to be donated e
settlers.
He must welcome the foreigner as de- Il
rable neighbOr and owner of the soil. He y
Ill never consent to come in any number | q
/ other TERMS and the best interests of the t
untry require that he should not accent t
rider conditions. v
must also be perfected by n
hich they can emigrate in sufficient num- il
RS at time to constitute society for
emselves wherever they locate
In this, as in most other enterprises re- tt
n< l