Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1872-04-09
TALKING POOR.

TALKING POOR.
We were struck with the justice of criticism
which we saw the other day, in Northern
paper, of the habit Of the Southern papers Of
talking poor" We hardly ever look over a
paper published in the South which does not
indulge in lamentations over the desolations
of the war, and the pecuniary difficulties and
distresses of the Southern people.
The Northern paper, to which we refer, very
justly remarked, that if We are in earnest in
wanting an influx of population and capital into
our State, this is very strange way Of secu-
ring it. People are not likely to seek home
in ruined country, and among a bankrupt
people. Every complaint of the kind that
goes forth to the world, tends to repel immigra
ton. If we are really SO poor as We represent
ourselves to be,-if we cannot pay even the in
terest on our public debt, and seek to repudi-
ate our private obligations, intelligent persons
looking for a home, will naturally conclude
that Virginia is State to be avoided, and not
sought for. IF our editors and people would
only bring the matter home to themselves, and
ask whether, if they were looking out for a
new home, they would go to rising and pros
porous country, or to one that was broken down
and going to decay, they would at once see the
folly Of the course which Southern editors have
heretofore adopted.
The truth is, that this whole system of viii
ming and complaining, is as unmanly as it is
impolitic The Southern people thought proper
to put their fortunes at hazard. in the great
struggle for Southern independence. They
lost, and it becomes them now to submit to
the arbitrament Of war, like men-with dignity
and fortitude. Repining will not bring back
prosperity. 1t can be regained only BY indus
try, economy and selfdenial. These are the
qualities which must now be called into action,
and we hazard nothing in saying that We have
the elements of wealth diffused throughout our
State in such profuse abundance that if We ap-
ply ourselves with diligence, to the task of de-
veloping and utilizing them, we will soonrepair
our shattered fortunes.
We have fertile lands, hills and mountains,
clothed with timber, and pregnant with min
erals and water-power sufficient to impel any
quantity of machinery. Let us make them
sources of wealth.
There are some old prejudices which we
must overcome before we can expect to be
prosperous. Most Of our farms are too large.
The owners have too much dead capital. The
expenses of keeping up fences, paying taxes,
&C., eat up the profits of the land in cultiva-
ton. This must be changed. Every farmer
should sell off his surplus land, and devote the
proceeds to improving and rendering product
i've what he retains. In most cases, where a
man having three or four hundred acres, sells
half of it, to industrious purchasers, he will
find what is left, not only more productive,
but in pecuniary point of view, more valua-
BILE. The denser the population the more val
liable will the lands be. If, then, every farmer
would sell half of his land. and thus double
the population, by introducing new settlers, he
would, pretty generally, add to the value Of
the land which be retained in the same ratio.
How many farmers are there, who, themselves,
have been paying tazesfor fifty years land their
ancestors probably for fifty years more) on large
bodies Of land, which have not yielded them
one cent of profit. We venture to say that
cases could be found in which the taxes paid
with the interest from the several dates al
which they were paid, would amount to two Of
three times the value of the land, and the LAND
is now, probably, not worth more than it was
half century ago.
There is another thing that must be correct
ed. Our young men must learn to work. We
have too many Macawbers, waiting for ''some
thing to turn up!" Fortune is shy Goddess.
She must be courted and won by close and as
siduous attention. She is not like one of the
fast young girls of modern times, who volun-
teer their favors. The man who expects to
win success, must work. He must regard
labor as honorable, and, instead of bewailing
the hardness of the times, the scarcity OF
money, and the lack of employment, he must
lay his hand to the plough or the hammer, in
earnest, and conquer success by industry.
1t is all delusion to suppose that our State
is so down-trodden as she is represented TO be.
There never was time when men of energy
and industry, could do better than now, even
by farming The prices of agricultural pro-
auctions of all kinds, are high-higher than
when our fathers built up their fortunes.
Pork, beef mutton, -four, corn, potatoes, hay,
poultry and butter, all command higher prices,
and have reader access to market than they
did twenty or thirty years ago.
But it may be asked, if this be so, why is it
that our farmers do not get rich? Our answer
is, the desires Of our people have outgrown
their means of indulgence. We are not con-
tent to live as cur ancestors did. We have be-
come more luxurious and extravaganza in cur
tastes and habits. Every one now wants to
make his sons professional men, and all his
daughters must be taught music and French,
and all the ologies The young men must
smoke their ten cent cigars, and chew two dol
lars per pound tobacco, and the girls must be
INDUCED in 81 silks, and laces and ribbons
and Paris gloves Every young couple who
get married must whirl away to Niagara, and
spend couple of hundreds of dollars on a
bridal tour!
When our fathers were accommodating the
fortunes, whose loss we now bewail, they stuck
to their work closely-they gained slowly, but
they saved what they gained, and in a
series of years it amounted to comnoto,ov
We must initiate their industry and fngal;tv
il we wish the success which crowned their IF.
. forts. We must not only work ourselves. but
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