Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-02-26
THE REASON WHY.

We trust that our readers will moi
think that in frequently discussing the
subject of immigration we over estimate
its importance, or attach undue sgnii
canoe to the causes which direct it. We
have taken our own view of the subject,
and are absolutely certain that we are
right. We are fortified by that old vet
eran newspaper, the Charleston Courier,
and one or two other journals. A Col
umbia IS. c. Radical paper, with q
charming affectation ofinnocence, says:
Every year the multitudes from the
OVERLOOKING East are filling up the West
ern States and making them rich and
strong and prosperous. They carry
with them money, mills and manutac-
tories, with all the implements of indus
try, and above all, they carry with them
enterprise, which is the foundation stone
to success. But South Carolina, which,
in her material attractions, excels them
all, they pass by. There must be a
reason for this. Why are not our for
ests cleared, our idle fields made rich
with waving harvests, our streams set to
turning the lathe and the spindle, and
our mines of iron and the more precious
metals made to reveal their hidden
stores, our towns and cities built up,
and made to TEEN with all the activity of
prosperous business?"
The reason why is triumphantly an
swered by the Courier. 1t says; We
answer there is reason for this. And
that reason is to be found in the fact
that millions of dollars have been spoil
ated out of the public treasury; that no
mans purse or property is safe in view
of the widest expenditures and the most
enormous taxation that the public debt
has increased in the short space Of a
few years, from little over five to, as is
acknowledged by the present admins
tration, fifteen, or as is reported by
the Republican committee of investiga-
ton, to over twenty millions of dollars;
that as against between four and five
hundred thousand dollars before the war,
it is now proposed to raise over three
three millions of dollars in one year by
taxation thus declaring practical Goa
fscation of all property. How can it
be otherwise, when the property, the in
terests, the commerce, and the trade of
the State are regarded as mere spoils for
the enrichment of those in power, when
the government is the public enemy and
hostile to the taxpayers, who are per-
mitted to have neither voice or rights
entitled to respect. Facts and
reasons similar to those stated by
our Carolina contemporary exist in all
the Southern States, and operate as an
efectual bar to their settlement by peo-
pie from Europe and elsewhere. As the
facts show, immigrants go to the West.
They are informed that the South is no
place for them, and the very men who
were instrumental in establishing carpet
bag and plumber rule in the South, plead
its horrors to frighten off immigrants.
We had as well admit the truth at once,
that until carpet-bag rule is broken down
and the negro power brought into har-
mony with the people, our population
will not increase by immigration. How
is that to be done? The defeat of Grant
for the Presidency would 60 far to do it.
II Grant secures reelection, we shall
have no immigration of consequence
during his term.