Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1872-07-13
Iomlnces Of the County Convention,
THE sOUTH-ITs RAILROADS.

Should the good sense of the South
over be aroused and directed to the
earnest consideration Of its true policy,
its first conviction will be that il con-
tains within itself all the elements es-
sential to its commercial and agricul-
al independence and enough inherent
mental vigor and moral force to attain
that high destiny to which nature and
natures laws point with uncrring pre-
cision. 1t will then comprehend the
truism, that state of dependence is
always a state of wcakness-that nci-
Their individuals nor whole peoples can
be prosperous, happy, or powerful so
long az they rely upon others for either
the ncccssaries of life, or the agencies
whereby progress and prosperity are
TO be achieved. This dependence has
been the curse of the South--thc lcth-
argy that has paralyzcd its mental en-
ergics and reduced it to the dcbas-
ing condition of commercial scridom
70 more enterpri'ing neighbor who
has grown rich, arrogant and aggrcs-
sive upon the hort-sighted and ruin
ous policy of its willing dupc and hum
BILE scrvant-the sunny South.
As if not content with giving New
England all the profits of manutac-
turing the great commercial staple,
and shouldcring all the losses, with APP
poximatc bcggary, the South seems
disposed still farther to cnslavc itself
20 the North, by building only such
railroads as form the shortest lines of
communication with that favored see
ton that it may feed and clothc w.
chcaply in consideration of our ex-
hauaive labor in its interests. The first
question propcundcd, at the birth of a
rev railroad project il, how much
nearer it will bring W. to New York,
Cincinnati, st. Louis, ar Chicago
The southern seaports have no interest
nilt the South ought to foster because
the North supplies Us with everything
we need from a pin to "A steam engine,
from carpet to carpet baggcr.-
However popular this policy may be
with the extreme South, Tennessee and
the other border States can have no
possible motive for adhering to II un-
less it be found in the force of habit
and Indifference to their own progress
sive prosperity. II cotton States will
not raise an ample supply Of food, for
man and beast the border States can
furnish the amount needed, ~ choaply
as the northwest can do il. Indeed
the last mentioned States ought to he
10 the former what the North il now,
30 long, at least, a. cotton Statcs remain
blind 10 the incalculablc amount of
wealth and independence they can
achieve by working up their own raw
material. Instead, however, of pres
sing this policy to it, fullest develop
mont the border state, seem a. eager
for northern railroad connections as
though thcy aboundcd in marketable
commodities which the North must
buy. As IN illustration of this mis-
Chiovous tendency TO shape all south
srn enterprise in the interests of the
North, we need only point to the pro-
posed Princeton and Clark willie rail-
road, intended, originally to bring
coal and tobacco TO this market. But
no sooner was the project set on foot
than il was discovered that IT,, cXtcn-
sion to 81 LGui, was indie pcnsahlo,
the result i, that st, Louis railroad
ring seized upon il a. means Of ia
cilitating the purchase, 10y that r.ng.
Of connection already ctablishcd,
whilst the Princeton road is left, as it
should be, 10 the fostering care of the
section through which il ought to be
built.
But supposo it had been built
through 10 -, Louis, what has Ten
nessee TO sell in that market? Already
a central depot for wheat, -four, corn,
pork. hay, iron, lead and coal, NJ Louis
holds out few Inducements as a mas