The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1873-07-30
Economy.

their mode of doing business
Every event which transpires, and
all the circumstances by which we
are surrounded, are calculated to i'm
press this upon our minds. We can
not do as we once did; and we can
not. as a people, long live as we are
now living. The wear and tear, and
almost wholesale waste, which is
going on amongst us. will. in short
time, reduce us to beggary. We
must commence a system Of saving.
Annually, there is wasted, by the
Southern people, enough, if it was
properly husbanded, to make the
South rich in a few years. This
wasteful practice embraces every
thing, from the soil we cultivate to
the food we eat, and the clothing
with which we cover ourselves. We
are sorry to say it, but in this partic-
ular the Southern people resemble
unciviIized tribes. With a large
number of our people, the motto
seems to be to destroy and waste.
The forests is wantonly cut down and
the soil recklessly cultivated, and
the final result, which is soon reach
ed, is gullies and glades. Horses,
mules, COWS, sheep and hogs. are
treated in q way that the inference
would be, did we not know other
wise, that the owner was making a
desperate effort to exterminate these
domestic animals. There is one
word that is not in the vocabulary
Of our Southern people. That
word is the monosyIIable, care ! Rich
and poor, black and white, seem to
have no idea of saving anything
Those who are reputed rich, expend,
muscles extrayagances and reckless
wastes, all their gross incomes and
those who are poor imagine that I'M
less they ape the rich they will be
disgraced. If rich man gets a new
coat, his poor neighbor thinks that
he is compelled to do the same thing.
Broadcloth coats and silk dresses in
our country, are no indexes Of the
financial condition of the wearers.
The manners and customs of our
people in this respect must be chang
ed, and that very soon. We are
poor. There is nothing gained by
to conceal this fact
Fully one-half of the present citi- |
zens of the Southern country are
poor. They have nothing but their
labor upon which to depend. For |
this they are not culpable, but the
fact is not removed by this. Of the
portion of citizens, a very
large number, while they are not |
absolutely poor, are relatively so.
They are possessed of q small amount
Of property without the physical or
mental capabilities necessary to
make it profitable. For this they
are not to be censured. They were
educated to be gentleman of leisure,
and to waste and spend; not to
make and save.
These are not very palatable state
nents, but they are nevertheless
truths which we should look fairly in
he face. All that the South needs
hat it may become prosperous and
powerful, is the introduction of a
wise and honorable system of econo-
ny. Without this we do not see
low we can ever rise from our pres
ent poverty stricken condition. The
gross income of some of our South
srn people is fabulous when compar-
ID with that Of others of the same
financial standing in other sections
If the world, but the expenses of
he Southern people are enormous.
Hence, it often happens that those
whose gross income is
sreat, have nothing that they can
all their own after expenses are
oaid. 4 proper system Of economy,
we are not greatly mistaken,
would remedy this state of thing.