The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-03-19
The Position Of the South = Its Com
mercial and Economical Value
y> to the Union.

The commercial greatness OF tn
South, and its economical value t
the Union have been SO much de
preciated at home and abroad, tina
it is pleasant surprise toaind q lead
ing Northern journal doing justic
to US in these particulars, and espe
cially in attributing them as mucl
to the good sense, energy, and in
dustry of our people, as to ou
genial climate, fertile soil, and othe
unrivaled natural advantages. Ou
leading statesmen and far-seeinss
economists haye told US all along
that Southern wealth was building
up Northern cities, developing
Northern trade and Northern man
pfactories, and for years they have
denounced the Federal policy Of
fostering the industrial interests Of
one section at the expense OF an
other. But our statesmen them
selves have been disposed to under.
rate our material greatness, and our
people generally to join with their
enemies in depreciatiug, if not de-
crying, Southern skill, energy, and
enterprise. In the fields OF states
.nanship and general literature, we
might be conceded to have made
some creditable display, but in
everything which goes to build up
the material greatness of q people,
we were supposed to be sadly deti-
cient, and this idea seems to abe as
current at the South. as at the
North. However much the North
was disposed to underrate US, she
never failed to regard us as a valu-
able tributary, and hence, in agreat
measure, the energy and persistence
with which she batlled to maintain
the connection. The time for ig-
uoring our greatness, we trust, is
passing away, and one Of the most
hopeful signs of this change is
that a great Northern Journal, the
New York Herald, is disposed to do
Justice as we'll to our material great:
ness, as to the energy and industry
of our people, which have achieved
ito the uprivaled productions
which built up cities and aoated
uayies, as to the resolution and
spirit which sustained us before and
during the war, and which have
enabled US to recuperate since.
The Herald states, what facts
abundantly establish, that the cotton
crop alone of the South enables
the North to pay its debts abroad,
and to pay for the vast amount of
luxuries which it imports-that it
does more than anything else to
stimulate the wholesale and retail
trade, which builds up New York
and other commercial cities-that
it gives wings to the mighty fleets
that traverse the ocean, and sets to
work myriads of spindles, and gives
employment to vast numbers of
people at home-that this single
product alone is of more value in
foreign trade than all other pro-
ducts, and three OF four times more
valuable than the ANIMAL .produc-
ton of the precious metals-whilst,
in addition to this Our tobacco,
sugar, and rice are alike valuable
at home and abroad. Besides rails.
ing nearly all the neeessaries Of
life, we have surplus products for
expectation, which amount to' two
hundred millions, and which, with
due encouragement, may be, aug
mented to three or four hundred
millions: a..
But more surprising than the ra,
cuperative power Of France after
the terrible German war, has been
that of the South after the late
disastrous civil war. In spite of
devastation and bapkrqptcy-the
destruction of q thousand millions.
of property, the Reorganization Of
labor, social dersngement and bad
government, the South has gone to !
work with will aud energy to re-
pair it's shattered fortunes, which
have been rewarded with merited
success, which have already re-
stored mgch Of the former prosper
ty Of the country, and brought
about again an annual production
If two millions above the neeessa-