Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-11-15
THE sccrc, Of Yankee Prosperity

Under this lead the veteran editor
Of the Mobile Register, Hon. John
Forsyth, has this TO say
a Southern man, after having
made a flying trip through the New
England States. comes back filed with
establishment at what he has seen, and
perfectly discouraged with his own
section OF country. There he saw
little villages sticking IN the midst of
barren and Uuiuhabitable mountains,
with no surroundings to support them.
eviuciug a spirit of life and proSperi-
ty unknown TO even our large towns
the recognized trade centers Of our
best agricultural regions Aud in the
country he saw little farms producing
Ike frst-class English gardens, tho
on soil ordinarily too poor 10 have
grown bear-grass, and IN situations
thss q Southern man ncyec wOuld
have thoEglt capable Of being con-
verted into a goat pasture. The peO-
pie all, as "a general thing, seemed
cOntented and prosperous; and If he
had inquired into their circumstances
lie would have found, strange as il
may appear, everybody in these little
villages we'll Off and making money,
and the little farms, with their stone
piles here aud there, and their stones
constantly working 10 the surface 10
be carried off into other piles, and
their annual calls for fertilizers to the |
extent of one hundred and fifty dol |
lars per acre, actually clearing their |
owners from one to three hundred |
dollars on every acre inclosed. No |
wonder that he is discouraged when /
he looks from this picture upon om /
fayorably located towns and notes |
their inactivity, their poverty and /
general dilapIdation, and upon our 4
broad and fertile acres, and reflects /
that they are really, in very many in
stances, not paying the expense OF
culture.
One would naturally conclude that
there must be some secret connected |
with all this, aud so there Is. At the /
village station the close observer
would notice piles of cotton bales, n
calculated to create no
particular interest in the South. but
there, thousands of miles away from
where cotton should be grown, II
would take the form of mystery
out on the platform in quest
Of solution, his cars would be greet
ed by sound as OF a waterfall hav-
ing a peculiar hummiug accOmpani-
The case would be
made plain-the strange little village
would be recognized as a manufacture
ing point, and then he would know
that we in lar of section were dig
ging its prosperity from cur soil
feeding IL into a vigorous life upon
the very food for which our towns
were starving, and asking it nothing
in return; actually shipping at our
own expense, and then, in order that
it might grow fat on its business,
buying its fabrics at its own profitable
figures, and paying transportation on
them to our homes. What a kind
hearted people we Southeruers must
be,
Then for the secret of success
among the farmers. Passing through
the country with his eyes open, the
close observer would, at the proper
season. soon have his attention ar
rested by an improved mower sweep
ing over the meadow under the ex-
elusive management of q youth of say
sixteen; and accomplish more IN
Law than could in that time be worm
Ell out of a dozen freedmen with their
scythes. 4 little later and he would
zee n Younger brother Of the youth
turning the hay; and then IN due
lime would come a still smaller boy
With a rake, followed by trio of little
fellows having all sorts of fun rs they,
with a hay fork, stored away the crop
IN the hay-loft.
In everything done on the farm in
New England this same plan is resort
I'd to. If the soil must be prepared,
instead of setting a dozen freedmen
It it with their mules and plOws TO
sweat through "a week, as we would
20, out comes 4 machine managed by
q boy or two, and in an incredibly
hort space Of time the job is done
and well done. A lot Of seed i, 20 be
iOwn that would give our hands a
Ong. tedious task but there a strip
ing with q seed sower puts it down
exactly right and in very short order
And when the crop is ready 10 be hOed
instead OF charging II with black
army to play for pay, a boy harnesses
his nag to a horse-hoe, takes his seat
as IN a sulky, and rides about over the
ltlu ADC4uB oGh t4ttl AOM5 at II Ll44lG. /
In short, New England works by ma
and therein lies the secret Of
Yankee success and prosperity. She
has simply changed places with US
she owns her labor. II it were other
wise, or, in different words, did she
nave TO work on our plan, and de-
pend on our kind of labor, aud did we
lot in the goodness Of our hearts give
ler the profits on our products, few
Years would find her entirely depOpu-
ated, happy hunting ground, upon
which the red man might pitch his
never 10 be disturbed by
my enCroachment of civilization.
There is no reason why we in the
Ssuth should not own our labor in
lac same way, ond set our spindles
going, thus giving prosperity to our
1wn towns and villages. We can
never be a success till we do il. Let
Is think the matter over"