Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-07-07
Buying More Than We Sell the
CEaa1sa=s.f,-An Oar EEinan-
cial Troubles.

-
cial Troubles.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the County of
Coffee: l am pleased to meet so many of
YOU here on this memorable day. l have
come here by the invitation of the Patrons
of Husbandry and other citizens of your
county. have come to talk to you in a
plain way, without any attempt on my part
at oratory or fine speech, upon a subject
that YOU are far more interested in than |
am. Indeed, am not directly interested
in the subject l am going to talk about, nor
have any selfish motive to subserye. l
have denuded myself of all selfishneSs. |
am prompted alone by desire to promote
your interest, prosperity, welfare and hap
piness, and the prosperity Of our common
country. In taking a view Of our situation
from a financial standpoint, what do we
see? We find nearly all our people in debt,
our land shrinking in value and prOduc-
tiyeness and no purchasers: yet there is a
constantly increasing Indebtedness creeping
on our people like thief in the night, with
our income becoming less every year. The
great scarcity of money in the country is
Ihe siereOtyped complaint of all; they don't
know how they are TO meet their money
obligations. Now why is this SO? My
friends, have come here to-day TO ferret
out the cause, and the remedy for all our
financial troubles. If / succeed, have &C
cOmplshed enough for one day.
In the first place, let us look at things as
they are. The terrible crisis has swept
away the wealth of the whole SOuth-late
4 fact that we appear slow to realize. You
farmers, in days gone by, before the war,
sent the surplus Of your fa ms TO the South
for sale. You sent your mules, your
horses, fat cattle, your pork hogs, the pro-
duct of your orchards and poultry yards, to
the planters of the cotton States, who were
then in a prosperous condition and who
paid you remunerative prices for all you
had to spare, and in that way you derived
your annual income, out Of which you
: were able to meet your money obligations.
How does the case stand now? Why
radical and ruinOus change has come over
The country in the recent past. The labor
Of the whole South IS s. much demOTdlized
that the planters, although they received
twice as much for the cotton as they did
before the war, very often sell their entire
crop for less than il cost TO produce II; con-
sequently they, our former good customers,
are now unable to buy your surplus. am
sIi5rafileu II tins BELIEF by s1aa-E'spert of
the many stOck-dTivers that carried
stock from this country South last
winter. Nearly, if not all, report that they
lost money by the trip. Indeed, l look
upon the whole South, as a people, as bank
YJlpt. To be sure, there are a few eXcep-
lions.
Well, with this view CT our situation,
where are we to look for relief? Why, my
friends, we mus. change the whole pro-
gramme. Change the whole line OF policy
and diversity our pursuits, for il is known
that there are but two pursuits engaged in TO
any great extent by the people Of this pla-
feau of country-agriCultura and mercan-
tile. True, there is a portion Of our
J,opnlatiOn engaged in other pursuits, but
i'm the latter only 4 small proportion Of the
nonuIgtiun. Now, by looking over the CEN
sus of the State Of Tennessee for the year
1870. We find that, out Of population of
SOC. SD ten years Of age and over, only
3G7.gSI are employed at any business OF
occupation. SO we lave 522,SeJ people
ten Years of age and upwards who have no
OccupatiOn or business. who are consumers
and not producers: and, Of 454,I females
ten years of age and upwards, we only find
employment for 54,4O2.
This state of things. if continued, must
forever keep us poor. We, as tennessee
ans. NAV boast OF our vast coal EeldS, our
boundless ore banks, our extensive and
varied forests, our productive valleys and
Mains, of our ineEhaGstlble wafer power
but. so far as our comfort, prosperity and
happiness are concerned, 1t all had as well
De on the moon, if we cannot make our
laho,-s effective 10 develOpe these vast ele-
ments of wealth. Now know there IS
female labor enough in this country, if 1t
Il 81 NAL
rsassglation prosperous and wealthy. Now,
S,11Dg ladies. don't take offence at what /
say about you as labOrers, for L do not
Y'reacb arIv doctrine that j don't practice,
Tor ! can saw fron my own experience that
tie female portion OF this population are
more inclined 20 work than the male por-
lion. Why. Young ladies, there aIt about
three and a half millions Of single women
I'm England that support themselves, and
find il more pleasant than to he tied 10
y:a-thless husbands ! have now IN my
EMPLOYMENT about eighty hands, the great
or portion of whom are females, who
are comfortable and satisfied. In
deed they consider their situation
= blessing in these hard times, and II one
was TO be notified to quit, she would THINK
it a great calamity or misfortune, and
know they are better clad and cared Tor
lhan any equal number of girls in the coun-
fry that are not more wealthy, and they
consider their situation boon or blessing
[ know that the press and orators Of the
whole South have been labOring with COM
mendable zeal 10 induce capital from the
North TO come here 10 improve our exteu-
siya water power, 10 build up factories,
showing TO the capitalists Of the North
what hauDdleSS elements OF wealth are IN
our midst. This has been done repeatedly
for MANY years. and has il come? No, 10.
We'll. with equal zeal have the press and
public speakers invited immigrants 10 come
amongst US. with their capital and indus
irious habits. to deFelOpe the hidden ee-
lnents Of wealth hat are SO profuSely scat
tered in our midst. To facilitate their
coming there las been an immigrant agent
an almost every city and town IN the whole
South. and have they come? Tie aEsNe r
is the same. No, no!
Now NY friends | will not stop TO tell
vus. whv these things are so; let it suffice
TO say that the capital and laboreTs have
not come Permit me to say that my eN-
perienoe is that capital is like fruit lreesi
10 be profitable in the hands of any parties
il must be acciimatei and varied in the To-
calitv where il is TO be used; and, as fol
laborers think 1t 2 delusiOn. huTtful de-
ln,fon. 10 believe that we can get immi-
,rrau,, from Europe, Asia or even Africa
that viii DO our work cheaper and hettel
aban we can 10 it Ourself
The coryrS< we must pursue appears TO me
as plain as IL. rainbow. That is, We should
not wait any Ionqer t6r the coming OF CAPT
tai or labor. but take hold with our owl
BANDS and with our own yueans ana o'iliu
up manufacturing establishments Ia GAi
own neIghborhOod, and in that wa priIIi
into regnisitiOn all our labor that is no :
out OF employment. There are hundreds
Of laborers who are willing and anxious Il
EoIk ii they could get remunerative wages