Columbus index. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1869-1893, 1874-05-08

- money OF cdplldlj goes
where there are manufactures, where
the people are self-sustaining and
out Of debt. Under our present ag-
ricultural and accommodating
system, il would make little differ
eRce with us if the amount Of cur
rency thrown upon the country was
increased one hundred millions in
stead Of the forty odd millions, as
proposed by the "late lamented" bill
in Congress.
The truth is, the South is little
else than a profitable feeder to other
sections. We make an annual cot
ton crop, it is true, and that crop
whirls the spindles of the universe.
But we get very little for it, and Of
what we do get, one part goes East
to pay for our Dry Goods, and the
other to the Northwest to pay for
Qua. Provisions. The South ought to
make its own cotton goods and raise
| its own breadstuffs. Until she does
it, she will continue worse than 'the
bondsman Of slave" filling the
pockets of the high tariff New Eng
lander, and the prudent hog raiser
of Indiana and Kentucky. As it is,
our cotton crop benefits all the world
but ourselves, for we make it so
largo as to glut the market every
year, which reduces the price,
and the profits almost to starva
ton. A small cotton crop, with
home supplies produced at home
would exactly reverse the situation
and there would be no tightness in
the money market ; consequently,
I imitation would not be clamored foI
by many Southerners.
We believe the only trouble with
the great Northwest is, that she
overdoes the corn crop. There mus
be something wrong in Iowa, for in
stance, where corn is burnt for fuel
A smaller crop would feed the South
,, at the same time, give that people
f more opportunities to diversity anC
encourage manufactures, and thus
: control the exorbitant Railroad
s freights, which are the bane Of theil
! lives. 1t must be the faulty cropping
> system of this and that section that
explains the existence of ardent in
fationists there.
On tho other hand, look at the
I East. With her bleak hills, she
yet controls all other sections, anc
I Gopggess, too. by her manufactures
sho-hOards money in her banks
She is self-sustaining, hence, She
I prospors.
Again, look at the "mighty West
! California, for example, will produce
> 40 5000 bushels of wheat thii
@ year-enough for bushel to every
I inhabitant of the United States. She
is self-sustaining, and we are told
, she hardly felt the late panic.
E The South has the natural advan.
tage over all other sections of the
Union. Where she is now debtor
/ slave, she might be the creditor-mis
tress If we make plenty to eat and
feed, we need send no money to St
Louis for corn and bacon, and We
can stand carpet bag taxation n great
2 deal easier. If, with this food crop
we raise a small cotton crop, we get
: big price for it, and that is surplus
money, to be kept and circulated
amongst ourselves. Any man OF
any observation knows that in neigh
borhoods, States, or nations, where
the barns and smoke-housos are full
and manufactures are fixed, there
money is plentiful and changing
hands. We dare any farmer in
, Lowndes county to point out q self
sustaining brother who has not, gen
= orally, money to spend, and who is
not out Of debt to his commission
and grocery merchant. He cannot
do it, Climate and favorable seasons
are great things, we admit, but there
, is no stimulus to Immigration SO
powerful as the knowledge that a
country encourages artisans, makes
its own provisions, and thereby pays
. with greater ease any taxation inn
posed.
"A cOlOred section hand Of Ala
HanfY.o1 r. y WINS drosvund ot Hollfe