The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-10-01


we say It as proudly as the Roman di
when he spoke of his citizenship, II an
a Patron but he is here to lampool
and criticise the won erfuI efforts o
Mississippi farmers for seven years past
In the plan Of chow not to do it," bu
since the organization of this order here
II Is to be hoped that we shall learn som.
WIS tom from the sal experiences of tn,
past; Tor the past should be to all lessor
and guide, and be who will not listen IL
ana learn from go eloquent critic, mus
be LETT to blunder on and perish surroun
ded and entombed by his own follies.
Are we, the agricultural people of the
state, aside from the determinations OF
the government, in prosperous or decay
ing condition? IF not prospecting, wh II
are the Immediate and personal causes oil
I our troubles, and what i the remedy ?
Surrounded, as we are, by soil univer-
i sally productive. which has not its
superior, even il it has its equal in natural
/ fertility within the bounds % the Ameri-
can Union; with abundant and beautiful
| water-courses; with unlimited resources
and varieties of timber trees, unequaled
anywhere; with lime and sand and loan
and clay; with labor sufficient for your
present capital, and above all, a climate
unsurpassed and indispensable, can we
not say,
Come hither, come hithes, by night and by
day,
We linger in pleasures that never are
gone;
Like the waves OF the summer. as one dies
away,
Another, as sweet and as shining comes
on.
Here maidens are signing, and fragrant
their sigh,
As the flowers of Aurora just Cpd by a
And precious their tears as that rain from the
sky
Which turns into pearls as it falls in the
sea.
"oh; think what the kiss and the smile must
b. worth.
When the sigh and the tear so perfect in
bliss,
And own if there be an Ely sum on earth,
1t is this, it is this!
Is this the extreme of poetic license
Is it an exaggerated comparison? appeal
from the reasons of Caesar to the fancy Of
Octavia. VIII nos my sisters uphold my
hands, and indorse the assertion that
Mississippi only needs full develop
ment, and poet like Moore to
be embalmed in verse as sweet and as
full?
And yet, is it necessary to remind so
intelligent an audience as this with all our
natural resources, II at we are III adeplor-
able condition. There are three general
causes for this, and the abandonment of
the causes is the only remedy. First, the
cotton crop, instead Of being mud sill and
main prop, must be only prominent and |
essential brace in the agricultural struct- |
ure. Second, the farmer, who owns the
land, the stock, and furnishes all the /
capital, must not copartnership with the |
lahorer. And third, corn, small grain, |
and the best grasses, must he as familiar
on the farm and as much at h ONE as the |
babies, that cattle, and sheep, and horses,
and mules, and hogs may be raised. /
As these three are pointed out as remedies,
il is assumed that none Of this has been
general practice. Let US see. After the
war between the States was ended, there
was no want of subsistence here. Corn
and the hog were everywhere, and cotton
sufficient for all purposes of recuperation.
'
under the new order: but, unfor unately
for us, the worlds cotton fast was ended,
and it was greediy demanding a full
supply What we had on hand was sold
at enormous prices, ranging from forty TO
sixty cents per pound The small crop
Of 1865 was sold at wonderful prices,
and by the commencement of the yer
1866, v,a We're all cotton mad, and with
-his peculiar insanity beaming oil over
YOU, you entered on the crop of 1865;
With your corn cribs unlocked and not SO
full as the year past-hogs and sheep
turned out in the dry pastures or the wild
woods, to care for themselves, fewer home
comforts, snd Smut, aud Brownie, and
Rose, hollow-horned, lowing piteously at
he wicket bara over their NANCY calves,
md s'none so poor as to do them rever-
ence." Il
THE CARNIVAL OF COTTON
vas inaueurated, and all the mssqueraders
rad the fools cap on. Every freedman
o be found, by fair means or foul, was
rot into the crop and we were unfOrtu-
iatelv assisted in this mania hy Bureau
established among Us by the Government,
,stensiblv to uphold and protect, and
the labor of the country, but
VII oh resulted in absolute harm to the
,eople to be protected, aud organized, IN .
act, throughout the South, agricultural :
dIeness and nomadic band upon whose F,
dle restlessness the grand staple of the
world, we foolishly thought, depended.
rhe system of hiring labor for resonable !
yaoes the one the farmer or the laborer !
AN properly or successfully permit, was /,
lmost wholly abandoned, and, urged :
md assisted thereto by the Freedman's !,
Bureau, the miserable farm destroying
partnership or cropping plan, was +
ell, while to induce halt and !
ONE work from the nomadic bands, the :.
armers offered the liberal, even grossly J.
xtravagont advances eff supplies. More =
yer. the labor hive had too many drones !
n it-has too many ow-non-producers
f value, subsisting upon the farmers i
apital. Strife was the rule and not the q
RECEPTION among cotton planters IN this e
Wild struggle for negro labor. Corn, a
ats. rice, the hog and COW were all for =
often. in this fools race for wealth, and .
n this blind idolatry for cotton. 50 ended \
he wear 1866. What was the result !
'be crop was short, the price low, the !
Means of the farmer almost universally :
xbausted. morals deb4sed, the skirts at 6
no Christian soiled, the rule of buying !
or cash. and buying only what was nee !,
ssarv. obliterated, positive violation OF E
oIemn contracts frequent; aye ana II Is q
,ainful to say it, fraud, fraud, fraud, the {
asnlt of this stupenduous folly. And {
a., ,,osr AGA and with IL began