The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-04-28

Morton in the South.

If the Radical Senator from Indi-
ana possesses such thing as po-
litical conscience, or, what perhaps
would be more valuable, capacity
to draw logical political deductions,
the condition of some of the South
ern States as he saw them in his
hasty trip would not contribute
largely either to his peace Of mind or
to his hopes for future political pre-
ferment. The task set before the
Republican party at the close Of the
war was not only to bring back Che
Southern States to harmonious polit-
ical relations with the rest of the
country, but to restore to the North
and West the advantages of free and
profitable Interstate commerce and
communication which are and will
always be felt by all sections of the
country to be among the strongest
bonds and safeguards of the Union.
Senator Morton has throughout his
recent political career most strenu-
ously opposed the faithful perform
ance Of these duties by the party
which has kept him in the Senate.
The South has been kept in turmoil,
out of which it has slowly but per-
sistently worked its way in spite of
Radical efforts to perpetuate local
strifes and feuds between the races,
and now when the worst has been
done we haze Mr.. Morton's own tes-
timony to the ruin wrought by his
party. We would be glad to believe
that the condition of the States of
the Southern seaboard is not as bad
as Mr.. Morton declares it to be; and
there are certainly many recupera-
tive forces nov at work in the South
which he utterly failed to see. Now
that Southern radicalism has been
scotched or killed, there is hardly {
4 Southern State except Louisiana
which is not at least taking the frs
feeble steps in the long march bach
to prosperity. But in many Of tn.
most productive portions of th'
South, especially in the cotton-pro
ducing plains and lowlands of South
Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi Lou
isiana and Arkansas, Radical misrul
) and plundering have too truly pro
duced the decay whereof Mr.. Morton
: speaks-the more shame to him
with ill-concealed contempt.
The drift of population from tn
! farms to the towns which was frs
l pointed out by The World two year
ago, has steadily continued and still
r continues, for the simple reason tina
) the vices Of idleness and pilfering il
j which Radical agitators have encour
aged the negroes, have in many sec
4 tions made planting not only til
= least profitable but one of the mos
i hazardous industries in which CAPT
tai and the labor Of the capitals
could be invested. In the centra
Q belt Of Alabama, Mississippi an
g Louisiana, there are few men VIII
: see fair prospect of earning a Ii,
u ing in any other employment, but d.
/ sert cotton plantations as more yes
/ atious and uncertain than profitable
/ The immigration Of white peopl
u possessing limited means to buy an
u carry on small farms is the remed
le to which these States have looked
3 and for which they have yearned
d arrest the downward tendency to d
u cay. Practical farmers, each neet
n ing the help of no more than half
y dozen negro laborers, if so many, ca
le alone maintain the cotton yield
~ the South at its present figures, ar
OF these must sooner or later in gre
OF prrt replace the present system
III cotton-planting by large proprietor
rs whose numbers, it seems, are ann
er ally diminished by bankruptcy al
he encouragement. Such small ia
n mers have in many places been su
nd piled by the native white populate
Dr. Of the South, but their numbers me-
= to be largely reinforced by immig1
OF ton to save millions of acres offru
Y full land from being surrendered ov
to desolation and malaria. The sic
ders of the Southern people viii
lls -. Mr.. Morton has helped to circul'
ri, ~ and the pernicious political agitati
The which he has industriously helI
der to circulate and the pernicious pc
erlical agitations which he has ind