, 1875-12-26
OU4 NEW CUSTOMERS.

The future Of American trade grows with the
| passing days. We have won, wit hin the last
decade, two great communities Of customers,
| md We are now stretching iron ar1ns towards
| q third. The abolition Of slavery doubled
| The negro had been treated in something the
same way as the mythical horse which was
trained to live on one straw a day. He Was
supplied with only the barest necessaries.
Louisiana planters publicly passed resolu-
ton declaring that, in their Judgment, it was
cheaper to work the slaves SO hard and treat
them SO III that they died in seven years,
rather than try by better treatment to pro-
long their powers L race thus regarded
took from the world only the coarsest cloth
and food. It produced much less than it
might, because it consumed much less than it
should. By striking the shaekles from the
slave, We have rnised him from brute to
man, from being whose demands we're lin
tied by the arbitrary viii Of tyrannical mas
ter to one who, as his own master, makes his
own demands, The result ia the prac-
teal addition Of a vast community in
the South to our customers The South
buys more from the North now thnn she did
in 1860. The lessened demand Of the ex-
masters is more than Offset by the increased
demand Of the ex-slavea. II she buys more,
she must produce more. And she does so.
Her worn-out fields are regaining their an
cient fertility under the painstakng care Of
the peasant proprietor, while her virgin soil
yields to the freeman crops which land like
it ne'er gave the slave or his owner. It is
significant fact-at once an effect and cause
of the new prosperity Of the South-that
Northern cities are eagerly pushing their
railway communications towards the tropics.
New York and Baltimore put their trust in
diagonal belts Of iron; Cincinnati is taxing
herself to carry q railroad due south from
her site; even St. Louis is thinking that it
might be a good thing to construct a Southern
road before the end Of the next century;
and Chicago has already two iron arms which
grasp the trade Of Mobile and New Or
leans, and level the tiny watershed be-
tween the great lakes and the great river by
putting us at the head Of the Mississippi
Valley. The new trade with the South has
one marked effect upon the money market.
The blacks in that section are like the blacks
Of Hindostan, ,-hoorders Of money. This |
has been especially true Of them since the |
failure Of the Freedmen'a Bank. Now, when |
they cannot put their savings into land, they
put them into stockings. There is constant |
balance Of trade against New York |
City. The currency that flows westward |
from the metropolis all returns, when the
crops have been moved and the fall furry is
over. But OF the volume Of currency that is !
carried southwark, only part Is brought
back The differences difference that is
counted by Millions represents the new
aoards Of the negroes- In the same way,
Hindostan has been sink Of gold and
ilver for unknown ages. With returning
confidence in the South, this feature Of our
rade will disappear. But the failure Of the
71eedmen's Bank must first, unfortunately,
'e forgotten
The second great community to b newly
numbered among our customers is that of
he Chinese. Their trade Is partly recon- .
!uest, partly nsw conquest. We used
o send them, in cur days Of low tariff
nd honest money, articles, many in num-
er, but few in kind. Now We are sup
applying more Of their wants, even If our
ggregate exports to the Flowe1y Land are
Glow those Of 80. The fact Is due to the
y, eAa .,Ak{d ux,& IN ~. +ha poo;En R1o,.~ NIL