Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-09-11

Ing c0mppnlCleS IN the NOftn ana
East, yet it greatly exceeded that of
all the States lying on our borders,
East, West and South.
An inquiry into the causes that
have led to such marked disparities in
the wealth of communities of people
living under the same laws, sprung
from the same stock and speaking the
same language, would be most inter-
esting; but however interesting it
would be to trace out all the remote
causes from present conditions, l am
forbidden to do so by want of time
and the further fact that the inquiry
might lead us to the examination of
the effect of political measures.
1t is proper, however, and it is my
purpose to refer to some of the causes
that have been most potent in their
effects.
THE CAUSES
Among these are the protective or
bounty system of the United States
Government-the institution of slav-
cry, immigration from Europe, at
tracted to the North by its free institu-
tions, its schools and diversified pur-
suits, and repealed from the South by
the existence there ola servile popula-
ton; the overthrow OF industrial sys-
TENS in the South consequent upon the
abolition of slavery, the ravages of war
and the unsettled political condition of
the Southern States.
Many of these causes, happily, are
no longer potent.
Slavery has been abolished. Every
human being now living in the United
States is free. All are equal before the
law. All protected in their rights of
person and property-not only by
positive enactments of the supreme
power of the State, but also by pub
lie opinion which lends its sanction
and force to the law itself. Labor no
longer in the estimation of any person
can be degraded by associating' with it
servile and debased class. 1t goes
forth, through all the length and
breadth of the land, in all the dignity
of emancipation and with all the
ideas of freedom.
Our late slaves, ceasing to be prop
erty, are, as in former days, producers.
They add to oul productions, and with
in their sphere and according to their
intellectual and moral status, are active
co-workers with us in all the great en-
terprises that a superior genius and
capacity suggest and direct.
Moreover, by emancipation the
former slaves lave have become a
source of political power, and by III
creasing our influence in the Federal
Government, may aid us in recovering
our lost status in national affairs and
in re-establishing the ancient land
marks that limited the authority of
Federal interference with the affairs of
the States. If We shall not be d;sap-
pointed in these expectations, We will be
amply repaid for all we have lost by
their emancipation.
The war has spent its fury. Our
Interstate and Federal differences,
with the approach of the Centennial
of the Republic, seem to tend to a
peaceful settlement. A spirit is abroad
in the land which indicates that,
although lately estranged, the Ameri-
can people remember their ancient
dependence upon each other-a de-
pendence that, in the revolutionary
period of their history, begot concert
of action in resistance to a tyranny
that threatened, not the North nor
the South, but the whole Confederacy;
that made it possible for Bunker Hill
to be remembered, not with humiliation
and sorrow, but with patriotic pride
and with joy and gladness; that
immortalizes the fields of Yorktown
and Kings Mountain. and sheds a halo
of glory upon the names Of Washing
ton and Greene, of Knox and Sewer
and Shelby.
These causes for the differences in
the wealth of the Northern and South
ern States will not, in the future, be
potential.
But the protective policy is still an
active force; to-day, as in the past,
it fills the overlooking Golfers of one
part of the country with contributions
wrung from the poverty of the other
part. May we not, as l shall hereafter
suggest, use this policy to our own adj
vantage, and thus neutralising Its
effects, compel its abandonment.
/ say compel its abandonment, be.
cause, in my opinion and as think can
be easily shown, its consequences are
evil and nothing but evil. In spirit ii
is unjust to all but those who may be
the objects of its protecting care. Ii
produces inequalities of wealth moi
only of persons but of sections, enrich
ing some by impoverishing others. 1t
fosters mOnied aristocracy, paralysis
the energies of thesfavored few, de-
stroys in them the self-reliance nee
essary to the full development of true
manhood, and In that way enervate:
man and makes him not the independ
, ent freeman a democracy requires, bu
a dependent being, ever clamoring fol-
help, and incapable of the sturdy
virtues, the surest support of free in
situations.
But so long as this policy shall pre-
: vail, in order to prevent our owl
impoverishment, we should endeavo
to use it to. our advantage, confiden
that it will be abandoned before it cal
sap the foundation of the manly virtue
} of our people and that by so doing
D we may, do much to prevent tn,
D migration of our people to othe
D communities, and if we wish, secur
0 some little part of the tide of immigra
0 ton that has contributed so much t
0 the aggregate wealth of other State:
TENNEssEE's WEALTH.
q We have III the State of Tennessee