Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-07-08
The Wants of the South.


Much is said nowadays abou. the
stagnated condition of the South.
Senator Morton, among others, has
lately passed through it, and he
reports that he did not see a single
farm house one-half as pretentious as
the average farm houses of his state.
On a ride of 210 miles through Mis-
sissippi he saw but one white man at
work. Negroes were blowing, plant
ing and even building, but white
men were idllng in the cities and
towns. The land everywhere had
desolate look. These appearances
recited by travellers do not tell the
whole story. Every one knows how
dependent the southern people are
upon the North for mechanical in us-.
tries. Even Jefferson Davis, in ad-
dressing an industrial fair the other
day, bemoaned the condition of the
South in this respect. 1t saddened
his heart to observe the beautiful
land in which they lived, how God
had done so much for the people and
yet how dependent they were upon
other people. Our soil produces cot
ton more plentifully than any other
IN the world, but the beautiful and
fine textured articles made out of it
and worn by ourselves, said Davis,
are made by hands and by the
machinery of people which we have
| despised. The plows with which
our ground is titled, the reapers with
which our grain is harvested, even
the hoes with which our laborers
"chop" cotton, are manufactured in
the northern states. Our lands pro-
duce wheat in abundapce, but the
fine flour demanded by the pride and
taste of our people comes from states
north of us. These words indicate
the condition of the south and they
indicate its wants. "Subsoil plows,
phosphates, agricultural implements,
horses, males, cattle, steam engines
and water-power machinery" are its
wants said Judge Kelly, years ago.
And why have not these wants been
long since supplied ? The answer is
Ku-klux, jealousy, folly, hatred, non
sense, pride, Incidence. Prosperous
years followed the close of the war.
There was strong tendency among
northern capitalists to invest money
in manufacturing and mining enter
prises in the South. The above
causes and the ostraczing spirit of
the "higher" classes came in the way.
The best of the new immigrants
would not endure their surroundings
and withdrew, leaving among them
that class who told them they "did
not care a damn for their society"
and would stay there and grow fat
off of them. Thus we see that all
that is wanted to make the South
prosperous is genial invitation, fol-
lowed by genial reception of north
ern skill and northern capital. That
immigration which will truly benefit
a country will not go there unless it
is respected there. People who res
pect themselves will not invest their
capital whore there is danger of
eventually finding themselves stick
ing in the mud, and the jealous neigh
bors pelting them with odious missiles.
The intelligence of the South should
belong to the same party as tho in
telligence of the North-the Republi-
can party. For twenty years this
party has been trying to teach the
South what seems only lately to have
come to the understanding of Jeff.
Davis. If the hearts of that people
as we'll as their eyes can only be
opened, the waste lands of the south
will soon blossom as the rose-with
Intelligence and skilled industry as
well as in natures verduro.