The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-09-01
THE BETTER DAYS THAT ARE
COMING.

iZng all their hopes; out IN DONG tnls we
must not be over sanguine as to the full and
early ripening of the buds Of promise.
What has been accomplished during the
past year is shown by our complete annual
review of the business of New Orleans, which
proves that, in spite of great disasters and
the unsettled condition Of public affairs, a
vast amount of commercial work has been
done, an amount which, in days of gold
prices, home rule, moderate tariff, low taxes
and honest government, would have glad
dened the faces of our merchants and carried
contentment into all our houses.
1t is to be hoped that the year now inaugu-
rated may show greatly improved results, and
this hope is based on good reasons.
The business of the whole country has been
suffering from paralytic stroke, like which
the current century has seen no other. Palsied
trade, suspended production, idle labor,
shrinkage in values, deprecated real estate,
retired and inactive capital, are symptoms of
this paralysis visible in every State in the
Union, not excepting auriferous California.
But the afflicted Republic is beginning to
recover and our severely tried metropolis of
the South, most unfortunate of the sufferers,
is beginning to sympathize in the improved
] feeling. Her years of sorrow have been years
Of frugality as we'll, and while the vagabond
and the stranger have been robbing her sub
stance and destroying her public credit, her
citizens have been contracting but few and
small debts. With renewed prosperity they
will start with(a clean record. They may be
poor, bnftbe lessons of adversely will be a
y mine of wealth to them. What they have
done to prolong existence need only be con-
tinued to secure competence.
The improvement in feeling now manifest
in all business circles u.s. for the most part,
the result of returning confidence in the fu-
ture, varying in degrees according to varying
temperaments, yet entertained generally
among our people. 1t is not universal, for
some, who would hope, do not see the future
inits Frightening aspect.
When speaking of returning confidence
We would be understood as referring to first
symptoms of convalescence rather than to
any assured present recovery. We are, and
must long remain, far away; from condition
Of robust confidence in our future prospects.
There can be no assured restoration Of
ment of such confidence. Citizens of the
State and city must again learn to rely upon
each other and to trust in the ability and dis
position of each to fulfill his obligations and
discharge his duties to all When citizen
contracts debt he must be understood to do
it in good faith to all concerned, and with
the reasonable expectation of paying it when
due. The wholesale dealer must rely upon
the ability of his retailing customer to pay
for what he buys. He must feel that his
patron is capable Of conducting his country,
or village, or city store and business with
sagacity, and that patron must confide in the
|. ability of his nei9hbors and customers to buy
and pay for the merchandise which he has
carefully selected for their use. Business
cannot be successfully carried on when there
exists no confidence.
There must be re. established confidence
in the integrity Of public men. 1t is sad
fact that the people of this country no longer
expect their elected or appointed servants to
do their duty in Office. When once in power
their whole aim is to aggrandizs themselves,
put money in their pockets. advance their
families and secure their own reelection. The
people have lost faith in their public servants
and have ceased to look to them for re ief or
protection.
The capitalists of the North have no conf
dence in the people of the South, nor in the
system of labor, which has permanently re-
placed that which existed before the aboli-
ton of slavery. The self-same men who
once put their loose millions into Southern
trade, while urging on emancipation with
aggressive energy and zeal, will not now
trust the Southern buyer with as much as
peddler's outfit. From the results of like
change elsewhere they anticipated the des-
truction of Southern interests and wealth
from the abrupt, violent, forcible
and illegal decree Of absolute
emancipation. Having thus ruined our
people they turn away from us and button up
their pockets, not believing that the South
can prosper under system of uncompelled
labor. Their sentiment ruined us; but senti-
ment does not penetrate the vaults of their
banks, the warehouses of their merchants, the
ouls of their corporations, or the hearts OF
aeir misers The bad government that grew
up out of this same sentimen tality has served,
in part. to realize their anticipations, since by
the example. encouragement and influence Of
that government the freedmen have been led
astray and encouraged in such extravagant ex-
pectations from freedom as greatly to impair
their usefulness as producers as well as their
moral fitness for citizenship. Capital is hard to
mtisfy and slow to trust It seeks an atmos-
phere of quiet security and established order.
It will take root and spread its branches on
undisturbed fields, but it withers in lands
where wisdom and justice cease to rule. It
viii not flourish here until our people are