National Republican., 1875-06-05

to manual labor would have made but
poc fist of showing how it should be done;
W e the negroes would have equally dis
d: ed and ridiculed the idea of initiating
Or white trash" as they designate the
lie non slave owners.
Slgacious statesmen should have fore
this state Of things, and have taken
1 lead in the encouragement Of immlgra-
t i from the free labor countries. They
81. uld not only have done this in words,
but when the settlers arrived they should
have been courteously and civilly received
protected and cherished. An industrious
laborer without even a carpet-bag IS OF
greater value than a drone with capital.
Eirginians were and are well aware that
under the old labor system of that State
there was little, ii any, accumulated
wealth resulted from the direct fruits
OF agriculture. The population consumed
all the products Of the soil, and more be-
sides. The exports of tobacco were mostly
returned in goods for consumption. What
was added to the annual increase Of the
wealth of the State came chiefly from the
surplus negro crops. The young and Vigor-
Gus slave-labor went South. 1t will be
seen that negroes who produced only barely
sufficient for their own subsistence and
that Of their masters families, as slaves,
and who would naturally imbibe the idea
that as freemen they should do as other
freemen by whom they were surrounded
were doing, could hardly be expected to
launch at once into the free-labor system
successfully. They needed the leaven of
respectable, dignifed, educated free-labor
from abroad. That this was invited by
the land owners in words we admit; but
when it arrived 1t was socially ostracised
and stigmatized aS a "carpet-bag" and
"nigger- loving" element if it chose to
vote the Republican ticket and to employ
and instruct and attempt to elevate negro.
labor, and thereby transform it into a
wealth producing feature of the Common
wealth. This proposition cannot be con-
troverted. Both capital and labor, of in
telligence, took affront at this treatment,
and gave Virginia a very wide berth, not
withstanding all its attractions of climate,
soil, water and mineral resources. The
result is that Virginia is to-day little short
ofpauperism and beggary, when she might
have been by the pursuance of an opposite
policy one of the richest and most prosper
Gus States in the Union.
We are not without the hope that she
will yet retrieve her fortunes. But she
must learn that she cannot become rich
without labor, and that labor will not thrive
where it is oppressed and degraded. The
quicker she acquires this knowledge and
puts it in practice the better will it be for
her future. Calling us and our CORE
spondents and the Republican party
and General Grant liars and other
other hard names will never make Vir-
ginia rich. These pastimes may be
amusing to those engaged in them, but
they are anything but elevating and re-
fning in their tendencies. They will not
make single vote for the Conservative
party, nor add single dollar to the wealth
of the State. Neither will they attract an
industrious and thrifty immigration from
abroad.
Labor only thrives in time Of peace and
in peaceful community where its rights
are respected and the presons and property
of its votsries are fully respected. Applied
industry is stated by political economists
to be worth $500 dollars per annum per
capita to any country or State. Whether
this rule is infallible it is not necessary for
us to determine. Suffice 1t for the present
that it is supposed to be an approximate
average. Upon this hypothesis all that
Virginia needs to make her thrive is that
every man, woman and child of her popu-
lation should apply their efforts to creative
industry. Nothing short of this action on
their part, or giving place to those who
are disposed to do it, will ever restore her
to prosperity, wealth and power among
the States. If the present landowners
of the State are incapable of doing this,
or are indisposed TO do it, then the next
best thing which they can do is to sell out
to those who can and will do it. Their
lands are worth nothing without culture;
their water powers are worth nothing
without utilization; their minerals are of
no value hidden in the earth; their sons
and daughters are Of no value if they will
not exert themselves for the benefit, the
elevation and improvement of their fellow
men.