New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-01
OUR ANNUAL REPORT.

city. These figures may be taken as
as much practical exactness as can b
predicated of any voluntary statistics
compiled by care and experience. From
these materials we incline to derive oul
own conclusions, both as to the causes O.
our present condition as well as the means
Of relief. In this we do not conceal thu
fact that our object is the vindication o.
the government, whether OF the State OF
city, from the imputation so common in
the mouths of politicians-th it has
been responsible for whatever Of misfor.
tune may have befallen Louisiana.
l. The condition of agricultural in.
dustry. It will be found upon reference
to the crop productions Of rice, cotton and
sugar, that the weight of each of these
staples has increased ever since the act Of
emancipation. We derive from all sources
the evidences that the labor employed in
the production of these crops is regular
and effectual. The restoration of weights
to the production of cotton before the
war attests of itself the fact that we as
sert. It is in vain for politicians to repre-
sent the idleness and vice of the colored
people when the contradiction Of these un-
founded charges is evident in the fruits of
| their labor.
We have had occasion to note frequently
the miraculous production of crops at
tributed by the Democratic press to the
planter, and the energetic shipment of
the first bale" by an enterprising agent
of the factor, at the same time the
laborer who has performed all the work
is not mentioned, except in a political
connection as disturber Of the public
peace, as marauder and murderer. We
demand for these emancipated laborers
and planters the justice to which their
increased and necessary products entitle
them. Justice and generosity alike de-
mand that their services should be ac-
knowledged. 1t is proper, in the same
connection, to remark that the produc-
tive prosperity has accrued to the agri-
cultural in terests of the State under Re-
publican State administration.
When, however, we turn to the condi-
ton of the city the position and prospect
is reversed. We find the receipts of these
crops chiefly the products of colored labor
steadily increas sing. Why is this +? The
political prejudice Of the State has re-
PEELED white immigration. The agricul-
tural needs Of the planters have compelled
them to import fir ON other States colored
labor. The exha ustion of the lands in
TIE Eastern cotton States has driven this
labor to the alluvial lands of the Missis-
sippi and its tributari The entire in
crease of the cotton, rice and sugar crops
is due to this importation of colored
laborers. We compute this gain
within five years past at more
than 10000 colored hands. As those
citizens are also voters, the Republican
party is under obligations to the White
Leaguers for majority due alike to their
friends, the landholders. New Orleans,
as the shipping centre of the finest and
most extended cotton fields in the world,
has thus found the proportion of her re-
ceipts approaching the same ratio to the
whole crop as before the war. AS this
increased product is due to the cause
stated, We may anticipate that, as the
gradual, and indeed accelerated, transfer
of the colored labor continues from the
less to the more productive regions, New
Orleans will owe to colored industry the
of the only branch of her
commerce which now approaches its |
former figures.
2. The decline of commerce in our city. |
When we regard the receipts Of Western
produce, we find them steadily diminish
ing year after year. The sack and bulk
corn, the flour, hog products and other
Western products which once made the |
peculiar glory of New Orleans, have
shrunk in amount and diminished in rate
of profit. Why is this? The Democratic
politician will say it is the misgovern-
nent Of the State. Then why does this
permit the increase of
labor, immigrants, and the enhanced
weight of staple crops? Perhaps the
Democratic politician may even concede
hat the corporate misgoyernment, though
lnder Democratic rule, has caused the
eduction of comm ercial receipts. We
viii vindicate the city administration
rom a theory SO futile. New York,
hough suffering under rates of taxation
nd an amount of debt proportion
tely equal to own, still increases
n taxable values, in commerce and
q population. The cause of COM
nercial decline in New Orleans is not po-
itical; it is practical, it is material, it is
geographical Before the introduction Of
he railway or canal New Orleans was Of
geographical necessity the only way for
he commerce of nearly a million Of
quare miles to or from the ocean. Now
t is the least favorable way for that COM
nerce. Whether it be the cheaper mode
f transportation or not, the railroad is
he most direct and the most eligible for
alues or for travel. Hence We find the
Mississippi crossed by the bridge at St.
louis and many other places, and wit
ess the continued competition of more
han dozen railroads bearing that West