The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-12-23
A CONTRAST.

CONTRAST
Among the visitors to the South since the
presidential election, to become acquainted
with the machinery and operations OF the re-
turning boards, but more especially with the
condition of the people of the south and tc
attain, by personal observation, some ligh, on
The race nroblem, was the Hon. Leverett Sal
tonstall, of Massachusetts. Mr. 3, fifteen and
twenty years ago, was prominent man IL
New England politics ard leader in Con
press. but since then has been engaged in less
absorbing pursuits, and, Invested OF all mere
partisan feeling, follows no political guild
once Int his consciousness of right. The ob
servations of such man of the state of so
c,etv IN the south are to be accepted as the
exact truth, without bias or prejudice. The
two states in which he spent most time were
Georgia and Florida, and this Is the picture
he giyes of them. The former state has eX
PEELED carpet bagger rule from It's borders anc
is governed by democrats; the latter is still
governed by loyal carpet.baggerism or the
Grant republican party. This OF Georgia;
The difference of condition between the
people in Florida and Georgia is most remark.
able. In Georgia, where the people have their
own government, | am informed that the ne.
groes, since the state got rid of carpet.bagger.
ism, have laid up from five TO six million dol.
lars. In Georgia, was delighted to see the
condition of things there. The people looked
happy, the negroes sang cheeriully as they
were going along, cracking their jokes, and
everything indicated prosperity and thrift
And this Is his picture Of Florida:
In Florida every man looks rs if he had
lust attended the funeral of all that he loved
and everything that was dear TO him. The
distress and poverty Of the white race exceed
belief. / have heard of Carpet.bag govern.
ment and have read of it, but never until 60.
ing to Florida did CONCEIVE the length and
breadth OF the infamy OF such government.
No words can describe the depression, the
poverty, the suffering Of our own race III
Florida. The negroes themselves, as con.
sequence are poor. The stock has about dis,
appeared from the farms. There are no oxen,
nor cows nor sheep, nor horses, nor swine,
10 be seen in a greater portion OF the agrIcul-
tural districts of Florida. What mules there
are are poor miserable skeletons. The fen.
ces are destroyed: the building are tumblinc
to pieces and gong to decay; the beautiful
residences in and about the cities are diapi.
dated, and uninhablted in many instances. In
Leon county, the county OF Tallahassee, where
the last census but one recorded $4,000 swine,
the last census gives but $500, and from the
appearance of those IN the street and about
the residences, they are not fat enough TO fry
themselves And all this in a country that is
ca rin hat m To- L. In M hI mi
q hoe to make it produce such crops as we
have never dreamed of in Massachusetts, 1t
is enough to make the heart sick 10 drive
through the country. At this time there are
$4,000 acres of land IN the hands of the state,
forfeited for the non.payment Of taxes. Mr.
Campbell of Pensacola, one Of the most high
ly intelligent and cultivated gentlemen have
ever met, and who lived in the house with me
for some two or three weeks, told me that to
his certain knowledge, on an average the tax.
es OF the people we've six times larger than
they were when the whole slave property was
taxed, and when the land, which is worth now
50 per acre, was worth $50. And in addition
to this, he said that 1t was impossible for the
people to pay their taXes-that industry was
dead and that there was no productive labor
in the state.
No comments are needed to deepen the col.
ors of the picture drawn by the impartial
hand of this careful observer And what a
picture it is That 1t is not the result of the
civil war is shown by the difference between
The two states, Georgia having been ravaged
from end to end by the Union armies while
Florida was hardly touched. There Is no eI.
planatlon that can be honestly offered, except
hat Florida is still wearing the carpetbag
yoke, while Georgia has thrown it off. In
Florida we have Republican rule exempli.
fed; in Georgia we have Democratic rule OK.
,mplifed. That tells the whole story.