The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-09-06
We often hear our Southern people talking

We often hear our Southern people talking
about the immense fortunes that we're swept
away from them during the war This is
especially the case with some Of the younger
people who, recollecting the number Of ne
groes their parents owned, take that as a
basis of what would have been their wealth
if the negroes had not been emancipated. 1t
is pleasant recollection, and we do not
care TO rudely destroy the pleasant memo
ries of the good times before the war but
/ il is necessary for US TO do so that we may
see how we stand to-day. The South was
not rich before the war. 1t is fact that in
nearly every Southern state stay laws were
| in operation when the war began. Our peO-
/ pie were heavily in debt, and il was the
exception that found farmer whose negroes
and lands were not encountered. So univer-
| sally was this the case that in Georgia in
/ 1858, stay law was passed, staying the
| collection of debts. Why was this so? 1t
was because we were purely an agricultural
community; we had mo- anufactorieS in the
South Of any note, but depended on the
/ North and Europe for everything we used,
even to a great many things we consumed on
our tables. Certainly, We pursued agricul-
| ture under the most favorable auspices. We
had the best labor in the world, at the very
smallest cost. We had the entire control
over an able-bodied man labor and locomo-
/ ton, for the small sum of a peck of meal,
| three and half pounds Of bacon ana plug
/ of tobacco per week and two hats, two pairs
of brOgons and two suits ofco;ton clothing
year. Surely the labor was cheap enough,
and yet we did not make any money in
| farming; if so, why these stay laws, and
why was the country in debt: Our Northern
! friends were all this time accumulating vast
sums Of money by manufacturing goods and
selling them to us.-irmiStoR, iia., Hot-
/ Blast.
| 1t is really an open question whether any
purely agricultural country can make city
| in these days. Ottawa is surrounded 10y the
richest and most productive agricultural
country in the world; and yet it is only too
well known that Ottawa has never been dull
Ter in business way than during the past
two years. Complaints are not from isolated
corners; but are general with the whole
! body of business men. The reason is very
plain. more or less general failure Of
crops throughout the country during the
past two years has drained the country Of
money; farmers SURPRISES of ready money
are gone; from loaners they have become
borrowers, As n consequence they are not
buying literally; and the purchases Of many
of the less prosperous are made looking to
this year crops as a means Of payment.
Under such circumstances such thing as
growth in this city is out Of the question.
1t is already as large as the demands of the
surrounding country warrants indeed, most
businesses in the city are rather over than
under done. In the general "smash' Of |
the "break' had no effect on her. Her
neighboring farm lands remained as produc-
tive as ever and men and women had to be
fed and clothed. In fact, the panic of 1873
viewed with the eyes of an Ottawa man free
from debt was ono great shakes But
during the flush times " following 1875,
1876, &c, was not equally imperceptibe the
effect Of the boom on her? Was she any
better off duriug those " flush times " than
during the " dull times
Is il not true that the only thing that can
make Flush times in Ottawa AZ she now is
is return to high prices of grain? And
where is the prospect of that with the thous-
ands of immigrants opening up the cheap
west? Further what prospect is there Of a
return Of Ottawa grain trade? In the first
place, the railroads have opened a dozen
competing markets, which pay rs high
prices as Ottawa. Some indeed pay more
At the same price no farmer is fool enough
to haul grain even a mile further to unload
ut Ottawa; for higher price he will haul
ten away from Ottawa. The vast trade that
| during the war hauled from the south,
southeast and southwest, rs well as from the
north, east and west, to reach the canal, no
longer comes here dozen other towns
/ nave lohE since ChpluTcu II, anu races seen
here G,uiliarly Is to 20 years ago are stran-
gers now. with good crops year after year
here trade is good but it is limited to the
necessities, actual or artificial, Of the country
surrounding her not included in the sections
Of the county materially looking to other
equally large or larger cities in close proX-
unity to her. Her age is no recommendation
to her as a buying point; for the younger
cities about her are just as actiye-more 50
in reaching out for trade, and As they are
accommodating wealth even faster than she is,
/ their trade will soon, if it does not now,
/ demand as fine stores and as heavy stocks
as she has carried-the chief recommenda-
ton she has had in the past for buyers to
come here
/ We are well aware that home improve
me.t is an old crank with many men
/ in Ottawa, whose efforts in that direction
have been abundantly laughed At in times