The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-04-14
HARD TIMES,
A SOCIAL PROBLEM CONSIDERED.

l
may effect us locally. What capital we
have is invested in lands, except the small
amount comparatively, which is in trade;
and the labor we have, engaged as it is al
most entirely, in the pursuit Of agricul-
ture, with no more difficulties to encoun-
ter than unfavorable seasons and perhaps
the want of proper facilities for cultiva-
ting the soil, we are not Immediately con-
cerned in the great struggle now going on
elsewhere. Needing, as we evidently do,
both more labor and more capital, this
immediate section offers no opportunity
for contest between the two.
On the contrary we are locally free
from the apprehension Of the trouble
which grows out of the aggregation of
money in the hands of the few and the
combination of laborers into great bodies
to prevent oppression, and because of our
situation in that respect, we can offer to
capital the security it requires and to la
Dor the freedom from competition which
it breads where there is a surplus.
| do not mean to say that we should not
take the proper interest as citizens of a
great republic in the settlement of all the
great questions which affect the welfare
of the whole country nor that we should
not sympatllize with the working men
everywhere, where they are engaged in a
gigantic struggle to right whatever may
be their wrongs in a legitimate way
What do mean to say is that our imme-
diate and direct local interests are not at
issue in that struggle, and that our pros
perity or the want of it, is not to be deci-
ded by Whatever may be the settlement Of
that controversy.
We have our fate in our own hands and
nobody is elsewhere engaged in any strug-
gle which is to free us from adversely on
the one hand, or to condemn us to poverty
on the other hand. The problem we have
to solve is local in its application and its
solution depends upon us alone. That
times are hard to the great body of the
people no one can deny and the question
Of what to do to better them is one of al
most universal interest in this Parish
To know what is the proper remedy for
any disease it must first be accurately
known what the disease is. Ask any plan
ter what it is and he will answer, short
crops. Ask the merchant and he will re-
ply, want of trade. Since we have, bar
ring the few professional men, all planters
or merchants, the two answers combined
indicate where the trouble is. If it were
entirely true that the want of trade was
because of the shortness Of crops, then we
might lay the blame entirely upon the
crops. AS to the trade of Alexandria, it
is not entirely true, because it is evident
| that this town has lost the trade it used
to have from a distance, and which the
railroads have taken away from it. More
railroads will not restore it in its old
shape. To build it up again with other par
ishes OF even to maintain a local trade in
the Parish, if good crops were to make it
possible, the merchants of Alexandria
must carry larger stocks Of goods and sell
them cheaper than other places can afford
to sell them. They must make it to the
interest of trade to come here or it will
not come. Whether this is possible as to
general merchandise can not speak with
| confidence, but / know that one large
wholesale hardware house in this town
has led off in the direction indicated and
has attracted la.ge trade, which with
better crops would increase. Cheap goods
and plenty of them will bring trade. The
laws of supply and demand will as surely
operate here as elsewhere. This requires
capital of course. There is enough here
for this purpose if it was combined, and
right here, in my Judgment, is one great
fault of this community. Too much DEEPEN
dence is put upon individual effort and
too little is done by combined effort. I'm
dertakings beyond the means of one indi-
yidual are easily carried out by combin-
ing part of the means of many. There
is not single joint stock company of any
sort here. Our business men have this
lesson to learn.
In an agricultural community like that
OF Rapides it can not be disputed that
there is so close community of interests
that all interests prosper or languish to-
gether, more or less. Our main Deepen
dence is upon agriculture. Cotton and
tsugar are the two staple products. The
sugar planter works his crop under more
favorable conditions than does the cotton
planter. He hires bis labor and furnishes
bis own team and implements. More cap.
ital is required, but because of its use, he
is more certain of results. Low prices
and unfavOrable seasons have left but lit
tie profit to the sugar planter of late
years. The cotton planter is more uncer
tain of his crops, has less control over his
labor and the laborer, frequently thrown
upon his own resources gets credit and
consumes his crop in advance of making
it. Without team or money OF corn tn,
struggle is an unequal one and the crop il
a failure. Neither the owner of the lant
nor the laborer make anything, and at thu
end of the year both are as bad off a.
: when they started-both are fortunate i
; they have made enough to pay for tn,
wears living and are not in debt. Thi