The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-01-12
Why the Confederacy Failed

hearty constitutions and iron Wills had
warded off.
The South had cotton and tobacco, upon
which gold could have been secured
abroad: Mr.. Brown estimates that the
South had a good part of the four and
half million bales of cotton OF the crop
of 1860 the entire four million OF the
crop of 1851. the million or more of 1852,
and the half million each of 1868 and 1854.
The South had also some hundreds of
thousands of hogsheads of tobacco, grown
in Virginia, North Carolina, and parts
of Kentucky and Tennessee. The Con-
federate government could have bought
these from the people at agreed upon
prices and sold them in Europe at large
profits. Here was the basis or first
class credit, and for all of those products
delivered abroad gold coin would have
been Forthcoming.
The Confederate authorities have been
severely blamed for not securing possess
sion and moving those valuable products,
but the blame is most unjust. The South
had few railroads. and these were mo-
nopolized in hauling supplies for the
army and in moving troops. They had
all they could do in that way and there
was scarcely material to repair those
roads when they wore out, much less to
build new lines. AS to shipping cotton
and tobacco to Europe. the blockade
maintained by the enemy prevented any
reliable and systematic service in that
line.
In regard to blockade-running, Mr..
Brown cites that the government went
into 1t extensively through agencies like
John Frazer & Co. of Charleston. by
sharing the risks and profits of private
enterprise, and by establishing a bureau
and putting four steamers of Its own in
commission. At the end of 1863 Bullock.
head of the secret service abroad, re-
ported that thirty-one thousand bales of
cotton had been shipped by the govern
ment from the two ports of Charleston
and Wilmington to Liverpool. A sepa-
rate bureau was established in Texas,
and there was a lively trade in cotton
and small arms across the Mexican line;
but with the fall of Vicksburg the Fed
eral mastery of the line of the MISSISSIPPI
pi greatly diminished the practical value
Of government assets in that quarter.
If the Southern States, in addition to
their agriculture, had also possessed man.
ufacturing industries In iron and steel,
in cotton and wool and leather, adequate
to both public and private needs there
would have been much greater independ-
ence of foreign countries; but the great
est lack was money. The paper notes
which the government paid out for wages
OF soldierSand employees and for supplies.
were Constantly decreasing in value: but
the Soldiers and people who were forced
toSaccept them for lack of anything else
found all their earnings in such money
inadequate to supply the simplest needs.
In 1864 mounted Confederate officer
could not equip himself with a horse and
clothing for less than $4,000 in Confeder-
ate paper and not even a general officer
could scarcely earn that much in a year.
The lack of money of value and the in
ability to get it was the greatest cause
of trouble. But for the very consid-
serable sums of gold secured by Washing
ton from France when. patriotism was at
the lowest ebb, the war of the revolution
would have resulted in disaster. With his
war chest replenished with real money,
and with the aid of French fleet and a
French army, independence in 1888 was
won. But the ports of the American COL
onies were never blockaded as were those
of the Confederacy.s Some trade went
on all the time during the revolution,
while to run the Federal blockade during
the Confederate war was matter of the
greatest difficulty.
1t is estimated that at the time of the
! outbreak of the civil war the specie in
the Southern banks amounted to $250OO,-
600, and there was, perhaps, in the hands
| OF the people about IS, 000, 600 more. Thir-
| ty million dollars will account for all
theh ard money in the South for the
conduct of the war, which was SO head
for the whole population; while at the
end OF the four years the paper promises
to pay of the government amounted to
more than thirteen hundred million dol
| lars Byt he end of 1861 a gold dollar
was worth a dollar and twenty cents in
p, currency; by the end of 1862 1t was worth
three; year later twenty; and before
\ a. f1nal collapse, sixty-one dollars In paper
| was paid for one dollar In gold Prices
| In general with a few notable exceptions.
] as or cotton and tobacco, rose faster and
| higher than the price of gold There was
standing joke that a basketful of paper
money was required to buy a days mar
keting for an ordinary family.
III the South could have COTTON her cot
ton and tobacco into Europe. she would
have won her independence, but the time
came when, for the lack of ability TO
support their families the people be-
came disheartened and the armies dwin
died away, but they were grand and
splendid to the last. They fought until
they melted away. AS soldiers they
gained the admiration of the world. AS
patriots, those that are left have the
consciousness of duty done and the re-
gard and gratitude Of the glorious South
ern women. The failure of their cause
was from no failure In the generaIshIn
or the fighting of the South in the field
The lack of material resources was the
cause OF the South's downfall. This 10
the whole story.