Year: 1868

This principle demands that in all the rela-
tions of human existence, in all the depart
ments of individual and social activity, moth
ing, absolutely nothing. shall be wasted 1t
will not permit to be thrown away, with I'M
punity, anything that is useful or utilizaole.
It's penalties are surer than the denunciations
of any criminal code, from the period OF Scion
to the period of Blackstone. In this aspect 1t
is utterly implacable, admitting neither appeal
nor pardon. 1t requires as the fundamental
condition of civilized society, that men shall
study to make their administration of the re-
sources of life an analogue Of the economy
of nature, which allows not one atom to be
lost, to be annihilated, or to be idle; under
whose hand decay is made to nourish new life
and to bloom into new forms of beauty, and
whatever may seem dead and sterile, that may
look like dross and rubbage, is but in transition
into something rich and strange, admirable
and precious.


All that the principle referred to teaches,
and all that it denounces, may be summed up
in these words: economy is wealth, and waste
is want. These are trite maxims. to be sure;
but they are of that class which, because
everybody accepts them as truisms, nobody
takes the pains to comprehend logically, or to
apply strictly. No one is SO afiuent that he
can afford to waste particle of his substance.
No one is SO poor that he may not become
poorer by neglecting, and richer by cultiva-
ting economy. Waste, in whatever form, will
inevitably be followed by some form of want.
Nothing short of Almighty power can break
this relation of sequence and antecedence.
Excess of wealth is only waste; waste in one
of its most pernicious forms. Hence, the
squalid poverty, and the manifold misery in
high places as well as in low places, SO often
witnessed among populations which, in their
aggregate and national aspect, are accoun-
ted prosperous and happy In England,
for example, while multitudes of the poorer
class, by reason of one species of unthrifti-
ness, are constantly swelling an army Of
vagrant and pauper drones, the wealthisr
class, by another species Of unthriftiness, are
also constantly swelling an army of drones
consisting of men who represent inert capital
and idle resources, and who lead lives that
are, in an economical sense, wholly inconse-
quential and null. How bitterly English
society suffers the penalty of this twofold
delinquency and waste, is every day indicated
by the press of that country. The great
problem, indeed, which now occupies
English craftsmanship is to devise peaceful
means of remedying the terrible pauperism on
the one hand, and the terrible plethora of
wealth on the other hand. And meanwhile, the
longer remedial measures are postponed, the
more audible is the promonitory muttering of
revolution, coming like the rush of many
waters, and threatening deluge such as
swept over France at the close of the last GEN.
tury, and solved social problem similar to
that (which now perplexes the statesmen of
England.


But nowhere on the face of the globe was
ever seen SO fragrant and so portentous a de-
fance of economy, as has been exhibited in
the United States within the past seven or
eight years. The late war, no matter where
the responsibility of causing it may rest, was
tremendous economical mistake, the mis-
chievous consequences of which no unjust ex-
ercise of power, no effort of selfish ingenuity
can relieve the conquerors from sharing with
the conquered. We need not I'LL in the details
of the dismal picture whose colors are taken
by the genius of ruin from hate and pride
and desperation on the part of men who chose
to be tyrants, destroyers and spendthrifts,
when they could have been generous restorers,
healing the hurts and repairing the ravages Of
war. 1t is more profitable and wholesome to
look at different picture. While the sort Of
national waste to which we have referred is an
evil against which our people here in the
South may vainly protest, there are still with
in their reach, as individuals, many possibili-
ties of economy.


And these possibilities they should be vigi-
liant to seize and they should resolve to i'm
prove and make the most of them, in spirit
of indomitable hopefulness, of uncomplain-
ing fortitude and untiring perseverance. Let
them, in respect to all that concerns their
own industry and enterprise, scorn to repine
and recriminate. Let them not paint the fu-
ture so black as to blot out hope from the
prospect. Let them not NOPE. Let them not
croak. Men and gods abhor croaking. The
croaker invites misfortune, ,disgusts friendship,

repels help. Moping and croaking become
intolerable lbores. Most persons may forgive
the malevolence which has injured them but
no one, unless he had attained to sainthood,
ever forgave the querulous stupidity which
bored him. 1t is only in labor, conducted
upon wise views of economy, that our people
can make themselves as individuals and as
community strong, healthy and respected
1t is only thus that they can draw hither from
Europe the abundance of capital which Mr.. Ev-
eritt and others-who come among them and
talk as if they had just discovered the South,
and as if Southerners were profoundly ignorant
of its resources-ten them is ready to hasten
to them on wings as eager as the thoughts of
Mammon and as swift as the feet of Mercury,
if they will only organize this, that, or some
other scheme involving sort of hodge-podge
mortgage in advance of lands and usufructs
for money that is yet wholly invisible and
problematicsl. The application of specifics
usually betokens humbuggery on one side,