THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SOUTH.
Scarcity of the Population,--Fertility of the Country.--Northern Men
already in the South.--Kansas Emigrants Crossing Missouri.--Change of
the Situation.--Present Disadvantages of Emigration.--Feeling of
the People.--Property-Holders in Richmond.--The Sentiment in North
Carolina.--South Carolina Chivalry.--The Effect of War.--Prospect of
the Success of Free Labor.--Trade in the South.
The suppression of the Rebellion, and the restoration of peace
throughout the entire South, have opened a large field for emigration.
The white population of the Southern States, never as dense as that of
the North, has been greatly diminished in consequence of the war. In
many localities more than half the able-bodied male inhabitants have
been swept away, and everywhere the loss of men is severely felt.
The breaking up of the former system of labor in the cotton and sugar
States will hinder the progress of agriculture for a considerable
time, but there can be little doubt of its beneficial effect in the
end. The desolation that was spread in the track of our armies will
be apparent for many years. The South will ultimately recover from
all her calamities, but she will need the energy and capital of the
Northern States to assist her.
During the progress of the war, as our armies penetrated the fertile
portions of the "Confederacy," many of our soldiers cast longing eyes
at the prospective wealth around them. "When the war is over we will
come here to live, and show these people something they never dreamed
of," was a frequent remark. Men born and reared in the extreme North,
were amazed at the luxuriance of Southern verdure, and wondered that
the richness of the soil had not been turned to greater advantage.
It is often said in New England that no man who has once visited the
fertile West ever returns to make his residence in the Eastern States.
Many who have explored the South, and obtained a knowledge of its
resources, will be equally reluctant to dwell in the regions where
their boyhood days were passed.
While the war was in progress many Northern men purchased plantations
on the islands along the Southern coast, and announced their
determination to remain there permanently. After the capture of New
Orleans, business in that city passed into the hands of Northerners,
much to the chagrin of the older inhabitants. When the disposition of
our army and the topography of the country made the lower portion
of Louisiana secure against Rebel raids, many plantations in that
locality were purchased outright by Northern speculators. I have
elsewhere shown how the cotton culture was extensively carried on by
"Yankees," and that failure was not due to their inability to conduct
the details of the enterprise.
Ten years ago, emigration to Kansas was highly popular. Aid Societies
were organized in various localities, and the Territory was rapidly
filled. Political influences had much to do with this emigration from
both North and South, and many implements carried by the emigrants
were not altogether agricultural in their character. The soil of
Kansas was known to be fertile, and its climate excellent. The
Territory presented attractions to settlers, apart from political
considerations. But in going thither the emigrants crossed a region
equally fertile, and possessing superior advantages in its
proximity to a market. No State in the Union could boast of greater
possibilities than Missouri, yet few travelers in search of a home
ventured to settle within her limits.
The reason was apparent. Missouri was a slave State, though bounded on
three sides by free soil. Few Northern emigrants desired to settle in
the midst of slavery. The distinction between the ruling and laboring
classes was not as great as in the cotton States, but there was a
distinction beyond dispute. Whatever his blood or complexion, the
man who labored with his hands was on a level, or nearly so, with the
slave. Thousands passed up the Missouri River, or crossed the northern
portion of the State, to settle in the new Territory of Kansas.
When political influences ceased, the result was still the same. The
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway threw its valuable lands into the
market, but with little success.
With the suppression of the late Rebellion, and the abolition of
slavery in Missouri, the situation is materially changed. From
Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana, there is a large emigration to Missouri.
I was recently informed that forty families from a single county in
Ohio had sent a delegation to Missouri to look out suitable locations,
either of wild land or of farms under cultivation. There is every
prospect that the State will be rapidly filled with a population that
believes in freedom and in the dignity of labor. She has an advantage
over the other ex-slave States, in lying west of the populous regions
of the North. Hitherto, emigration has generally followed the great
isothermal lines, as can be readily seen when we study the population
of the Western States. Northern Ohio is more New Englandish than
Southern Ohio, and the parallel holds good in Northern and Southern
Illinois. There will undoubtedly be a large emigration to Missouri
in preference to the other Southern States, but our whole migratory
element will not find accommodation in her limits. The entire South
will be overrun by settlers from the North.
Long ago, _Punch_ gave advice to persons about to marry. It was all
comprised in the single word, "DON'T." Whoever is in haste to emigrate
to the South, would do well to consider, for a time, this brief, but
emphatic counsel. No one should think of leaving the Northern States,
until he has fairly considered the advantages and disadvantages of the
movement. If he departs with the expectation of finding every thing to
his liking, he will be greatly disappointed at the result.
There will be many difficulties to overcome. The people now residing
in the late rebellious States are generally impoverished. They have
little money, and, in many cases, their stock and valuables of all
kinds have been swept away. Their farms are often without fences, and
their farming-tools worn out, disabled, or destroyed. Their system of
labor is broken up. The negro is a slave no longer, and the transition
from bondage to freedom will affect, for a time, the producing
interests of the South.
Though the Rebellion is suppressed, the spirit of discontent
still remains in many localities, and will retard the process of
reconstruction. The teachings of slavery have made the men of the
South bitterly hostile to those of the North. This hostility was
carefully nurtured by the insurgent leaders during the Rebellion, and
much of it still exists. In many sections of the South, efforts will
be made to prevent immigration from the North, through a fear that the
old inhabitants will lose their political rights.
At the time I am writing, the owners of property in Richmond are
holding it at such high rates as to repel Northern purchasers. Letters
from that city say, the residents have determined to sell no property
to Northern men, when they can possibly avoid it. No encouragement
is likely to be given to Northern farmers and artisans to migrate
thither. A scheme for taking a large number of European emigrants
directly from foreign ports to Richmond, and thence to scatter them
throughout Virginia, is being considered by the Virginia politicians.
The wealthy men in the Old Dominion, who were Secessionists for the
sake of secession, and who gave every assistance to the Rebel cause,
are opposed to the admission of Northern settlers. They may be
unable to prevent it, but they will be none the less earnest in their
efforts.
This feeling extends throughout a large portion of Virginia, and
exists in the other States of the South. Its intensity varies in
different localities, according to the extent of the slave population
in the days before the war, and the influence that the Radical men
of the South have exercised. While Virginia is unwilling to receive
strangers, North Carolina is manifesting a desire to fill her
territory with Northern capital and men. She is already endeavoring
to encourage emigration, and has offered large quantities of land
on liberal terms. In Newbern, Wilmington, and Raleigh, the Northern
element is large. Newbern is "Yankeeized" as much as New Orleans.
Wilmington bids fair to have intimate relations with New York and
Boston. An agency has been established at Raleigh, under the sanction
of the Governor of the State, to secure the immediate occupation of
farming and mining lands, mills, manufactories, and all other kinds of
real estate. Northern capital and sinew is already on its way to
that region. The great majority of the North Carolinians approve
the movement, but there are many persons in the State who equal the
Virginians in their hostility to innovations.
In South Carolina, few beside the negroes will welcome the Northerner
with open arms. The State that hatched the secession egg, and
proclaimed herself at all times first and foremost for the
perpetuation of slavery, will not exult at the change which
circumstances have wrought. Her Barnwells, her McGraths, her Rhetts,
and her Hamptons declared they would perish in the last ditch, rather
than submit. Some of them have perished, but many still remain. Having
been life-long opponents of Northern policy, Northern industry, and
Northern enterprise, they will hardly change their opinions until
taught by the logic of events.
Means of transportation are limited. On the railways the tracks are
nearly worn out, and must be newly laid before they can be used with
their old facility. Rolling stock is disabled or destroyed. Much of
it must be wholly replaced, and that which now remains must undergo
extensive repairs. Depots and machine-shops have been burned, and
many bridges are bridges no longer. On the smaller rivers but few
steamboats are running, and these are generally of a poor class.
Wagons are far from abundant, and mules and horses are very scarce.
The wants of the armies have been supplied with little regard to the
inconvenience of the people.
Corn-mills, saw-mills, gins, and factories have fed the flames.
Wherever our armies penetrated they spread devastation in their track.
Many portions of the South were not visited by a hostile force, but
they did not escape the effects of war. Southern Georgia and Florida
suffered little from the presence of the Northern armies, but the
scarcity of provisions and the destitution of the people are nearly as
great in that region as elsewhere.
Until the present indignation at their defeat is passed away, many of
the Southern people will not be inclined to give any countenance to
the employment of freed negroes. They believe slavery is the proper
condition for the negro, and declare that any system based on free
labor will prove a failure. This feeling will not be general among the
Southern people, and will doubtless be removed in time.
The transition from slavery to freedom will cause some irregularities
on the part of the colored race. I do not apprehend serious trouble
in controlling the negro, and believe his work will be fully available
throughout the South. It is natural that he should desire a little
holiday with his release from bondage. For a time many negroes will
be idle, and so will many white men who have returned from the Rebel
armies. According to present indications, the African race displays
far more industry than the Caucasian throughout the Southern States.
Letters from the South say the negroes are at work in some localities,
but the whites are everywhere idle.
Those who go to the South for purposes of traffic may or may not be
favored with large profits. All the products of the mechanic arts
are very scarce in the interior, while in the larger towns trade is
generally overdone. Large stocks of goods were taken to all places
accessible by water as soon as the ports were opened. The supply
exceeded the demand, and many dealers suffered heavy loss. From
Richmond and other points considerable quantities of goods have been
reshipped to New York, or sold for less than cost. Doubtless the trade
with the South will ultimately be very large, but it cannot spring up
in a day. Money is needed before speculation can be active. A year or
two, at the least, will be needed to fill the Southern pocket.
So much for the dark side of the picture. Emigrants are apt to listen
to favorable accounts of the region whither they are bound, while they
close their ears to all stories of an unfavorable character. To insure
a hearing of both sides of the question under discussion, I have given
the discouraging arguments in advance of all others. Already those
who desire to stimulate travel to the South, are relating wonderful
stories of its fertility and its great advantages to settlers. No
doubt they are telling much that is true, but they do not tell all the
truth. Every one has heard the statement, circulated in Ireland many
years since, that America abounded in roasted pigs that ran about the
streets, carrying knives and forks in their mouths, and making vocal
requests to be devoured. Notwithstanding the absurdity of the story,
it is reported to have received credit.
The history of every emigration scheme abounds in narratives of a
brilliant, though piscatorial, character. The interior portions of all
the Western States are of wonderful fertility, and no inhabitant of
that region has any hesitation in announcing the above fact. But not
one in a hundred will state frankly his distance from market, and the
value of wheat and corn at the points of their production. In too many
cases the bright side of the story is sufficient for the listener.
I once traveled in a railway car where there were a dozen emigrants
from the New England States, seeking a home in the West. An agent of
a county in Iowa was endeavoring to call their attention to the great
advantages which his region afforded. He told them of the fertility of
the soil, the amount of corn and wheat that could be produced to the
acre, the extent of labor needed for the production of a specified
quantity of cereals, the abundance of timber, and the propinquity of
fine streams, with many other brilliant and seductive stories. The
emigrants listened in admiration of the Promised Land, and were on the
point of consenting to follow the orator.
I ventured to ask the distance from those lands to a market where the
products could be sold, and the probable cost of transportation.
The answer was an evasive one, but was sufficient to awaken the
suspicions of the emigrants. My question destroyed the beautiful
picture which the voluble agent had drawn.
Those who desire to seek their homes in the South will do well to
remember that baked pigs are not likely to exist in abundance in the
regions traversed by the National armies.