HOW DISADVANTAGES MAY BE OVERCOME.
Conciliating the People of the South.--Railway Travel and its
Improvement.--Rebuilding Steamboats.--Replacing Working
Stock.--The Condition of the Plantations.--Suggestions about Hasty
Departures.--Obtaining Information.--The Attractions of Missouri.
The hinderances I have mentioned in the way of Southern emigration are
of a temporary character. The opposition of the hostile portion of
the Southern people can be overcome in time. When they see there is no
possible hope for them to control the National policy, when they fully
realize that slavery is ended, and ended forever, when they discover
that the negro will work as a free man with advantage to his employer,
they will become more amiable in disposition. Much of their present
feeling arises from a hope of compelling a return to the old relation
of master and slave. When this hope is completely destroyed, we shall
have accomplished a great step toward reconstruction. A practical
knowledge of Northern industry and enterprise will convince the people
of the South, unless their hearts are thoroughly hardened, that some
good can come out of Nazareth. They may never establish relations of
great intimacy with their new neighbors, but their hostility will be
diminished to insignificance.
Some of the advocates of the "last ditch" theory, who have sworn
never to live in the United States, will, doubtless, depart to foreign
lands, or follow the example of the Virginia gentleman who committed
suicide on ascertaining the hopelessness of the Rebellion. Failing
to do either of these things, they must finally acquiesce in the
supremacy of National authority.
The Southern railways will be repaired, their rolling stock replaced,
and the routes of travel restored to the old status. All cannot be
done at once, as the destruction and damage have been very extensive,
and many of the companies are utterly impoverished. From two to five
years will elapse before passengers and freight can be transported
with the same facility, in all directions, as before the war.
Under a more liberal policy new lines will be opened, and the various
portions of the Southern States become accessible. During the war two
railways were constructed under the auspices of the Rebel Government,
that will prove of great advantage in coming years. These are
the lines from Meridian, Mississippi, to Selma, Alabama, and from
Danville, Virginia, to Greensborough, North Carolina. A glance at a
railway map of the Southern States will show their importance.
On many of the smaller rivers boats are being improvised by adding
wheels and motive power to ordinary scows. In a half-dozen years,
at the furthest, we will, doubtless, see the rivers of the Southern
States traversed by as many steamers as before the war. On the
Mississippi and its tributaries the destruction of steamboat property
was very great, but the loss is rapidly being made good. Since 1862
many fine boats have been constructed, some of them larger and more
costly than any that existed during the most prosperous days before
the Rebellion. On the Alabama and other rivers, efforts are being made
to restore the steamboat fleets to their former magnitude.
Horses, mules, machinery, and farming implements must and will be
supplied out of the abundance in the North. The want of mules will be
severely felt for some years. No Yankee has yet been able to invent a
machine that will create serviceable mules to order. We must wait for
their production by the ordinary means, and it will be a considerable
time before the supply is equal to the demand. Those who turn their
attention to stock-raising, during the next ten or twenty years, can
always be certain of finding a ready and remunerative market.
The Southern soil is as fertile as ever. Cotton, rice, corn, sugar,
wheat, and tobacco can be produced in their former abundance.
Along the Mississippi the levees must be restored, to protect
the plantations from floods. This will be a work of considerable
magnitude, and, without extraordinary effort, cannot be accomplished
for several years. Everywhere fences must be rebuilt, and many
buildings necessary in preparing products for market must be restored.
Time, capital, energy, and patience will be needed to develop anew
the resources of the South. Properly applied, they will be richly
rewarded.
No person should be hasty in his departure, nor rush blindly to the
promised land. Thousands went to California, in '49 and '50, with
the impression that the gold mines lay within an hour's walk of San
Francisco. In '59, many persons landed at Leavenworth, on their way to
Pike's Peak, under the belief that the auriferous mountain was only
a day's journey from their landing-place. Thousands have gone "West"
from New York and New England, believing that Chicago was very near
the frontier. Those who start with no well-defined ideas of their
destination are generally disappointed. The war has given the public
a pretty accurate knowledge of the geography of the South, so that
the old mistakes of emigrants to California and Colorado are in
slight danger of repetition, but there is a possibility of too little
deliberation in setting out.
Before starting, the emigrant should obtain all accessible information
about the region he intends to visit. Geographies, gazetteers, census
returns, and works of a similar character will be of great advantage.
Much can be obtained from persons who traveled in the rebellious
States during the progress of the war. The leading papers
throughout the country are now publishing letters from their special
correspondents, relative to the state of affairs in the South. These
letters are of great value, and deserve a careful study.
Information from interested parties should be received with caution.
Those who have traveled in the far West know how difficult it is to
obtain correct statements relative to the prosperity or advantages
of any specified locality. Every man assures you that the town or the
county where he resides, or where he is interested, is the best and
the richest within a hundred miles. To an impartial observer, lying
appears to be the only personal accomplishment in a new country. I
presume those who wish to encourage Southern migration will be ready
to set forth all the advantages (but none of the disadvantages) of
their own localities.
Having fully determined where to go and what to do, having selected
his route of travel, and ascertained, as near as possible, what
will be needed on the journey, the emigrant will next consider his
financial policy. No general rule can be given. In most cases it is
better not to take a large amount of money at starting. To many this
advice will be superfluous. Bills of exchange are much safer to carry
than ready cash, and nearly as convenient for commercial transactions.
Beyond an amount double the estimated expenses of his journey, the
traveler will usually carry very little cash.
For the present, few persons should take their wives and children to
the interior South, and none should do so on their first visit. Many
houses have been burned or stripped of their furniture, provisions are
scarce and costly, and the general facilities for domestic happiness
are far from abundant. The conveniences for locomotion in that region
are very poor, and will continue so for a considerable time. A man can
"rough it" anywhere, but he can hardly expect his family to travel on
flat cars, or on steamboats that have neither cabins nor decks, and
subsist on the scanty and badly-cooked provisions that the Sunny South
affords. By all means, I would counsel any young man on his way to the
South not to elope with his neighbor's wife. In view of the condition
of the country beyond Mason and Dixon's line, an elopement would prove
his mistake of a lifetime.
I have already referred to the resources of Missouri. The State
possesses greater mineral wealth than any other State of the Union,
east of the Rocky Mountains. Her lead mines are extensive, easily
worked, very productive, and practically inexhaustible. The same may
be said of her iron mines. Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain are nearly
solid masses of ore, the latter being a thousand feet in height.
Copper mines have been opened and worked, and tin has been found in
several localities. The soil of the Northern portion of Missouri
can boast of a fertility equal to that of Kansas or Illinois. In the
Southern portion the country is more broken, but it contains large
areas of rich lands. The productions of Missouri are similar to those
of the Northern States in the same latitude. More hemp is raised in
Missouri than in any other State except Kentucky. Much of this article
was used during the Rebellion, in efforts to break up the numerous
guerrilla bands that infested the State. Tobacco is an important
product, and its culture is highly remunerative. At Hermann,
Booneville, and other points, the manufacture of wine from the Catawba
grape is extensively carried on. In location and resources, Missouri
is without a rival among the States that formerly maintained the
system of slave labor.