Asj[)ects of Southern Prosperity 



ASIDE from ethical questions involved, which 

 were so long agitated, this finest belt of the 

 *- continent, it is now manifest, was seriously 

 harmed by slavery — a harm which continued long 

 because it was not realized. It hindered progress of 

 every kind, concentrated labor in a single path, im- 

 poverished the soil, and excluded the new population 

 which vitalized the North. No matter how good a 

 stock of people may be at the beginning, it needs the 

 circulation of the blood of the best races to maintain 

 it at its best. But for the excluding influence of 

 slavery this Southland would now be the Eden of 

 the earth. Time is required to change old traditions 

 and habits. The change is here, and the South is 

 on the highway to great prosperity. If exported 

 cotton was King, manufactured cotton is Kaiser. 

 Hard as it may be on New and Old England, the 

 South will cease to be a cotton exporting country, 

 and appear with finished products, without a rival 

 in the markets of the world. So long as the home 

 supply is sufficient to furnish the raw material for 

 another mill, it will pay to plant that mill. There 

 is not a required item lacking. The coal in my 

 grate here I find to be of very superior quality. 



167 



