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THE CONSTITUTIONALIST.
PUBLISHED BY
JAMES (GARDNER
OFFICE ON BROAD STREET,
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AUGUSTA, GA.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 9, 1862.
THE LADIES’ GUNBOAT FUND.
The subscriptions for this patriotic and need
ful enterprize progress satisfactorily. Already
several thousand dollars have been received at
this office for the purpose, and daily additions
are made to it. Time is all important in this
matter, and these funds ought not to lie idle.
They should be appropriated at once in the di
rection calculated to secure the completion at
the earliest moment of a boat that will carry
out the patriotic views of the ladies. There is
a central organization in Savannah for building
a ladies gunboat, and co-operating committees,
to receive and transmit funds contributed in
other communities have been suggested. In
fact, the work of construction has, we under
stand, already commenced, and has made good
progress.
We respectfully suggest that the funds sent
to this office, and those collected throughout
ihe State, take that direction.
A circular from Savannah, which we have
seen, suggests that the following gentlemen
constitute a local board to take charge of con
tributions received at this point:
Thomas S. Metcalf,
John Bones,
B. H. Warren,
J. B. Walker,
John Davison.
We shall abide the instructions, or await in
timations of the wishes of the ladies who have
sent us their contributions.
It seems to us advisable that those funds
should go where there is the best prospect of
bringing a gunboat, to be known as the ladies’
gunboat, into service at the earliest time.
SALT-
The scarcity, and consequent high price of
salt, are creating much anxiety among the peo
ple. It looks, indeed, as if we are to have a
salt panic in Georgia. This alarm about salt
seems confined to one State, or at least to have
reached its greatest intensity in Georgia. We
do not hear of any such excitement prevailing
elsewhere. Why is this? We presume that
the arbitrary seizure of salt last fall by Gov.
Brown has much to do with it. This step was
natriotically conceived, but it had a most un
fortunate effect; and it is still having an uafor
tunate effect upon supply and prices. The
seizure of the salt upon the pretext that it was
wanted for the public use, caused a perfect
stampede of salt from the State. All who
ceuld get their salt out of the State, in time to
iscrspe seizure, did so. All who had sent or
ders to other markets for salt countermanded
them, and thus stopped the importation of
large quantities which otherwise would have
been brought into the State. It is true the
seizure brought down the prices of the salt
seized and of all salt then in market in Geor
gia, and offered for sale. Many holders, strick
en with a panic, sold Xheir salt at a loss, and
.were glad to get rid of it at any price. Some,
no doubt, timid men, ibund that they were in
danger of losing what they had, which would
have swamped their small capital and utterly
broken them up. They piously vowed that if
they could once get well out of the scrape they
would never place themselves in the power of
Gov. Brown again, at least on the salt question.
Men who had been in the habit of dealing in
the article, and of sending off orders for it
whenever the stocks were getting low, and our
local markets were moving up in price, now
incontinently dropped salt, like a hot potato
They have shunned it as something forbidden—
as something to deal in which was little short
of a crime, and liable to the wrath of the Gov
ernor and the penalties of confiscation. These
considerations may account for the scarcity of
salt in Georgia. They indicate that salt must
continue scarce until some assurance is given
that the policy of seizing salt will not be re
peated by the Governor. However abundant
the article might be in other States, merchants
Would not be apt to order it largely into this
State, to encounter the same hazards and vexa
tions. They would either have planters and
farmers and housekeepers to look for themselves
for supplies beyond the State, or woulcf send
off orders for but very small quantities at a
time.
But the action of the Governor of Georgia
had an unfortunate influence beyond the limits
of the State. It had, we apprehend, the effect
of diminishing the supply of salt throughout
the Confederacy. We are informed that there
.were four vessels being fitted out in. a Con
■ fecu rate port to go regularly into the salt trade
whemth-o seizure of salt in Georgia put a stop
to the enterpijze. The parties were unwilling
to take the hazards 0< the business, if they
were to be liable to have the reward snatched
iron, them by a seizure, or by a price being
arbitrarily fixed upon the commj'dh.y. Their
enterprize was, therefore, directed to * m ’
portation of other articles. What was done lj
the Governor of one Southern State might be
done by all. Dealing in salt, therefore, with a
view to increase the supply from abroad, was
shunned as extra-hazardous.
The better policy, it would seem to us, would
be, far our State Government to offer bounties,
rather than to inflict penalties, for the intro
duction of salt within her limits. It would
have been a wise act for our Legislature to
'nave encouraged a trade with Turks Island, or
other point, from which salt could be procured, •
and to have offered a. premium to every vessel
that ran /he blockade. Georgia owes some
thing to the public for the injury done to it,
through the Executive action, on the salt ques
tion.
Georgia is, however, thus far, the greatest
sufferer by the proceeding. No doubt, as the
exigency becomes more pressing in other South
ern States, vessels will be equipped for the salt
trade, and prices will be brought down by
supplies introduced in anticipation of the de
mand by the next hog-killing season. The
present prices are sufficiently tempting. All
that is needed is some assurance that the
arbitrary hand of power will not be laid upon
cargoes as they arrive, or when they reach
interior markets. The present prices are suffi
ciently tempting to induce the formation of
companies for its manufacture on the sea-coast.
But, who would embark in the business, ex.
cept on a scale barely sufficient to supply his
own wants, if the price of the product of his
labor and enterprize is to be fixed by an arbi
trary decree ?
The only legitimate exercise of public au
thority is in the direction of increasing the
supply of a needed article. It is an abuse of
'power, to force down prices by simple edicts
to that effect, while doing nothing towards
increasing the supply. The way to bring down
prices is to increase the supply. This is the
only just, safe and permanent remedy for high
prices. The State Governments, and munici-’
pal corporations, could judiciously exert their
power in this latter direction.
CONFEDERATE CURRENCY.
The high prices of every article of consump
tion, and of property of all kinds, with an irre
pressible tendency upwards, challenge attention
to the causes, and the remedy. High prices of
produce and property are not, in themselves,
evils, but, on the contrary, are marks of pros
perity, if labor is relatively well paid, and
every industrial pursuit finds ample employ
ment. But when most kinds of business are
languishing, or stagnant, and closed up—when
the industrious can find nothing to do, and the
poor are compelled to be idle, as a general rule,
and yet productive property is high, and food
and clothing and other necessaries of life high
priced and tending upwards, this is an un
healthy and unnatural state of things. It is a
state of things beneficial to the few, but hurt
ful to the many, and should be remedied, if
possible.
The cause of these inflated prices is an in
flated currency. The war is calling on the
Confederate Government for an immense ex
penditure. It meets its contracts and makes
its purchases by the issue of Confederate notes.
These notes are fast filling all the channels of
circulation. They will, before long, overflow
those channels, and flood the country. The
circulation of Bank Notes and Change Bibs
will be small in proportion, and that proportion
will be constantly growing less. The charters
of the Banks fix a limit to their circulation.
They cannot exceed that limit, if so disposed.
Most of them are pursuing the policy of draw
ing in, rather than of expanding their issues.
They receive in payment of notes, and on de
posite, and pay out at their counters Confederate
Notes. As the expenditures of the Govern
ment are at the rate of two or three millions a
week, there is a weekly addition of that sum
to the currency. No adequate means are pro
vided for absorbing this currency, as issued.
True, the holder can convert them into Con
federate Bonds, and this would absorb them to
the extent that the bonds were purchased from
the Government agents. But as these bonds
are in private hands, in large amounts, for sale
at par, or a fraction-below par, the Government
cannot sell them at a rate at all equal to its
current expenditures. There is, consequently,
a constant, daily addition to the Confederate
Notes in circulation. As the currency increases
in volume, prices of productive property, and
of the necessaries of life, must increase. The
Government is the heaviest sufferer by this
inflation of prices. Supplies for the army and
naw go up in price as Confederate Notes in
crease. Everything the Government wants,
and every species of skilled labor it employs,
in the production of arms, accoutrements, mu
nitions of war, keep pace in price with the
increasing redundancy of its currency. Those
who have contracts with Government —those
who own machinery adapted to make useful
articles—and those who produce, or can, by
running the blockade, bring into the country
the necessaries and comforts of life, are making
money; and to them, high prices and an in
flated currency are blessings. These do not
feel the bard times; neither do those who
bought property at old time prices, and hold it,
or have sold since the inflation. These are the
fortunate few. But the luckless many are the
sufferers. It is in the interest of the many,
and especially of the poor, that we look at this
question, and would fain devise a remedy.
It is evident that the great redundancy of
the Confederate Notes circulation produces a
feeling ot uneasiness, if not of distrust; and
men who are making money—who are realizing
their speculations—who are converting pro
perty into currency—are getting loth to hold
these notes as idle capital. They are restlessly
seeking other investments—other speculations.
They are seeking brick houses, or bank stocks,
or State or corporation bonds, or lands and
negroes—or they are changing speculatione
from one necessary of life to another. They
are selling sugar and molasses to invest" in salt
and iron—they are selling rice and flour to
I buy corn and cotton —they are selling bacon
’ tobacco to buy leather, or rope, or bag
a"la r "’-'ey are selling hats and shoes to invest
ging. I*. calic0 _ in short t hey are rest
m osnaburgs u. . , . . • „
lesslv selling- and K / va PP and raisin « P rices
y . the whole community,
on each other, and upon • ( . , .
rich and poor, by dealing iri articles an«-. a y
market, instead of putting their money ano
their wits to work to produce something that
did not before exist.
The question now con tos up, what is the
remedy ?
We have one remedy to propose to Congress,
which would, in part, abate the evil, and several
remedies to the people which would, in time,
convert the evil into a blessing. The remedy
for Congress to adopt is to make ad future
issues of Confederate Notes dfaw interest.
This policy would diminish instead of increasing
the burthen on the public treasury. There
would be an additional burthen of a few mil
lions of dollars a year, in the shape of an in
terest account; but tens of millions would be
saved the Governmen* in cheapened prices of
what it will be compelled to buy. In what way
would this work? By checking speculation,
and quieting this restlessness among the holders
of Confederate Notes. If these notes bore an
interest of six. seven, or eight per cent., more
of them would disappear from circulation.
Persons having a cash surolus on hand would
be less anxious to get rid of it. They would
pay it out only m legitimate business transac
tions, instead of speculating with it merely to
get it off their hands. Confederate Notes bear
ing no interest is idle capital, and the holder is
naturally restive and impatient to put them
into something that holds out a promiso ot a
profit. Confederate Notes bearing interest are
an active capital, and the prudent holder would
prefer to hold on, and be certain ot a smal!
profit, rather than spsculate in the narrow cir
cle to which speculation is now confined in our
country, and hazard losses.
If the spirit of morbid speculation, which
now prevails, could be checked in this way, a
benefit would be derived, not only by tho Gov
ernment, which is a large consumer of the
necessaries of life, but by every citizen in the
country. It would be the means of conferring
a signal blessing to the poor, and to every
family struggling against the famine prices
which are now prevailing. It would inevitably
and rapidly .bring down the prices of theneces
saries of life, and adjust all values to a natura
and normal state of things. Some practical
questions of detail would arise requiring legis
lation, to carry out the policy. Among the first
and most obvious would be a provision in
reference to the two currencies that would be
afloat. The Confederate Notes now out, bear
ing no isterest, and the new issues bearing in
terest. Provision should be made for absorb
ing or redeeming the first. Until that was
accomplished there could be no uniformity or
stability of prices.
The results here stated of the issue of Con
federate notes bearing interest, have already
been practically tested in the experience of
our Government. One of the early issues of
Confederate notes bore interest at the low rate
of 3 65-00 per cent., and they answered for a
time as currency. But upon the issue of notes
bearing no interest, thus creating an inferior
currency, the unvarying law of circulation gov
erning these matters, took effect. The su
perior, or interst-bearing notes; retired from
circulation, and the inferior took their place.—
The interest-bearing notes were hoarded for
investment, and are still so held, or have
since been converted with the accumulated in
terest into notes which now constitute the sole •
Confederate circulation.
If the rate of interest were increased, the
temptation to hoard it would be proportionately
greater. _
IRON, LEAD, AND COPPER.
The material of war. comprehends a great va
riety of articles beyond what is brought direct
ly into use on the battlefield. The qualities of
men, likewise, mental and physically, necessary
for successful war, comprehend something more
than pluck and endurance in the men, foresight
and strategy in the Generals. Courage, disci
pline, uncomplaining fortitude under hardship
and privation, are essential qualities of soldiers.
Promptness, sagacity, clearness of mind and
firmness of nerve are equally essential in their
commanders. But with all this, though battles
may be won, campaigns may be lost and terri
tories overrun, for something more, indeed a
vast deal more, is requisite to successful war.
The material of war embraces a vast scope of
the products of human labor, skill and art, and
in these days of science and ingenuity, the na
tion best provided with such resources is apt to
hold the vantage ground of its antagonist.
These reflections invite the scrutiny of.every
Southern patriot, into the capacity of our coun
try to furnish all needed supplies. Our states
men and our enterprising capitalists must see
to it in time that we do not break down in the
war for want of essential articles which a prop
er foresight might have provided.
We have placed at the head of this article
three metals, a free supply of which is indis
pensable to success. In vain do we manufac
ture powder, if we fall short in cannon and
small arms. In vain do we enlist and drill
troops if there is to be a deficiency of shot and
shell for our artillery, and of leaden bullets for
our rifles and muskets. In vain do we build
vessels to be iron clad, if there is a deficiency
of iron mines and rolling mills to furnish the
plates which are to render them impervious to
the rifled cannon of our ingenious and pertina
cious foes.
These three metals are selected tor special
attention, not because they are the only ar
ticles of which we need an aoundant supply to
insure success, but because without them the
greatest profusion of other things would do but
little good There are a thousand uses tor iron,
besides making it into arms and .■ammunition,
and to run out of a supply would be as fatal as
to be out of powder, or out of fooa How can
the food be raised without agricultural tools
and to what country but our own can we took
for the iron and steel with which to make
th The subject could be dilated indefinitely, but
0 Job,** <3 .imply to invite though^ .nd etnu
i i in this direction. What iead
ulate actio iQ the Southern States
raine! “t know There are extensive works in
Wssourh bur at present they are as much out
X reach
There are valuable Wd *
in Alabama; but our ilabama
h»vepreb."bly never been developed and work-
have been brought into use by the Government.
But that is a threatened region, and may possi
bly tall into the hands of the enemy. While
there is no very imminent danger of this, it is
well not to place all our reliance on a single con
tingency. There are copper veins of undoubted
richness and promise in Georgia and Alabama.
They ought to be developed by the idle capital
and the unemployed skill of the South. We
must endeavor to rival the Yankees in enter
prise and perseverance, if we rationally hope
to baffle and overcome them. We must exer
cise our wits as well as they, to produce from
the raw r material the articles our wants demand
Indeed, we are more imperatively called on to
do this, because we have not free access as our
enemies have, to the markets of the world.
There are iron mines in Georgia and other
Southern States which, if brought into full ope
ration, would supply every want, and of the
best quality of iron. But most of them are
wholly neglected, and none of them are worked
to anything like their productive capacity. The
difficulty of getting pig iron for our founderies
ed, though their richness has been ascertained.
Copper in inexhaustible quantities is found in
East Tennessee, and large supplies of the ore
grows greater every day, and even the rapidly
rising prices have not as yet acted as a suffi
cient stimulus to induce the production.
How long will it be, as things now go on,
when there will be no iron to be got for peace
ful tillage, and for the warlike uses? The sub
ject is too serious to be slighted. It is one of
many requiring not only the attention of the
enterprising in private life, but of the Confede
rate authorities. While there are such ques
tions to be legislated upon, Congress ought not
to think of adjourning for a period of months.
Yet that important branch of the Government
is about to adjourn over until July. It pro
poses to adjourn at the most critical time of the
war, and when the country most needs the ac
tive exercise of all their sagacity, wisdom, and
patriotic self sacrifice which it is possible to
call into action.
SOUTHERN DEPENDENCE.
The dependence of the South on the North
for almost every article of manufacture, has
always been a source of regret to us. We
have, time and again, urged upon our people
the importance of sustaining industrial enter
prises, in our midst, and condemned that policy
which, for the sake of an immediate saving,
spent millions of dollars abroad, instead of at
home. It may be beneficial to enquire into the
causes of this wholesale patronage of foreign
manufacturers and mechanics —of the utter
helplessness of the South. These may be found
pa r tly in the course of Southern politicians,
who, in the struggle for office, neglected the
true interests of their section; and partly in
that inordinate desire for gain which seemed to
animate those who inaugurated industrial enter
prises in the South —who, instead of being
satisfied with “large sales and small profits,”
placed such extensive tariffs upon their manu
factured goods, as to make it almost a matter
of necessity to go elsewhere for articles of
necessity as well as of luxury. But the prime
cause is stated in a communication in a former
number of the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, from an
old mechanic and manufacturer. He says :
“ Capitalists in former years would not invest
their money in anything of a permanent char
acter, but used their iunds in shaving notes
and in other speculations. And if at any time
there was a horse race or a cock tight, there
were men among us that would let the gambk-r
have any amount of money he wanted. And
a cotton" buyer without a dollar of his own,
and in debt to the tailor for the clothes he was
wearing, could go co the banks with some little
slips of paper with figures on them, represent
ing them to'be shipments of cotton and, get his
thousands at a word. At the same time an
honest, bard working mechanic could not obtain
a dollar on unquestionable security, to be used
in an honorable and legitimate business.”
In other words, if an individual desired to
borrow money to purchase a thousand bales of
cotton on speculation, he could procure it from
the banks, but if he wanted money to buya
hundred bales to manufacture it into cloth, he
could not get it. This is not the spirit which
should actuate our capitalists. We must en
courage the mechanic and the manufacturer;
and particularly at this time, when there are so
many things needed by the Government and
people of the Southern Confederacy. While
the banks are looking about for customers, let
them not forget the hard working mechanic,
or the enterprising manufacturer; but, with
liberal assistance, enable them to build up use
ful and needed enterprises in the South.
We are in the midst of a bloody struggle
for independence. If we should achieve it po
litically, it will be useless to us, unless wt
achieve, at the same time commercial, manufac
tural and mechanical independence. It is not
asking too much, then, of the capitalists of the
South to put their shoulders to the wheel and
assist in securing such an independence.
The mechanics and the manufacturers are,
doubtless, ready to go to work, if they can se
cure the necessary means.
Let the banks then do their share; and
with the same concessions to the mechanics
and manufacturers as they make to merchants,
they will accomplish a great good, and entitle
themselves to .the gratitude of an indepen
dent and flourishing South.
THE COTTON FACTORIES-
The Augusta Factory has followed the com
mendable example of the Athens and the Ma
con factories, and fixed the prices of their cot
ton goods at rates below what could have been
extorted from the necessities of the people. It
has also provided that it will only sell to such
merchants as will pledge themselves not to
charge at retail more than two cents per yard
over the wholesale prices they pay the Factory.
This affords the merchant a fair profit for his
time, and labor, and expenses, and protects the
public from speculation on their necessities.
This is the more commendable on the part of
the Augusta Factory,because it is in their pow-,
er to obtain several cents more pei’ yard on all
the cloth they are manufacturing. Parties are
ready and anxious to contract with it to take
all they can manufacture at a considerable price
above what they are charging. If it acceded
to these propositions it would lose all con
trol over the prices of its manufactured goods,
from the moment they passed out of its hands,
and the sales would then be governed by the
law of supply and demand. As the capacity of
’he cotton factories of the Confederacy is below
the necessary consumpt’on of the Confederate
States, it would be difficult to say how high cot
ton goods would rise if the conrrol of prices
were to pass out of the hands of the factories.
The scarcity of cotton goods is aggravated by
the want of cotton cards. If an ample supply
of these could be obtained, the old-fashioned
spinning wheel would again come largely into
use, and the increase of hand looms in our farm
houses would materially check the present ten
dency of cotton goods to rise to extortionate
prices. The factories we have named deserve
1 much praise and the good will of the country
for their’moderation, for high as are their prices
they are less than they conld readily obtain.
They are less than other factories in Georgia
are charging for similar goods. Owing to the
supply being much shorter than the demand, all
that is made meets with ready sale—the high
er priced as readily as the lower. This makes
the liberal policy of the Augusta, Athens, and
Macon factories more conspicuously commend
able. It should be remembered to their credit
hereafter, and for their benefit, when blockades
are raised and peace returns, and the old state
of things, perhaps, is restored. The time was,
and at no distant period in the past, when
Southern factories struggled with difficulties
and embarrassments, and many were over
whelmed in ruin—when flimsy Yankee goods
flooded the South and brake down Southern
enterprises, established to furnish our people
with better articles at a mere living rate of
profit. But the delusion of a half cent or a
cent a yard less price tempted our merchants,
many of them Yankees with Yankee sympa
thies, tr reject the Southern made and buy the
low-priced Yankee made cotton sheeting, shirt
ing, and osnaburgs, and our Southern fellow
citizens yielded to the short-sighted policy of
aiding to break down Southern factories by giv
ing the preference to the products of Northern
looms.
Our people are now reaping the fruits of this
mistaken policy in scarcity of goods, and enor
mous prices. The few Southern factories that
have survived the chilling neglect of their own
people, and managed to struggle on to the
present day, are now reaping the reward of
their enterprize and perseverance. They are
gathering a rich harvest. The harvest may be
a short one. The long hoped for days of
Southern patronage may soon be over, and with
returning peace the old difficulties and pre
judices may have to be met by our Southern
manufacturers. It is impossible to foretell
what are to be their fortunes in the future. All
good citizens hope for an early and honorable
peace. Whether it comes soon or late, the war
has taught us some valuable lessons. We
would be glad to see our people applying them
at once, and not wait for peace before acting.
Capital and enterprize should at once combine
to supply all deficiencies in the manufacture of
necessary articles. But in future, whether in
peace or war, the public should not be too cen
serious of those manufacturing companies tha 1
are retrieving past losses and making present
gains, if it finds that they are pursuing the
policy of keeping down prices, instead of in
flating them. The course now adopted by the
Augusta. Athens, and Macon Factories does
keep down the price of their own goods,
and, in its moral influence, has a depressing
tendency upon other cotton goods. They can
not compel other factories to bring down their
prices. They are unable to produce a sufficient
quantity to force down the market. But they
have set a good example. They have obeyed
a patriotic impulse, and one which in the end
will result to their permanent advantage.
If, after this, persons still grumble at the
supposed inordinate profits of these companies,
let them direct their influence, not to pull down
these factories, but to build up others. The
field is wide—-the harvest abundant. He who
puts in motion an additional loom, or spindle, is
a public benefactor. The same cannot be said
of him who would throw obstacles in the way
of those already in operation.
THE GUNBOAT.
Mrs M J Hardy, Cassville, Geo, 85
Miss Bettie Hardy, “ 85
Miss Mattie Trippe, “ 85
Miss Sallie Trippe, “ 85
Miss Bettie Murford, Bartow co, 85
Mrs E E Ellington, Thomson, Geo, 81
Mrs Dr Wm Pitts, “ 81
Mrs Mary J Cowles, “ 81
Clarence Ellington, 50 cents.
Col. James Gardner —Sir : Enclosed you will
find five dollars, my contribution for the Georgia
Gunboat. May she prove to be all Georgia’s
daughters wish her to be; and commanded by the
gallant Tatnall, she cannot fail.
Respectfully, Mrs. E. R, Coryell.
Tunnel Hill, Ga., March 26, 1862.
PLANTER’S HOTEL.
The Charleston Courier, whose editors, if
they don't “knpw how to keep a hotel,’’are com
petent to judge when it is well done—endorse
as follows for the Planter’s, in this city:
Those of our readers who may have occasion to
visit Augusta, Georgia, will find the Planter’s
Hotel, of that city, one of the best in the Souths
era Confederacy. Large airy rooms, no tall flight
of stairs to ascend, an excellent table, an atten
tive host in the person of Mr. Robbins, and good
servants—these constitute some of the features of
the establishment, which have commended it to
the traveling public.
MORE CORN.
We observe that our cotton factors and ware
housemen have issued a card urging farmers to
plant double the usual amount of corn, and to
plant very little, if any, cotton. This appeal,
coming from those whose business depends upon
cotton, is most patriotic and praiseworthy. We
think, however, that they should have urged the
planting of three or four times the usual crop of
corn.