ay
for his possession from the products of his own industry and the
fertility of the soil, there was comparatively little need of capital.
The operations of speculators frequently tended to retard settlement
rather than to stimulate it, as they shut out large areas from
cultivation or occupation, in order to hold them for an advance. In
many of the Territories a dozen able-bodied men, accustomed to farm
labor and willing to toil, were considered a greater acquisition than
a speculator with twenty thousand dollars of hard cash. Labor was of
more importance than capital.

To a certain extent this is still the case. Laboring men are greatly
needed on the broad acres of the far-Western States. No one who has
not traveled in that region can appreciate the sacrifice made by
Minnesota, Iowa, and Kansas, when they sent their regiments of
stalwart men to the war. Every arm that carried a musket from those
States, was a certain integral portion of their wealth and prosperity.
The great cities of the seaboard could spare a thousand men with far
less loss than would accrue to any of the States I have mentioned, by
the subtraction of a hundred. There is now a great demand for men
to fill the vacancy caused by deaths in the field, and to occupy the
extensive areas that are still uncultivated. Emigrants without capital
will seek the West, where their stout arms will make them welcome and
secure them comfortable homes.

In the South the situation is different. For the present there is a
sufficiency of labor. Doubtless there will be a scarcity several years
hence, but there is no reason to fear it immediately. Capital
and direction are needed. The South is impoverished. Its money is
expended, and it has no present source of revenue. There is nothing
wherewith to purchase the necessary stock, supplies, and implements
for prosecuting agricultural enterprise. The planters are generally
helpless. Capital to supply the want must come from the rich North.

Direction is no less needed than capital. A majority of Southern men
declare the negroes will be worthless to them, now that slavery is
abolished. "We have," say they, "lived among these negroes all our
days. We know them in no other light than as slaves. We command them
to do what we wish, and we punish them as we see fit for disobedience.
We cannot manage them in any other way."

No doubt this is the declaration of their honest belief. A Northern
man can give them an answer appealing