Newspapers / North Carolina Argus (Wadesboro, … / July 2, 1863, edition 1 / Page 1
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. i .: - ,:'. r:.;. v'!-.' n,-f'' V ' i-Jfr.'-t ;v;-,.. , ;'v n jm: i in 3 V . V 10- 1 NEW SERIES VOL. Y NO. 25. J WADESB0R0D6H, N.- C;i TIIDRSDAY, JUIY2, 1863. ' WHOLE NO. '237.'. 1ATE, IMPORTANT AND RELIABLE INTELLI GENCE FROM THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DE "PAttTMENT;VICKSB0RO AND PORT HUDSON. We have at last direct and poiitiye in ' felligenco from beyond the Mississippi, which clears up all doubts, myhs and ru mors which have been vexing us for some .'weeks past.", x '. '.' . We gather our information from an Intel lisrent ccntleman. iustf from 'the headquar ' tts of Gen. Kirby Smith, who has official relations with that army ana wrurcrossea -the Mississippi TJVer 'at Natchez last fn- day. The first important fact wo learned is that Gen. Smith is fully posted as to the situation at Vicksburg arid Port Hudson, and is directing thn forces of his department with a view to second Gen.Johnslon on this side the river in the worh of raising the siege of those two cities. General Smith s x headquarters were at' Shreveport, from which p)int he has easy water communica. tiori "with the Mississippi, to a point- near VIcluburi:. by the Ked, Black and Tensas rivers. His troops are already at the posts selected -forjthcmin carrying out Gen. "SrijithVgreat plan,' which is to out ofTGen. - Grant's supplies. "-To this end Gen. Wal ker's diri'ion, of Gen. Pick TaylorVarmy, was already at Young's Point with 7,000 men, niul the arti!leiy necessary to com mand the river as to transports and other wooden vessels. ' jV: T T' "Three thousand men under Brig. Gen. Green, were on the peninsula opposite to Port Hudson, and in n position, with the -aid of General Ganlner's batteries, to com j)!e'Iy close the river totlie enemy's boats. Marmaduke, of Gfn. Price's army, was year Helena, and Gen. Price with 17,000 imea. was on-the march for that pojnt, his object being the same, .to command the river, and cut off G rant's ' supplies. The zrenl fall in the Mississippi river, 23 feet below high water mark, afforded preat faeil- Tim fo Uiese cijerHiions. The narrowness f the stream forced passiag vessels to como within easy range of the shore batteries" wljiic the "river had sunk so low that the attacking parties could not be reached by the enemy s gunboat. - Tbegiirrisonsof Port Hudson and Vicks-l-urg n re hath wel) provided and in fine spir 'i - cicli uneasy about the fate of the other, !.ut entirely confident in their own situation. TU?y havi nhundajit supplies. News has ,bet received from Vicksburgup toSatur Uv night. v Grant's army is undoubtedly uircrinfor-wantf-wnterrnnd-suflering inlre from being obliged to drink the water f the BigBlack which is very unwholesome. As our informant says Gen. Johnston is in no hurry to ., move, for . this, among other reason'; that he does not like to intcrferi? with llic action of the waters. He is" in regular communication with the west of tho Mississippi, and all are working to a com mon endthe starvation of tho enemy, the raising: of the siege, and the capture of as many as possible when he begins to move o(I -:p 'v-;; .:V;V, !- , Louisiana has beenr abandoned by the enemy, and there arc no Yankee troops ex cept about Donaldson ville. General Mou toawith 7,000 is at Fxanklin," St. Mary 'I parish. In their retreat: ibe Yankees car ried off mules and'destroyed many wagons. Hut: most of the negroes have been rec- entertainment' of the enemy -defy' and laugh- at tbo - hosts who -nre scowlingand digging outside of their works. While He says, u Such a tax 'would afford abund ant' subsistence anot forage, and it would relieve the currency Grant sits down quietly that is, as quietly, from an issue of the amount necessary to as Big Black' water and the sun and mus quitoes willpermit to starve out Pembcr ton, Kirby Smith, Price and Taylor are ar ranging little details i to starve him out and compel him to abandon his unheahby.lo- cahty, . .'- . r.'i v, : ' -. Once'again our climate comes to our aid, The.rivers havcrfallen with unwonted ra; pidity, and the enemy's vessels, stranded on sand banks, are beauty sp6ts,on the pic turesque scenes of the great river. If Grant is forced to retire, many of the vessels of the lankee tlect between Vicksburg and Port Hudson must be lost: When scarcity, bad water, malaria and i demoralization have done their work upon Grant's hosts, Johnston's opportunity will have arrived, and we have strong hopes that a combined attack between hiin and Pemberton will result in realizing one of those " pulveriz ing" military operations of which we read so much in Northern papers. W e think the Situation greatly relieved, and --worcertai n ly 'b feat hei f reef."" We carHiow afford to , await with becoming patience. Mobile Register, nth. n w -w v I the necessities of the country, the wants of nvrvvTrnvnP TfrprrtffTcTrtVPnnTTTTTS I - v t rvr purchase the articles levied in kind. :i Now, if the purchasing agents buy all the wheat iit the country that" is for sale the very object of the tax bill Will be destroy ed And Jtjvill virtually be rendered null and void. ' The Government will not be withdrawn from the market as av purchas er of articles of prime necessity, and the currency will not be relieved from an issue of the amount necessary to purchase the ar tides levied in hand.H . . ' -Wliene ver wheat js exposed to the enemy, then it might be 1 "advisable to purchase a portion Of it in order that the enemy may not get It, and in order that the armymav be suppiiecTuntil the tax can be collected. Further than this they should, not go If the Government become -the purchaser of all or the greater part of .jthe wheat in. the country, a monopoly m-articles of : : . . 1 1 1. . -.j il- purchasing agents -of the Government will possess aj most unlimited powef over arti cles of subsistence.' There ought to be and that soon, a convention of the Commission ers of the various States, and in view of t he case,but nevertheless the money.value of f. the crop will not be decreased, because the ( scarcity of the article will enhance the pried. The corn crop of the Confederate States in 1860 amounted to two. hundred and eighty, millions, six hundred and sixty five thousand and fourteen bushels, (280,665,014.) The. wheat crop in the same year, amounted to thirtv one millions three hundred and sixty six thousand eight hundred arid ninety four busoeIs,-(3l,3GG.894.) 1 uiiiuiuiii.iiiivii uciwccil iiiw i-aav OP PURCUASINO AOEN.TS. The statistics submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury in his recent report to Con grcss, and which are referred to by our cor respondent Confederate" in his article in this morning's issue, on the ! Resources of the Confederate States," furnished impor tant and valuable information td the coun- try- It is evident that there will be an abun dant supply- of articles of food dating next- year and the remainder of this. The wheat crop of 1860, it appears, amounted to 31, 306,691 bushelsr and the corn to 280.665,- 014 bushels. The probability is, that the wheat and corn crops of this year will con siderably rxceed those of I860. "Upon the supposition that they will be the same, and allowing five millions of bushels of wheat for so wing this fall, there will be left twenty five millions of bushels of wheat to be made into flour. This will make seven hundred and fifty millions of pounds of Hour, 'allow ing enly thirty pounds of flour, to a bushel of uhcat. The army will not require more than one hundred and thirty millions of jwundslpjfjl year if they use corn meal during one third of that time. The Secretary of the Treas ury estimates that the tax bill will draw out 3,136,000 bushels of wheat or 94,030, 000 pounds of flour. This will lack about 1,500,000 bushels of being enough to supply the army. If the army should use flour and corn meal in equal quantities, then perhaps the amount to be collected by taxation would be sufficient without any purchases being made. The corn raised during this year will not be much less than four hundred millions of bushels, one-tenth of which wouldf be forty millions, which is to be obtained by taxation;:;: This will probably be as much as the army will need. Secretary Mem minger in his report estimates that one tenth of the productions of the country will be sufficient to sustain the arm v. In this ductions, they ought to determine what amount will be necessary lo be purchased and what will be a reasonable price. J . We are satisfied from yhat we have seen and heard, that onp dollar and a half or at most, two dollars &- bushel .will be a verv remunerating price for wheat Weneed cheap brpad, and there is no use in creating an artificial scarcity when the earth isteern-(ng-'Wah -abuadancer The.soldjers in the field and their families at home, are4njured to ah alarming extent by high prices, abd when - the Almighty-has -blessed us with abundant harvests, we ought not by com binations and monopolies to cause prices to be kept up at the present rubious rates.' If the present tax bill will not afford abund ant subsistence to the army in bread and forage," let it be increased until it will, and by all means let the Government be with drawn from the market as a purchaser , of articles of prime necessity, whenever it can be done with safety." Wc are satisfied there will be an abundance of food, if it is prop erly taken care of, to subsist our army aqd people for nearly two years, and theretore -r, . - r 1 Lrrr i7T nr.rhnns hn is somnwhat under the nroDer oUnuJginenli matesTnuhannvHreq but ers. : i "j..v'i.?;'':'''wV, it is evident that not very much more will west banksoftheMissisiippi at Natcbez and niany other placestwaiConstantand uninterrup.tcd, The enemy's gunboats are , powerless to prevent, it. Ten thousand head of cattle were on thci r way to this side and have probabl y passed by this time. . The Crescent regiment arid theJ8ih Lou? isiatia, both of which wero formerly sta tioned near Mobile, are at Bayou ,Lumou rie. sjxteen miles below Alexandria V Gen. Magruder has his eyes fixed on yicksburgriaod is coroporating Ayith- his leliow-aoldiers nearer the sceno of action. ; The foregoing factsmay be 'relied upon or their general accuracy ; and the'y put a vw laco on the great cantpaigo 111 the vaU lev. PemVertnn ftnHRrf?npr-.sVmt on in kanpfe rberTaised by - the tax bill; if it is properlv enforced. ' ' 0 : - It is, therefore, proper that; tbereJshDuld be. a convention of-: the Commissioncrsrof the various States in order to ascertain what will be the probable wants of tho army and what the probable amount of products in the country, in order4to determine what will be fair prices for the articles to be pur chased. There should be" a uniform sche dule of prices; with the exception of thedif. ference of transportation. There is rie rea son why bacon should be worth in Tennes see only; thirty-five cents, and in . Georgia from seventy-nve to eighty-five. One main object of this tax : bill, as .stated .by the Sec retary of the' Treasury, is to yithd'raw from "the market the Government as a pur chaser of articles : of prime necessity, we think this is a matter which should at tract public attentron. . Wo have not at present the means of knowing tile amount of hogs ..that, can be prepared for market during next fall, but we think it will be shown there will be an ample supply. A large corn crop generally produces a large hog crop; and therefore" we think the fears Which ate entertained, by. many - that there vill be a deficiency of hogs,' will be found to be groundless. Ve have submitted these views, be cause in our opinion the subject is One which deserves consideration, and we are fearful from indications which wo 4 have seen that unduly high prices may be placed upon r articles of pirime "Necessity. Qhatianooga Rebel. " RESOURCES OP THE CONEEDERATB STATES OUR ABILITY TO PAY OUR DEBT, - Tfie amount of property in the Confed eracy has been estimated at near five thous and millions of dollars, (5,000,000.000,) or to be more exact, at four thousand five hundred and sixty two millions of dollars ($4,502,- 000,000.) : V ! 4 1 - At the present high prices of property, it is probable that the present value of taxa ble property Jn the Confederate States is not much less than seven thousand millions of dollars, ($7,000,000,000.) ' . : r ' . The value of an ordinary cotton crop was over two hundred and forty millions of dollars, at former prices. . At present pri ceit would amount to not less "than four hundred millions of dollars. It is probable that after the closeof this war,theamountof cotton raised will not be so great as former ly, owing to the fact that . so many negroes; have been stolen by J the enemy, and the further fact that so much more of the labor These were the main agricultural : pro ductions .during that year. In these esti- mates," the wheat and corn produced in Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland, are not included. The value of slaughtered ani- . mals in I SCO, was eighty one millions four hundred andeUrhty-t wo thousand three hun dred and one dollars, ($81,482,301") ; ; : I have riot included in these estimate's . the wool, rye, barley, hay, fodder arid various other agricultural products. I have only mentioned the principal products, though the others -in the aggregate,1 amount to a ' considerable sum" This Was the condition. df thing's fn 1860,'but as the country grort-sT" and i nc re ases in wealth; the amount of the": debt will pb relatively reduced. If the debt -shQuld be two thousand millions ! and the value of the property, should only, be six, thousand millions,, then the debt would be -one third of the value of 'the "property, but if the value of-the property should be in creased to twelve thousand millions, then the debt would be only one sixth of the. value of the property ' and 'so ori as' the -property Increases (pnvalue, the debt, would in proportion.'be. diminished.. . A- considerablei: portion of T our debt will bearf six, seven ana eight, per cent, interest, but " so soon as ilisascertained that the interest Tv ill be promptly "puid, and 4 the ."principal ? made secure, then our Government,- can borrow money at a much lower rate of ifl-' terest and redeem the bond!,: bearing the higher rates of intereil.. The value of bonds does not depend so much upon the npmi- (. nal rate of interest which tbey beir as upoa he confidence felt' in their ultimate redemp tion, and the promptness with vhich the interest is paid. In this way our debt will ;. e virtually reduced without any had laith on our part, and jill in tbeJ course of time UC Ull UcllU. : ' . ' --. An export duty of five cents per pound . on cotton aud also an export duty on tobac- co, will raise a large sum of money, and wiiljrapidJyreduce-the ebt-Wowcotton-at twenty-fivecents a pound is the cheap est article that can be used for clothmg the" world. No country except the Confederate States can grow cotton at twenty-five cents a pound, and if an export duty of five cents is placed on cotton, the consumer win have to nay the five cents duty, and it will '- not raise the price so mucn to mm as 10 keep- him from purchasing. An export duty might "be so brge as to prevent the consumer from purchasing the article with the duty added on, but this we do not think would be the case with a duty of five cents . on the pound for cotton. . What would be a proper export duly' on tobacco I cannot ''A say, but I suppose ten cents a pound would hot interfere with its sale at ajh In this way the consumers of our , exports might 7 be made to aid in the payment of our debt."" . . - - - - . 1 i . Jjiilna!ejTrcieM to ruirchaspat so mnch" lower rate? h rvj m iced -yid clothisri than ras he?etclbre.:: right to do, and whether we exercise that right is a- matter for our own decision. . "There is one .view of this subject which ought, in my opinion, to be impressed on the people, and especially on thos wjio -4 have investments to make. . The property: will have to be heavily taxed to pay the debt. The holders of the bond will have butjittle if any tax to pay,: and will receive the v money 1 paid by . others. All the money , : V paid bv taxation will be paid to the holders f the'bonds. and thus it will be returned ; : to our own citizens and thereby the wealth . - : . -ti tr v.. 1 Tk:. ot the country wiu noi ue retmceu. ui . -view shows' the importance of men making x. : ' investments' in Governmerit bonds; instead H of real and "personal property; All men 41 , have an opportunity of making investments Vv in bonds, and. if they prefer making them 4 In twonertv rather than in bonds, they have r-f-. noright to Complain if those who "manifest Set yburth twia . , . - ' 4 y ' -0 n :1 4 4 1 t : ,
North Carolina Argus (Wadesboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 2, 1863, edition 1
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