| From the Raleigh Standard |
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| November 20, 1861 |
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| Salt |
| We are glad to see that H. D. Bird, Esq,
the Superintendent of the South Side Railroad, Petersburg, has given
notice that that company has made arrangements with the Virginia &
Tennessee Railroad, by which salt can be procured from the salt works
in Western Virginia, and delivered in Petersburg at low rates. The
conditions upon which the salt will be sent for by the Petersburg
Company are, that speculators must have nothing to do with it, and the
party or parties bespeaking a train of cars must have 2,800 bushels
ready to load at the works, and hands to load it. The charge per
hundred weight from the works to Petersburg, will be 65 cents. The
Southside Road connects with the Virginia & Tennessee Road at
Lynchburg. The salt works at Abingdon, Va., are about one hundred
miles west of Statesville, in this State. We learn that several of the
farmers in Chatham county, and many persons further west, have sent
their wagons to the works in Virginia for salt. The article will cost
them from $10 to $12 per sack, making a full allowance for their teams
per day; but this is much better than to have to depend on speculators
for the article, and to have to pay $15 to $20 per sack. |
| There are three things which, looking to a
continuance of the blockade and the war, ought to be done at once. First,
a connection should be made between the iron and coal region of
Chatham County and the Railroads of the State. Second,
manufactories of iron ought to be established, for, unless they are,
iron will become exceedingly scarce. We shall have little or none for
farming or Railroad purposes. Thirdly, a company or companies
should be engaged by the State and, to make salt on the seashore.
South Carolina has gone into the latter business, and it is expected
that in the course of a few weeks large quantities of salt will be
produced at some point on her coast. |
| But what shall be done with those
speculators who have salt on hand, purchased for $2 to $4 per sack, at
the outside, and who are asking $15 to $20 for it? Will they complain
at being compelled to sell at one hundred per cent. profit? That would
be $4 to $8 per sack. But would not fifty per cent. be an ample
profit? We say let the strong arm of the law be laid on all
extortioners, whether in salt or other articles. The suffering poor,
the weak, the defenceless, the laborers and the worthy, are too much
at the mercy of sharpers and speculators. They must be protected. They
cannot collect their honest dues from those who might pay if they
would, for there is almost no law for the collection of debts. The
necessaries of life are held at prices which would be enormous, even
if such people had what is justly their own; and on the back of all
this, salt, which preserves life, is sold at five or six times its
value, while corn, the very staff of life, is being turned for gain
into whiskey. We say nothing against good whiskey in its place,
but we do protest against distilling it in large quantities from corn,
or wheat, or rye at a time like this. When the poor ask for bread,
will ye offer them whiskey? Keep corn for hungry mouths, and
let whiskey take care of itself while the war lasts. If it should
become scarce and command high prices, but few will complain; but a
dearth of corn, or meat, or salt will be vitally felt, and may even
cripple our people in their struggle for independence. |
| These remarks are, of course, general. We
have had no one in our eye while writing them. But they are true, and
it will be well for all of us if we heed them in time. |
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