Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1844-08-06

the slave States, it is very certain that the
slaves, instead of being valuable property
to their masters, will become an incum-
brance Whenever man eats more than
he earns, he must be dependent for support
on the earnings of others; and in the case
of the slave, the dependence must be on
the master, for no one elsc is bound to sup
port him. Let this state of things come
about, and there will be no objection TO
abolition, at least on the part Of the mas
ters.
And this state Of things must and vii,
come, as surely as men continue to eat and
drink. The only question When?-
When will the land Of the slave States be
so fully covered with population as to crowd
out the slave? Let US see if we can an
swer this question.
There are parts of Europe which We
know to be fully stocked with population.
where mere labor scarcely earns living,
but relies in part on the poor-rates, and
where government is willing to pay and
does pay passage money for emigran,s to
America, in order to relieve itself Of the
burden of supporting them at home. In
the more fertile part Of the continent OF
Europe, the population at the present time
averages ITO persons for every square
mile, or one for every six acres: iE the
northern regions it is much less. Not that
every square mile can do this. One may
be a swamp, another a coal field, hundreds
Of others covered with the waters of rivers,
lakes and inland seas but on the whole,
taking the good with the bad, the prodlc-
tive with the impracticable, the city pave
ment and the turnpike road, and the wood
land with the arabic farm, in the long ave
rage, six acres Of land in the west of Eu-
rope are barely sufficient to raise food for
a human being. Beyond this, with the
strictes; economy, and highest skill, and
most unhinching industry, European lands
have not gone. Indeed, long befole the
population reaches this point. voluntary
emigration begins with those who have the
rTeans; and when the point is fully reached,
the guardians Of the poor are busy freight
ing ships to carry off their paupers.
a But all these Europeans do not live by
agriculture. One half at least, so the
books say, live in the cities and towns, in
London with its millions, in Paris, Vienna,
&C., where tradesmen can flourish with
GU, occupying their shares OF the land
n OF so our American slaves they, Us we
have seen, must live in the country, ard
use up their full proportion Of The soil.
And hence as we know, there are no large
towns in the slave States, except such as
are supported by commerce with abroad.
More than fifteen siXteenths of all the in
habtnnts of those States. as known by the
last census, live on farms.
Remember now that the slave, whatever
his employment, produces less and wastes
more than the freemln, and add TO it the
fac, from the n,ture Of his occupation, he
requires more land, and it will be easy To
see that if six acres, ON the average, are
required TO support freeman, who works
for himself, cool deal more will be ne
cessary to make food for a human being
under the igHoFant, lazy, and th:iltlcss
culture Of n slave.
1t has been said, and with apparent
truth, that from thirty five to forty in The
square mile, is about as larga II population
as slave labor can support. The riHicns
Of England began to be freed when III .
population attained this rate, many humid
rcd years ago. Delaware, where slavery
is nearly worn out, the entiie number Of
its slaves being but ? GOO, has an avcrag
of little over thirty-iye and those parts
of Maryland and Virginia, which have
approached this average, find slave labor
unproductive, and scarcely more than ale
quate to its own support.
Here, then, we have the Two extremes
Slavery begins to be "A bad Business for the
master when the country becomes so
lhickly settled that on the average 20 p"o-
pie living on square mile Of land F.;
aud when the average reaches 10, mere
MLor, whether bond or free, IS unable to
support itself, bur is forced to rely in whole
or in part on the skill and charity Of 9th,
CrS.
When will these numbers be reached in
our Southern States 1t is a mere ques-
ton of arithmetic, and an easy one. w
know what the population of the Slave
States was in 1890, Is o, 1910, 1880 and
1910, and can easily cal:ulate the rate OF
its increase. This rate has varied some
what; some times rising as high as 33 per
cent. for period of ten years some
times sinking TO about 20 L., when causes
happened 10 encourage emigration more
than usual. The average has been about
30 per cent.-that is TO say, at the end OF
ten wears 1870 inhabita ants have been found
where leo used TO be- Thus in 1890 the
slave population was about two millions
in 1900 about two millions six hundred
thousand in $50 something less than
three millions and half: in 1870 four
millions and a half: in 1880 fJe millions
and three quarters: and in 1910, little
over seven millions and a third. If the
population shall continue to increase in the
Southern States, as it has done thus far, ii
will have reached twenty-five millions by
the year 1881, and about the year 1926
will not be less than seventy millions. So
far is plain enough. There is no mistake
in the calculation, nor in the facts OF
which il rests. Examine then as we may.
the result is ms we have just stated 1t In
1887, twenty-five millions-in 1926, sew
cnty millions. Now mark the conclusion.
The entire area of the present Slave
States and Slave Terrilores, counting IN
Delaware. the District of Columbia, and
the Floridas II IL a little less than 100000