The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1844-08-09

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kee has bought it. lie has put up tn
fences, and driven his plough to the deem
err soil, and turned in the clover; aud oil
Fairfax is beginning 10 smile like colon,
of New England.
We have moved one step forward il
our argument; for we are agreed now tia
a freeman can support himself by agrcul
tural labor where a slave cannot. Blu
there is another thing to be considered
and that is skill. Now and then, 80,
will find in the South a smart negro, wht
has learned trade. Now and then. no
often, for trades are not to be learue,
without attention, and few will give mucl
attention to that which is not to repay
them for their trouble. A sklful slave i:
worth more to his master; but he is
worth no more to himself If he even
makes himself a master workman, he get.
no wages; and if he is the veresl botch
he still gets his two suits of clothes, his
corn meal, and his bacon. The slave me.
chanlcs are therefore few and not expert.
The great mas of the slaves in al! coun-
tries has always been, and always mus,
be, employed in mere labor, the common
est labor of the plantation. Taken as a
body, they cannot support themselves by
any other agricultural occupations.
Now, agricultural employmenis require
more ground than any other. A shoena-
ker can make his living on six feet square,
place ust big enough for his bed and
his bench. A thousand men can work
IN single mandatory. People who
live by their wits, thank Heaven, are not
expected TO be great landholders.
Freemen then can be slowed closer and
make living, than slaves can. The ira
ders, manufacturers, mechanics, probes
slonal men, may be crowded into towns,
so that hundred thousand shall live COM
for;ably on square mile of land. The
slave must be a farmer, or rather far
mer's laborer, and lazy, unskillul and
wasteful laborer to boot, who makes small
crops, and requires therefore much land
to raise enough to clo,he and feed him.
Remembering this, as second fact
about which we are not to have any fur
Their argument, let us 60 on to another
topic.
In new countries, where land is cheap,
agriculture is careless. That is to say,
the farmer picks out the best soil and
neglects the worse, and works over the
best somewhat roughly. When an acre
of new land can be bought for dollar
and quarter. people are not apt to pay
much Tor nlanuring an old one. In new
country, therefore, population is apt to be
scattered, only the best soils cultivated
and those cropped hard, so as to make the
most out of them for the time. When
they are exhausted, the settler moves ON
To another tract.
But as The country grows older, land
becomes more costly. People learn the
art OF living on smaller farms. The far
mer tries to improve what he has got. and
to make II yield all that the best culture
can bring out. Population ,hickens, and
at last The country becomes 30 full, and
land so dear, that it is difficult to obtain
living by mere labor. Then it is that
emigration begins, and the surplus popu-
la'on, incapable Of finding a support at
home, moves away to regions where land
is cheaper.
Now, if ever such a time shall come To
the slave States, it is very certain that tic
slaves, instead Of being valuable proper
~ to their masters, will become an in.
cumberance. 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 else is bound
to support him. Let this state of things
come about, and there will be no obiec-
lions to abolition, al least on the part of
the masters.
And this state Of things must and will
come, as surely as men continue 70 eat
anu urihK. Inc only question is |
When! When will the land of the slave
States, be so fully covered with popula-
ton as TO crowd out the slave Let us
see II we can answer this question.
There are parts of Europe which we
know to be fully stocked with population,
where mere labor scarcely earns living,
out relies IN par, on the poor.rates, and
where government is willing TO pay and
loes pay passage money for cmigran,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 presen, time
averages ITO persons for every square
mule, or one for every six acres in the
northern regions it is much less, MOI