The Arkansas banner., 1845-02-26


 give only $60 per hand Deduct S3o and you nave S2l clear. Al the present price of cotton, astonishing as it may seem, S2I per hand IS all the cotton planter ca1-eXpeet to realize; and he must have good land, and manage well to do that. 1 do not believe if can De done by one planter in three. in Soutb carolina; and there Is not one in hundred who can do better. Letevery planterlav aside his boastlng to others, and calculate the matter Tor hilhSeli, and 10 himself, if he chooses.
 This sum of $2l, is the interest on &20O And affirm, that every dollar paid far a prime negro, over and above that amopnt ;s thrown away by the folly of the planter lie can't afford to pay more. If he persists III doing It, his ruin is inepitable--wiiheut Abolition, or increase of the Tariff. djsunion or War--just in the natural course of thogs Nith cotton al $ cents-which was what inc last crop was probably sold at-this amaunt would "ooa bring 5000 So that negroes TOW at f5oo, are no cheaper to the planter than lhey were at this lime last year at &6O0.- But he who purchased last year on twelve months credit, for $500, will have to pav now l3,00O lbs. of cotton, or as much as if he had paid last year Tl.200 in cash. At the very highest time of cotton--in lS37-S. when many planters crops netted IS cents Prlme field hands might be purchased for Spi i,2O0, or 6,666 lbs. Of cotton-nearlv l. 0a0 lbs. less than will now pay for one even at P30O. This shows that, at this apparently low estimate, they would be really higher than in those times which we now deno1nce for their recklessness and extravagance.
 But if in that period of high prices, 1t was ihoug It ruinously extravagant to give 6,666 lbs ot cotton for negro, what is 10 be said ol planters who now give for one, as many are doing, $500 or l2,500 lbs. of cotton ?- Gan 1t be said they do it in hopes of higher prices for cotton? Then l say they arc the boldest and most uncalculating spectators in the world. And ask any of then to give me single reason why cotton should rise, m one, two or three years, if at all.
 What have said in regard to the value of negroes, and their prices, is true of every-I thing else. Last year l selected mules from a Kentucky drove at S25. sold my cotton at over s cents net. Each mule cost ne. say 1000 lbs. This year the same drover called on me, and asked Sl00 for choice That was 2,500 lbs cotton. offered him the same price l gave last year, viz: 1,000I lbs. ot cotton; but could not persuade him that l was in earnest. Yet my cotton was as hard to make as last year; and his mules no more difficult to rear. Though l could not think of giving I50 per cent. more for mules this year than the last, other planters did
 purchased my cotton osnaburgs last year at s cents, or less than l h. cotton per ward l have since been compelled to pay 10 cents for the same quality, or 2 lbs. per yard. IlI IS said the Tariff does not raise prices. To be sure the difference between and 10 cents. though enough, is not fatal; but the dif1e- renee between ] lb of cotton, and 9 lbs. IS fatal and thus our ruin is eonsummated.
 could go in this way through almost all the items of a planters expenditure but enough has been said. It is the hocus-pocus of the aftifclal standard of value, which con- fuses the poor agriculurisi, and leads him to ruin. He changes his produce into money, and his money into necessaries or property He seldom makes the double calculation. If the prices of what he buys are the same, or a little higher, than formerly, he thinks it all right. Il little lower, he thinks he has bargain, not reaecling that 1t has cost him two Or three times as much cotton, labor, and sweat of the brow. myself bought pair of common mares the other day for 5 I25, and thought that had them wonder fully cheap; until 1t struck me that would not have given S200 for them last year, vet they had cost me now as good as S9250 at that time. Thus we go. And what are we to do' My answer Is, that the colton-plan- iers should sacredly abstain from going into debt for anything, at any price; that they should refuse to pay more cotton than they formerly did for anything they do buy--so far as they possibly can-and buy nothing they can do without. If they cannot we'll hold their cotton, or do not desire ii. let them keep all the money they get for t il> old stockings, leather bags, or tin boxes.- Sooner or later everything must come down to the price of cotton; and they will make the highest rate of interest by keeping their surplus funds idle in the Sub-reaSury. Such d course will facilitate the fall of prices to the Cotton standard, which is the only standard by which the planters can live. Bankers, Brokers, Slc. may adhere to their aaoncy stan- dard as long as they please; but let them prey upon one another. We have as good a right to take care of ourselves, as they have.
 JONATHAN SLOW. THE RAILROAD TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
 in our report of the Congressional pro-