Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1849-03-16
WILMINGTON. N. c.. FRIDAY. MARCH Is, $40.

Give to its own prosperity, should be deiri-
mental to others, should yet take the South at
its word as to its decline, and seek for other
causes of such result. This has been done,
and negro slavery has with extraordinary una
nimity been fixed upon as the great and eff
cient cause of Southern decline And it is
now assumed that the South, particularly the
older States, is undergoing the process of i'm
povershmeRt, depopulation, and decay. AT
the North she is continually spoken of by al
most all classes, in terms of mingled condem-
nation and pity. She is accused of idleness,
ignorance, cruelty, and pride. She is advised
TO emancipate her slaves, and emulate the
North in enterprise, industry, and civiiza-
ton.
The first object of civilized life is TO accu-
mulate wealth, as on that depends improve
ment in science and the arts, and the supply
of the multiplied wants OF society in that
state
And hence it is that the South is declared to
be falling behind the civilization of the age,
and is advised TO abandon her peculiar insli-
tuition in order to avoid the disastrous condi-
ton OF ignorance and barbarism that awaits
her.
Now in an age like this, of pre-eminent in
telligence, with the schoolmasters all abroad
with the universal diffusion of the press,
and the post, and on question like this, of
the first magnitude, and the least completely,
and whilst the people of the two sections are
continually travelling amongst each other, and
engaged in discussions with one another in
stages and steamboats,, in cars, in hotels, on
the stump, and in Congress-it is scarcely
credible that universal mistake prevails as
to the farts. Yet in opposition to the exist
ing opinion on the subject. maintain that the
South is greatly the superior of the North in
wealth, in proportion to the number Of their
citizens respectively and this will appear by
a comparison and progress of the white peo-
pie of the respective sections. The North,
and even many in the South, have assumed a
decline in manufactures and commerce, to be
decline of general prosperity. This is an
error. The policy of the Federal Government,
and the domestic institutions of the Southern
States, have indeed been unfavorable to the
latter in those pursuits, but the agriculture of
the South has maintained and advanced in
prosperity beyond that of any other people.
Let US first examine the condition of the
white people of the two sections.
The State of Massachusetts, for instance, is
generally regarded as one of the most success
full and flourishing of the North and is con-
stantly referred to by the newspapers as mo-
del for all the others, and very frequently as
taunt to the Southern If, however, we
compare this favorte of the North, with Ma
ryland, a Southern State of similar territorial
extent, and one of the least OF the Southern
States, we shall find the latter to be decidedly
superior in wealth in proportion to the num-
Der of her citizens. According to the census
of 1910, Maryland had a free population of
3s0,282, and in 1847 her property we assess
ed at $500, 272, $685. Massachusetts in 1910
had population of 1877 500, and her property
now is only $30O,OoO,OO0. Taking these
two assessments as the basis of comparison,
and it appears that the average property of a
free person in Maryland was 1881, whilst in
Massachusetts it is now, in the palmiest days
she has ever seen, only $406 per head-the
freeman of Maryland being about Is per cent
the richer.
The States of New York and Virginia are
both of great territorial extent, and not mate
rally unequal in that respect. New York is
also regarded habtually, as one of the grand
est products OF free institutions-and the pres
emf condition OF Virginia is continually refer
red to, as striking and melancholy result of
slavery. Her poverty, her ignorance, her
ldleness, her decay, and her misery are the
LOplSS vi pOlllICdI puIIOSO.
ply here and abroad. Let US now consider
the facts. Her free population in 1910, ac-
cordlng to the census, was 79O,81O, and her
property is now about 100000, OOO.t The
population of New York in 1910 was 2,428,-
921, and in 1917 her property is assessed at
$632, 699 1893. The average property of a
free white person in Virginia is S75S; in New
York it is only $500, or a little more than
one-third
Virginia, instead of being poor and in need
of the pity of the much poorer population of
the North, is perhaps the richest community
in the world The average wealth of the peo-
pie OF Great Britain may be about the same,
but it is not near SO productive, and think it
demonstrate that no people on earth live in a
condition of greater comfort and enjoyment
than those of Virginia. Nor is there any rea-
son to fear decline in her wealth. Accord
ing to the census returns of 1910, Virginia,
with free population of less than one-third
OF that OF New York, and a capital something
less, produced from the various branches Of
her industry, more than half the product of
New York; and as the total population of
Virginia, slave and free, is only about half
that of new York, it is clear that, after deduc.
ting the annual consumption of both, Virginia
will have larger proportional surplus re-
naming to augment the stock of her perna
nent property.
If now we examine the relative condition
of the new States the same results are appa-
rent. The States of Kentucky and Ohio lie
side by side, and are of similar climate. fertil-
ity, and extent-the proportion of rich land
being, however, less in Kentucky. Their age
is also nearly the same, Kentucky having
been admitted as a State about eleven years
before Ohio. Ohio is considered the most
prosperous State in the West, and is continu-
ally contrasted with Kentucky for the purpose
of illustrating the blighting effects of slavery
on the latter. Let US see with what reason.
In 1910, Kentucky had free population of
SGT SIC, and her property amounts, according
to her tax as <essment of 1913, to about 272,-
SAT- $685. Ohio, in 1910, had population of
1919, 457, and her assessment last year was
421 ,O67 ,991S The average value of proper
ty belonging to each free person in Kentucky
is S456-in Ohio it is only s276, or more than
one third less; and as the population of Ohio
is now still greater in proportion to that OF
Kentucky than in 1910, the difference in favor
of the latter is still more
Nothing is more common than the opinion
that the price of land in Kentucky is. in con-
sequence of slavery, much lower than in Ohio.
I have examined the Auditors reports OF both
States, which present in detail the valuation
of all their lands In Kentucky the average
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