The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-06-09

u numbers OF poor laboTefs have fiocked b
y that State for employment. What ha
s been the consequence! An increase o
: population beyond all precedent--a growtl
a OF improvement, Of wealth, and Of genera
! prosperity never before resulted in simila
case. In little more than half the time
the aggregate wealth Of Ohio has grown
from almost nothing to a value twice a,
!. great as that of Kentucky, slaves excepted
We speak according to the assessments, be
they night or wrong True, the average
wealth OF the population 10 much inferior "a
that OF the free Kentuckins. How, i'm such
circumstances, could il have been otherwise!
But let Us consider what a vast amount OF
aggregate wealth the people Of Ohio
have created within 80 years, beginning
with an average capital exceedingly small;
and at what rate are they now going on to
accumulate? The growing demand for labor
there is eyinced by the continued influx OF
poor industrious men. This checks the in.
crease Of Average wealth, but il accelerates
the increase ofaggresate wealth. No where
on earth. perhaps, in so large community,
is there so rapid development Of all the
elements OF prosperous and refined civil
ization as in Ohio. Her people. hastily
gathered from half the nations of Europe,
and half the States Of the Union, form as
yet a crude mass. fernenting like new
wine. With much original impurity, soci-
ciety is working itself clear; the young
population is nearly all at school; and
when it comes forth to act its part, what
slave-holding community on earth can show
such glorious results of slavery as Ohio
will then show Of what man can do under
the benehcent influences of universal lib
erty. universal education, and universal
industry
We are getting on slowly with Mr..
Fisher. We have reviewed but six pages
of the thirty-six in his pamphlet. But let
not the reader be alarmed lest we should
continue al this slow rate. These SIX pages
contain the foundation Of his argument.
ALI the rest is supeIstructure. some Of it so
light and himsy that we shall not need
even to touch it. We thought il best to
tear up his foundation thoroughly and effect.
ually. Then the superstructure would fall
of itself. Where it has some appearance Of
solidity, we shall give it slight push, suf.
icient to make it fall in pieces. We wish,
as we 90 along. not merely to refute, but to
present facts and principles, which, besides
removing the errors Of Mr.. Fisher, shall
furnish the reader with the means OF FORM
ing a right decision on the great question
now under discussion in Kentucky.
If we have heretofore occupied much
more space in refuIing, than Mr.. Fisher
occupied in presenting. his erroneous arsu-
ments, let it be considered that BOBBY can
in FIVE minutes so tangle a hank Of yarn
that philosopher could hardly disentangle
il in day; much more, then, can such
genius as Mr.. Fisher no dsranss and ra,isap-
ply few facts and principles, that such
plodders as we are must take nearly a page
to set hall-a-dozen lines TO rights. But let
US proceed.
On page Z he attempts to Justify his
method Of considering slaves merely as
property, like hogs and muIes-adding
their estimated value to the wealth, deduct.
ing their number from the population, and
then calculating the wealth Of State upon
the basis Of its free population only. We
have said enough heretofore to expose this
statistical trickey, so We shall leave his
fimsy justification to fall by its own alb
surdity. But in the following sentence he
tells such rousing fb, that we must quote
and contradict him. He saws: "The
Southern States are still weather. than the
Northern. counting the slaves as persons,
and leaving them out as property.
Now this is an assertion which he has
not proved, and cannot prove, and cannot
render even plausible to the most superficial
reader, without falsifying facts, and contra.
dieting the plainest evidence, both direct
and circumstantial-and what is more, con.
radicting himself, where, in his zeal for
the course Of slavery, he most inconsistency
attributes to the tariff policy the ruin Of
Southern commerce and manufactures; and
looking on the desolation of Southern
cities, re-echoes from alar the obsolete
howl of the South Carolina wolves Of null.
lficstion. a p .r- .s-. r -
On page s he says: The triumph of
Southern enterprise and capital in the accu-
mutation Of wealth being established as a
fdct-demands an investigation OF its eau
ses.'
This is quite philosophical. First make
sure Of your fact; then search for the ,chy
and the achereby. But what il the fact be
not established; il the triumph Of southern
enterprise and capital be in fact a defeat
What then? Still we must search for the
causes. This we intend to do: and more
over, we shall show that Mr.. Fishers as.
signed causes of the supposed triumph. are
the very causes of the actual defeat. But
before we follow his investigation Of causes,
we shall give additional evidence that the
shout Of triumph is premature. is5.la.a .Ha
We shall not be 30 unreasonable "a to
conclude from two or three assessments OF
taxable property, that the south is on the
whole either more or less wealthy than the
north. We shsll take the best evidence
that can be had, which is the returns Of the
last census. These, though OF course La
bic to some error, are not liable 10 the ma.
terial objection that we have shown to lie
against State assessments, as evidence OF
comparative wealth. The census had no
reference TO taxation, and presented little
temptation to falsify in answering questions
about the products Of industry. 1t had ref.
erence to precisely the same matters, and
was conducted on the same principles, in
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