Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1849-06-02

over those OF the North in proportion TO
their respective numbers; and this, by
comparing the less prosperous of the
South with the most fiourishinp of tho
North. And I think I have shown the
South to be most fortunate in the distri-
button or equalization of wealth as well as
in its acquisition. AT ali events, 1 have
rescued the controversy between the two
sections from the control of bold assertions
and slipshod defamation, and confided it
to the umpirage of argument and docu
ment.
There are some who sneer at statistics,
and assert that anything can be proven
by them. But such expressions / think
are peculiar to those who deal in assertion
chiefly. and find it unpleasant to be an.
swered with facts. For statistics are
nothing but collections of facts. / admit
that facts themselves may be powerless
or pernicious to mind not logical nor
philosophical enoughto comprehend and
classify them. But in relation to the af
fairs Of this world at least, ask, with the
English philosophic poet,
What can we reason but from what we know
Facts constitute the great restraint on the
impositions of interest the dogmatism of
fanatics and bigots, the fallacies of the
vulgar, the preiudices of the sectional,
and the dreams of the enthusiasts. Facts
are the test of systems, the land marks
OF progress, the harvest of time, the ele-
mental particles of truth
But it is peculiarly important TO resort
to statistics on this question, because thew
are so much employed and perverted on
the other side. From the speech of the
Senator to the columns of the Editor we
are continually assailed with statistical
comparisons between the North and the
South derogatory to the latter. In 1889
Daniel Webster presented in speech to
the Senate in praise of Massachusetts,, an
Official statement of her annual products.
which amounted to nearly 800, 900 900.
which he characterized as the yearly
fruit OF her industry and capital. This
certainly, would strike every mind as evil
dence of great productiveness and profit
In State of her population, since the an
nual product of Virginia is only about
seventy millions. But on scrutinizine
! the Massachusetts statement, it is found
that Webster included as the products of
her industry, the raw material EMPLOYED
in her manufactures obtained from other
States the raw cotton, the wool, the raw
hides, the dye stuffs, &c. DC.
I: was hnt the other day that we had
an extrlct from the report of the Com.
missioner of Patents, recently published
in all the papers which undertook to give
us an estimate of the wealth of the respec-
tive States. On examination, it is found
to assume population as the basis of
wealth. An average is made of the
wealth of each man in few States, and
that multiplied by the number of men in
each State. BY this rule Indiana, which
is more populous than Massachusetts,
has more wealth-and the North of
course greatly more than the South. TIL
Commissioner of Patents is a Northern
man, and travels deliberately out of the
sphere of his duties to make I'D and send
forth this absurd table; and in thus un.
dertaking. officially and officiously to en-.
tighten the ignorance of the people, dis.
plays his own.
But while I contend that statistical ev.
idence may be sufficient to convince, I
am aware that it is not enough to satisfy,
the mind, particularly when at variance
with prevalent opinions. 1t is legiti.
mate and laudable desire, even after
knowing q thing is SO to know why it is
so, acknowledge it is incumbent on
whoever attempts to overthrow popu.
Jar error to show not only that It is such,
but that it must be such, on the recoe-
nized principle Of human judgment
The reason, then, / conceive for the
great pecuniary prosperity of the South,
Is that she is so generally AGRICULTURAL
About half the population of the old
Northern States resides in towns or cities
in the southern about one-tenth.
Even Ohio, new State with greater
agricultural attracions naturally, than
any other. has already town and city
population estimated at oae-fourth OF the
whole; the single city of Cincinnati only
fifty years Of age, containing more people
than ten Of the largest towns Of Virginia.
the eldest State in the Union.
But why is agliculture more profitable
than manufactures or eofnfnerce9 0na