The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-06-02


2 he south fabricated to the value Of SI5
: m,12l.' So says Mr.. Fisher, and
'ays no more, to prove that the south e,
! celled the north in manufactures. AS ii
fabrics named constituted only one of man
'orts OF manufactures, We have one OF
number Of instances, ia which he make
mis- conclusion much bnbader than his prem
'es; or, as the lOgicians say, draws unive
sal CONCLUSION from particular premises, i
violation Of all sound res oning.
But this is not all. His own statemen
disproves his assertion that the southern
States then excelled the north, even in III
labrics named-'in proportion to the nun
bers OF the population if he meant th
whole population. as every reader would IN
deIstand him. In 1910, the northern State
contained 3, 1903 800 inbsbitants; the south
ern, 3,4o9,900 Dividing the cloth man
uiacluTes OF each section by its population
we get $5.5S cents per b, ad for the north
and 1888 cents per head for the south
What sort Of excelling is thisl
1t should be remarked, that in 1910, thu
improved system Of manufacturing by ina
chlney, was scarcely begun in the United
States. The old system Of household man
ufacturing, produced nearly all the fabric:
above mentioned.
Having thus in his peculiar way attempt
ed TO demonstrate The superior prosperity Of
the south in 1915, he then observes thai
since the year 1916 great changes have
occurred. The grass is growing in the
sheets Of those cities Of the south, which
maintained their ascendency in the earlier
years Of the Union. Manufactures and
Arts have gone 10 take up their abode in
the north. Cities have been expanded anC
multiplied in the same tdUOred region
Railroads and canals have been constructed,
and Education has delighted there to build
her colleges and academies
Mr.. Fisher not only admits The decline
Of the south; he laHents IL as deeply dis
asirOus. Ii affected chiefly her cnies, her
commerce, and her manufactures These
things with railroads and canals, arts and
education, he now considers as important
elements of public prosperity. He impress.
es upon US the importance Of them, when
he takes the strain OF the South Carolina
nulliGerS, and attributes The decline of The
South TO the Tariff policy OF the Federal
Government. Listen, good reader, to his
lamentations over the fallen south. when,
therefore, (says he) the statesmen Of the
south reflect on the great commercial and
mann featuring prosperity Of the country,
in the days Of direct taxation, and behold
now her dilapidaied cities and deserted
harlors. under the change Of system, is il
wonderful that they have made the halls of
Congress eloquent with the min ard wrong
that they have suffered
Could language more strongly express
the sentiment Of Mr.. Fisher, Lhat cities,
commerce, and manufactures, are so i'm.
Portant elements OF prosperity. that their
decline is ruinOUS 10 The country? Let the
reader bear this in mind, while We remark
that it is absurd TO charge this decline upon
the Tariff policy, which operated equally
on all parts Of the country, unless the same
policy produced similar effects in the north;
which it did not. And how could high du-
ties on foreign cloths depress those house
hold manufactures Of cloth, which existed in
lSiO? And If such duties started in the
north the system Of manufacturing by ma.
chinery, why should not the same effect
have followed in the south! We are not
discussing the wisdom Of the Tariff policy,
but the question. whether that policy was
the cause, why the north has run SO Ear
ahead OF the south in population, commerce
and manufactures. We affirm that it was
not-that 1t could not be. There is another
and adeeper cause-slavery; and. strange to
say, this same Mr.. Fisher who denies il to
have been the cause, here on page 4, com
mences Immediately to deny that the SoutI,
has declined at ALL While he is echoing
The deathsong OF the nulli6ers, all is decline
and ruin and wrong; but the moment that
ne finds the north attributing the decline Of
the south to her peculiar institution he
turns short round and commences an elabo.
rate argument TO prove that the south, in
stead Of declining, has, by the creative en-
ergy Of her slave system, grown in wealth
and prosperity beyond the most prosperou.
of the northern States. He has scarcely done
condoling with the south about the desola.
lions made by the Tariff in the cities, har-
bors and manufactures Of the south, before
he begins to congratulate the same south
upon the absence of cities and manufac,
tures--to pronounce, that old Virginia, in
stead Of being poor and in need of pity, is
perhaps the richest community il the world;
and that the free people of the slaveholding
States. which ara uniformly regarded as
the victims Of poverty and ruin, are all
richer, much richer than those OF the non.
.laveholding States When done with
proving these assertions, he demonstrates (ir
his own opinion) that cites are nuisance
manufactures and commerce improbable
and that agriculture-especially with slave
abor--is the grand source OF wealth, anC
comfort, and virtue, and high civlisation
Having thus marked out his shifiings Il
and fro, let us see how he attempts TO max,
out the superior wealth and prosperity o
the southern States.
On page 8. he commences the process
by first comparing the present condition o
Massachusetts with that OF Maryland. H,
calculates the average wealth Of the "whii'
people " in each, by taking as basis tn
conjec'ured value Of the property Of Mas
sachusetts, and the assessed value Of pro
perry in Maryland, including slaves.
| We have given abundant reason for re
;act;no Mr. Fyaher,s rnefhod of eo,,siJar;n,