The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-10-25

5outh receivedI IN thu Disbursements or the Fed.
erai Government, any compensation for the very
dsprpporionate share she contributed 10 its rev.
enue y And first, as to the public lands. 84i5&G
Large quantities of these lands have been given
for internal Improvements to the States in which
they lie, and such grants were, therefore, con-
fined 10 The new or land States. ltappears froma
table which we have carefully prepared from the
latest official documents, that the new free States
have received in this way 5,474,4 ATS acres, worth
at the actual average price of the public lands
sold within their several boundaries, 81 584 1893,
while the new slave States have received only 3
millions OF acres worth S4025, 900, that is, there
have been granted to the new free States 1875
acres to every square mile of their surface, while
the new slave States have had only SO acres 20
the square mile. The disproporton is still greater
in the older States, where the system has been
longer at work. Thus Louisiana has received
1913 acres, Alabama 9-8, and Missouri only IA,
while Ohio has had 29.6, and Indiana 476, (nea,ly
one thirteenth part, to improve every square mile
of their respective areas. The proportion will be
somewhat diminished If we add the donations for
schools which were made by virtue Of general
law; but even then the free States have received
1873 acres to the square mile, and the slave States
only 277.
We cannot trace all the expenditures OF the
Federal Government, so as to determine the exact
amount in each section. There are no published
documents to furnish the necessary data. But
fortunately the distinction can be made in some
branches Federal disbursements, usually classed
as miscellaneous, and from these we may judge
| of the rest. @si& s.ts H'H '&7E5
A report Oft the Secretary of the Treasury, (460
Elk. Doc. 1S37-'8,) shows, that in the FIVE years.
1887, out of l02 millions Of expenditures, only
81 millions were in the slave States. Yet, during
the same years, our table shows that they paid 90
millions Of duties to IL and half paid by the free
States. Therefore, while all that the North con-
| trbuted to the support Of the Union was spent
within her own borders, she enjoyed the addition
Il ~ "A N Hpn
| year, levied ON the South .ia "tTq@ g#n5tS 4
An examination Of the Secretary's report will
| show that even this statement does not give a
Lust idea of the inequality. Al better notion; may
be formed by investigating in detail some branches
of expenditure, Of which we have full accounts.
The collection OF the custom revenue is a large
| and increasing item in the Federal expenses 1t
gives salaries great number of officers at Bos
ton, New York and Philadelphia alone, there are
1923, and it is the indirect source Of subsistence
to six times as many persons. These expendi-
lures have amounted in all, from the formation of
| the Government to the year IS49, to 53mlions of
dollars, of which only 10 millions have been at the
South. Yet the slave States have paid at least
seven-nnths, or Al millions of these expenses, so
that the free States had the benefit for their citi
zens, in custom house offices, reyenueeutters, &C..
| not only Of their own payments, ~ Millions but
Of 81 millions paid by the South tt.its l#.ga:
| The bounties on picked fish, and the allow
| ances to fishing vessels, have amounted, in round
numbers, to 10 millions of dollars. Nearly every
cent Of this large sum has gone to the free States,
chiefly to New England. The records show that
shareholders have not received so much Of ID as
| Si50,0O0. Yet these very Shareholders have paid
of these bounties and charities to the North not
less than 81 800 600. ,%hJ~saa& t"@fH&
| While 1898, 76 have been spent by the Federal
Government in defending with forts each mile or
the Northern coast line, from the river st. Johns,
in Maine, to Delaware bay, only S545,17 per mile
has been devoted to the Southern coast to the Sa-
bine, up to June Goth, 1916, the latest period for
| which there are official returns. More than six
eleyenhs ofthe expenditures the Southern coast
have been in terrifying the Chesapeake bay and
hemouth OF the Mississippi, that is, the access to
the seat of Government, and the great outlet OF
| northwestern commerce. 1t is fair, therefore, to
deduct what was spent at these points, which
leaves only 4l6,s9 spent per mi in Notifications
| on the Atlantic coast of the slave States, from
North Carolina to Mississippi incus ve Yet
while the South has not had half as much ex-
pended in her defence as the North, she has paid
some IA out of IL millions of dollars devoted to
these obects.-(See of. rep. to the Senate 70 Sem
ate Doc, 18l6-T.) .. .: .s.. -. ....~.
| The lighthouse system exhibits the same in
equality. The appropriations for erecting light
houses for the year ending June 30, 1S47, (see 81
| Elk. Doc. l847-'S) were S60.01 for each mile of
the Atlantic shore to the North, and S2979, not
quite half, for each mile Of shore to the South,
from Delaware to Texas! The difference is still
greater, if we consider the whole coast line, in
Guiding islands and rivers to the head Of tile.
The North had S29.62 to light every such mile,
and the South 50 %, not one-third. The expense
of supporting the existing lighthouses in the same
year, (see 7 Elk. Doc, 1S47-'5,) on the Atlantic
and Gulf coasts, was s476,642 ofthis, the South
paid at least 100000; yet she received only
S1S7 $780, equal to 500 10 per mile on her danger
Gus shore from the Delaware to the Rio Grande,
or 1928 per mile of her whole coast line The
balance, Sl72,l70, of her payment went to assist
the North, who spent but Sll6,642 of her own
money in lighting her shore, at cost of SS7. 65
per mile, or including rivers and islands, OF S43.27
per mile. In the year 1888, there was, (see 81
Elk. Doc, 1885, ..... . ...
At the North lighthouse to every 1915 miles
Of Northern shore, and to every 66.l miles of
coast. .. w. 49,. ... ,..a
At the South lighthouse to every 1888 miles
of Northern shore, and to every 370.l miles of
coast aer T. DE- ......
At the North lamp to every 80 miles of North
ern shore, and to every SO miles of coast.
At the South lamp to every SO miles of North
ern shore, and to every 1913 miles of coast. r
In 1889, there was (see l4O Elk. Doc, ls41-2,):
At the North lighthouse to every 24S miles
Of shore, and to every 500 miles Of coast. .
At the South lighthouse to every sl.2 miles of
shore, and to every 276.4 miles Of coast. ...s
At the North lamp to every "a miles Of shore,
and to every 40 miles Of coast. . ...'
At the South lamp to every 6S miles of shore,
and to every 90 A miles of coast. .... g. a... :.
Scarcely half as many lamps as the North had
lighthouses. And yet at this time the South was
paying fve-sixths of the revenue. The proper
tons in other years not materially different
we might multiply examples at pleasure. (see
the annual reports.) '..r .5..u p .o'., .,.'s ,.
Another fruitful source of expense, which threat
ems to grow larger, is the internal improvement
system, and like all the rest, it bears with peculiar
weight upon the South. Before the year 1916,
(see A Sen. Doc. 1869 there had been spent
upon roads, harbors, and rivers, Exclusive of the
Mississippi and Ohio, which common to both
sections,) the sum of $l5, 20l ,223. OF this sum-
the South received S45l to improve each ten miles
square of her area, equal to S2,757,sl6, while q
1918, 407, that is, $2,s05 for each ten miles
square, was allotted to the North. 90
The South paid not only all that she ever re-
ceived back in these appropriations, but also So
142,l 1874 for the exclusive benefit Of the North.
The cost Of the forty-eight miles of the Cumber4
land road in Maryland and Virginia, 81, 020, a39,
is included, for that road was designed for the