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


trade diverted from It's natural channels In t760-
-, Carolina and Georgia exported twice as much
In value as all New England, New York, and
Pennsylvania. In 1921 80, they were exceeded
by New York alone. IN the former period, Vir-
GINA and Maryland exported 1--WE times us much
as New England, eight times much as New
York, and over thirteen and half times as much
as Pennsylvania. But in the latter period the
scales were turned by the weight of Northern
power, and while Virginia and Maryland ex-
ported 80 millions, New England exported 1856,
and New York 2l5, more than double. The reg
istered tonnage of South Carolina from 1871 to
1887, actually diminished so per cent, and Vir-
gina's 80 per cent, while New York's doubled
and Massachusetts's tripled.s The North has
thus obtained the use of an immense amount Of
Southern capital and all its profits, causing an
equal loss TO the South. When we are consider
ing the value Of the Union, il may be as well to
calculate what it has been worth in money to the
North in its influence on our trade. w q shall
thus learn part of what it may cost her TO in
dulge, what is either an unworthy jealousy Of our
power and natural advantages, or a proitless and
fanatical abstraction about negro slavery. Plain
common sense and figures are mighty stumbling
block TO your fine takers about liberty and human
rights, and our Northern allies will feel the pecu-
liar fitness of,such a test as dollars and cents. We
confess, beforehand, that the estimate we shall
present is much too low, for il is impossible to
take into account all the ramifed pecnniary adj
yantages of the Union to the North, and we have
Intentionally put every thing at the lo,oest mark
so as to reach results which we confidently be-
eve to be certain. SIS .1a 81 a@saE
] Every body knows that all the exports Of rice
and Of manufactured tobacco and cotton, are
the produce Of Southern labor. Asto the balance
of the exports OF domestic produce, we shall as
sumo that the South contributes share in proper
ton to her population. II is impossible to give
the grounds Of this assumption within our narrow
limits, but careful examination Of the official
hur rad
us that it does not do the South full justice. Her
naval stores her breadstufls the material she fur
nishes for the exported manufactures, &C., amount
to more than the share we have assigned her Of
the other domestic exports, besides rice, raw cot
ton, and leaf tobacco. We shall see, in the Sc
quel, additional confirmation of this belief. But
we adhere to our rule Of using the iocea figures.
In the eleven years, from 1890 to 1900 incu-
sve, the exports of raw cotton, rice, and leaf to-
bacco, amounted to- nlnety-sIx millions, Eve use
round numbers,) out Of three hundred and eleven
millions Of dollars or the balance, the South
Ill. Therefore the exports Of Southern produce
were, in all, 300 millions, and of Northern, Ill
millions. The imports were bought with these ex-
ports-were, in fact, their price, and, as such, be-
ionged to, and ought to be divided amongst the
producers Of the exports in the ratio of their ex-
portation This gives 1897 millions of dollars as
the returns for Southern produce, and 2lS for
Northern The whole produce of Southern la
Dor in the foreign trade, both the exports and i'm
ports paid in exchange, amounted to 597 millions,
whilst Northern labor yielded 1923. But during
the same period, the actual exports Of domestic
produce, and imports in return, from Southern
ports, were only Ala millions Of dollars in value,
and from Northern ports they reached 5l2 mil
lions. The North, therefore, had the use and
command Of 1872 and half millions of the pro-
auctions ofSouthern labor during this period and
the South lost the use of an equal amount; in
nfbo fhp ppIn he uS mi
South lost the use Of little more, an everage,
than 16, millions OF Southern capital every year
from 1880 to 1900. Instead of remaining in the
hands Of the Southern planters, merchants, ship
owners, or agents, importers, wholesale Dealers
and retail dealers, building up Southern cities,
and giving life and employment to hundreds Of
Southern people, this l6k millions Of dollars worth
of their labor was transferred by the action of
Government to the North; and its annual use,
without charge or equivalent, was given as
bounty to Northern labor to build up Northern
wealth. But even this was not all, for we have
taken no account of the exports of foreign pro-
duce Yet the foreign goods thus exported were
first bought either with domestic produce, or the
credit founded on domestic produce. They were
the legitimate appendage of the trade In domestic
produce, and may be taken, in part, as an index
Of what the credit and command Of that trade was
worth--a value which was, of course, greater
during the European wars, than il has been since
in time Of peace These exports ought, there
fore. to be divided, like the imports, amongst the
producers of domestic exports in the ratio Of their
production. The whole legitimate Southern trade
would thus be sweed to 713 millions of dollars,
and the Northern to 404; while the actual foreign
trade was ACC and 651 millions respectively, MAX
ing the gain to the North, and the corresponding
loss to the South, Of the use of Southern capital
averaging over % millions Of dollars year.
If we apply the same principles Of calculation
to the next ten years, from 1901 to 1910 inclusive,
we find that the North had the use Of 43 millions,
or, counting the exports of foreign produce, of
SO millions year Of Southern capital, while the
South, of course, lost the use of that amount Of
the produce Of her yearly labor.
From 1911 to 1920, the war with England d.
unfinished the whole commerce of the country,
especially the exports Of foreign merchandise.
During this period, the North had the use Of SO
millions year Of the produce of Southern labor,
or, deductng the foreign goods exported, of As
millions. The South lost the use of the same
amount.
In the decennial period, 1s2l-'3O, this gain to
the North, and loss to the South, amounted to 63
millions Of dollars annually, or if we add the ex-
ports Of foreign produce, to 70 millions. In the
next period, ls31-,40 the profit and loss amounts
to the enormous sum of SO millions per annum on
the exports Of domestic products and return i'm
ports, and LOG millions on the whole foreign COM
merce. Thus the South lost the use of the fourth
part of the whole annual products of her industry,
as estimated by Prof. Tucker, from the census of
1910; and the North had all that could be made
by trading on this enormous share Of the fruits
Of Southern slave labor. The value to the North
of this trade, which properly belongs to the South,
is still increasing, for in 1S4S we find that the free
States had the use of 100 millions of dollars worth
of the produce of Southern labor for foreign COM
merce, or Of l33 millions, if we add the exports
of foreign merchandise. The slave States lost the
use of this great capital, and the North gained it
without paying any sort of equivalent in return.
To estimate the value of the Union TO the North, |
in this regard, more papably and justly, let us
see what II has been worth to every family Of six
persons, in each decennial period, counting the
population at an average between the census at the
and that at the end of each period.
We place the results in table:
s e 3 q