Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1851-05-31
c. OIL Z M B u S :
wednesday Morning, May IS, 1851.
Cost of the Union to the South.


in a brefway expose the antagonism ofnterest ex-
stng between the North and the South springng out
ofLabor and Capital. We in a brief manner exposed
this antagonism and showed that it had resulted in
war upon Southern Labor and Capital and that there
existed hope ofa better condition than that of vas
salage to the South long she insists no check
that will efectualy neutralize the political preponder
ance of Northern hireng labor in the policy of the
Union. 1t is impossible in a newspaper article to
embrace these subject in number and do ANYTHING
like justice to them Necessity compels US to divide
them When completed they will furnish argument
that will put to flight regiment of submission dsun-
ionists.
We have stated that the political power of the gov
ernment was in the hands of the North that its policy
had been shaped to the exclusive interests of the
Northern commercial men. By tariff and navigation
laws the North has put the South in condition of de-
pendence and the policy of the submission real dis
union party is to aid the North retain its suprema
cy and still further bind the South.
There was, nevertheless, even in those days.
one striking difference in the interests of the sec
tons; the navigating interest was almost as exclu-
sively Northern, as tobacco and rice were Southern
Heaven had favored the South with more fertile
soil and more genial climate, and it was the duty
enjoyment of all the advantages which her indus
try could derive from the Divine bounty. The
larger profits of rice and tobacco planting with
held her people from less lucrative navigating
terprise, and they found an immense benefit in the
cheap at which foreign vessels transported
their productions to all the markets of the world );
it was in effect, so much added to their price
In the North, the contrary, the profits of navi-
cation were equal to the average returns of other
employments, and this explains The fact stated by
Pitkin, that in New England in ITO 6-8ths of
the tonnage was owned by natives; in New York
and PENNSYLVANIA 3-8lhs, while in each of the old
plantation States, Maryland, Virginia, the Carroll
D7s and Georgia, the proportion Of domestic ton
mare was only 18th The first effort of the
North was therefore, to levy heavy duties on for
eigu tonnage, and thus to raise trcights, as to
rapair the injustice of Providence, and lower
Southern profits by increasing Northern. We
have been recently told by good authority, Mr.
CLingman IL his speech on the 23d Jan'ry, that
Northern ship owners charge much for freight
between New York and New Orleans, as between
New York and Canton, and that the whole a.
mount of freight on Southern productions, receiv
ed by the Northern ship owners, has, on minute
calculation, been set down at $40, 1856, 728." (1)
However this may be, the loss must have been
very heavy, if we may Judge from the warm op
position of the Southern members in the 1st Con-
gress. The discriminating duties on tonnage were,
however, voted through by Northern votes and
combined with the paper and funding system, and
some other measures, all carried by the same par
ty, to change the whole course of our trade An
annual payment of some six millions of dollars on
account of the public debt, and the ordinary ex-
penditures of Government, were nearly all at the
north, and created strong current of exchange in
that direction. The Southern planter was forced
to send his produce to Northern port, and thence
export it, and after bringing the return cargo there,
to re-ship it home, for it was actually cheaper to
pay the double freights and charges of such an
operation, than to continue the direct trade-once
so benefcial-under its burdens. A few fig
ures will give juster idea of this revolution in
commerce.
In the ten years Just before the Revoutionry
troubles, 1909, the Southern colonies, with
population of zoo, 900, exported produce to the
value of $40, ,297, ,7O5; while the exports of al
New England, New York and Pennsylvania, with
population of ,3O0OO0s were only SIS, 1856, ,035
less than a fourth. Forty years later, 1821-'3O
when the new system of Legislation had had time
to work, the actual exports of the same Southern
States but little more than half those of the
same Northern States-that is 222 millions of dol
lars to 427. Yet meantime, the culture of cot
ton had been introduced extensively, and the ex
ports of that article alone, in the same period
amounted to over 256 millions of dollars, chiefly
the produce lat that tme) of Carolina and Geor
gla, 10 say HotnIhS oI 20 mllnonS OF tobacco AMI
rice, the growth of the same States, with Virgini
and Maryland-so completely was trade diverted
from its natural channels In 1909, Carolin
and Georgia exported twice much in value as al
New England, New York and Pennsylvania Il
l891-'36, they were exceeded by N. York alone
In the former period Virginia and Maryland ex
ported five times as much as New England, eigh
times as much as New York, and over thirtee
and half times as much as Pennsylvania. Blu
in the latter period the scales were turned by tn
weight of Northern power, and while Virginia an
Maryland exported 90 millions, New England ez
ported 1856 and N. York 215--more than double
The registered tonnage of South Carolina fror
1871 to 1887 actually diminished so per cent
and Virginia's 78 per cent, while New York
doubled and Massachusetts tripled. ~ Th
North has thus obtained the use of an immens
amount of Southern capital, and all its profits
causing an equal loss to the South When we al
considering the value of the Union, it NAV be a
well to calculate what it has been worth in none
TO the North in its influence on our trade. w
shall thus learn part of what it may cost her
indulge, what is either an unworthy jealousy