The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-04-15

Where her blessed feet last trod
From Hunts Merchants Magazine
The Union, Past and Future:
"A REVIEW" REVIEWED.
CONTINUED
have thus far supposed that the Southern
population really consume proportionaly less
than the Northern; it is time to ask on what
grounds Mr.. Derby rests this question. He
says
!" But does the slave use the costly linens,
silks, woolens, liquors, coffee, sugar, tea, and
other valuabfes from abroad? Clad in coarse
attire, eating his coarser fare, he knows little of
such Injuries. Our imports now average at
least ninety Il presume this is mistake for
nine, dollars per head for our white popula-
ton. The slave cannot average one-third Of
this amount. The great consumers are the
whites, both Southern and Northern. Let us
allow for this difference, and the consumption Of
foreign imports in the slave States will fall be.
low three-tenths of the entire Importation
p. 374.
The inference might be drawn, that if the
slave consumed less of the costly Imports he
consumed more Of the coarser domestic manu-
factures SO that he used an average share of the
whole mass of goods, foreign and domestic. If
this were Mr.. Dcrby's meaning, it would be
useless to dispute it, for, as we have seen, the
theory that the consumer pays the. duties, in
wolves the payment of more than three times as
much in the increased price Of the home manu-
features, and the Southern burden would be
shifted from one shoulder to the other; it would
still be in proportion to her whole population
But suppose that the reviewers meaning is
different. and he believes that the whole con-
sumption of the Southern population is less per
head than the Northern, because the day labor
ers are slaves, instead of hirengs. For the
only reason he gives for such a strange assump-
ton, is that the slaves Of the South cannot aver
age one-third of the consumption per head of
the whole white population. The very phras-
ing of this proposition is delusive. The ques-
ton is not whether the laborers, North or South,
consume as much as their employers, or whether
the average consumption Of the slaves is equal
not only to that Of the Northern population,
but to that of their own masters besides; but
whether the average consumption of the whole
Southern population per head, masters and
slaves, il equal to that of the Northern employ
ers and day aborers Thus stated, it is deprived
of the deceptive air which Mr.. Derby attempts
to throw around it. In every country in the
world, there is a large class of persons who live
by daily labor, that is, upon wages In the
North, they are hirelings, and receive their
wages in money; in the South they are slaves,
and receive their wages in maintenance and >
crative privileges can imagine no reason WIZ
the former class should be supposed to consume
more than the latter. No laborers in the world
receive larger wages than the slaves in the
greater part of the Southern country, or have
a larger supply of wholesome though plain foo !.
The slave is well, though coarsely clad /; he may
No Hcnotlv Hpana md oilku " but doag
the hirelng of the North! He lives on his
wages, and upon the same fund must be charged
his doctors bills, house rent, and fuel, and the
provision for his old age, and infant children
Gall Of which are provided by the master for
the slave,) and presume, the surplus cannot
supply very costly clothes or luxurious fare.
The peculium of the slave, what he makes for
himself in his holidays, &c, is of.en consider
abe, and he consumes it all. This whole no.
ton belongs to the same confusion of words
and ideas, which speaks of the slave labor and
free labor States, instead of more accurately
saying slave labor and hireing labor States
the correct designation is not slave States and
free States, but slave States and hreling States,
and so shall hereafter call them.
But it cannot be disputed tnat the master and
slage together at the South, that is capital and
labor, produce as much MS equal capital and labor
Mt the North. In fact, it is well established,
that whether it be due to institutions, climate,
or soil, the people of the South produce more
per head than the people Of the North. And of
course their consumption bears at least as large
a ratio to their production Us that of the frugal
Northerners The master and slaves consume
their Joint productions, if we suppose the latter
class consumes less, it is only because the for
ner consumes more. When Mr.. Derby asks
whether :" the slave uses the costly linens. silks,
woolens, liquors, Coffee sugar, tea, and other
valuables from abroadw he forgets that some
Of these articles az tea and coffee, free, and
that all costly goods have been comparatively
lightly taxed under the system of specific du-
ties which prevailed until 1848. For the real
question is, not who consumes the imports, but
who consumes the imports on which the duties
are levied. Now it appears by the document
before referred to, (444 Sen. Doc, l845-6)
nearly two-thrds of the customs were levied on
sixteen articles, and the heaviest duties were
placed upon such as are chiefly consumed on
Southern plantations The duty on salt was
II per cent on iron SO to l6 per cent, on cot
ton bagging 30 to 1873 per cent, on coarse WOOL
ems 40 to 100 per cent, on coarse cottons 30 to
100 per cent, on negro head handkerchiefs 10S
per cent, &c Can it be pretended that such
articles as these are less used on Southern plan
In tons than Northern farms, because the labor
ers are slaves on the one, ind hirelings on the
other!
To make tho subject still palmer, let us in
ouire how far it is true, ~ Mr.. Derby maintains
Inst the consumer pays the duties, and examine