The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-01-05
RAILROADS, NORTH AND SOUTH.

RAILROADS, NORTH AND SOUTH.
The Memphis EGgle and Enquirer has some
sensible remarks on the influence of railroads
1t ridicules the notion that the more rapid
growth of the Northern Communities is to be
attributed to the action of the Federal Gov
eminent, through its Tariff and Revenue rgu.
lations. A cloeer and deeper examination, il
thinks, will show that other and more power
full influences have been at woIk.
"Those influences spring from the Location
Of Northern Labor on Northern SOit and the
prevalence of the opposite system In the SoTh''
4sWe confess this proposition seems t. US
FISHER obscure. "Northern Labor is heated on
&arthern soilp but where is Southern Labor
located A more ineligible statement as an
explanation Of thealifference in the gowth of
the two sections, would be-Northtn Soil
is the home Of Free Labor, Southern Soil is
the home of Slave Labor. The two tectiOns
are unequal in their march, not because the
Labor of one is expended beyond, that of the
other, within, its limits, but because labor in
one is voluntary and free, in the Other inypl-
untary and enslaved.
The facts presented by our cotemp@ary in
regard to Northern and Southern Rsilpad on
terprise are more to the purpose. 1t says:
ain 1928, there was in the United States
but one railroad finished, and that was in
Massachusetts,, of three miles in length. Last
year, 1852, there were l ], 631 miles of railroad
finished, viz: 1869 miles in the North, snd
only 2,972 in the South, including the Bait
more and Ohio railroad. In 1847 there vas
finished 1896 miles, of which there were n
the North 1856 miles, and in the South bit
1,75l miles. In 1912 there was finished 3,87
miles, of which the North had 1859, and tie
South 1 1888 miles. In 1887 there was fnishd
1921 miles, of which the North had 9B,
and the South sos miles. In 1882 there ws
finished 131 miles, of which ~ miles were Ii
the North, and SO miles in the South.
1t will be seen that the ratio of inerease n
making railroads in the North, over the Scott
has been steadily progressive, from 1882 Ut to
the present time-exhibitipg, in 1852, he
striking dispropOrtion of 1863 to 2,9724o Tor
within fraction of being three times as grht
4" Now, these sac thousand miles of railrhd
which the North had last year more than he
South, and which she has had ever since 1872
in nearly the same proportion, have been d.
ttnuGILy toOrking as PRODUCER, in conjub-
ton with the ordinary labor of the county.
These insnimate workers, these newly creakd
laborers, added to the previously existing stdk
of labOrers, have produced revenue. In 1871
the whole revenue thus arriving, was, firm
canals Sc, 467 699 from railroads S21, 512, O4A
altogether, $27,979742. Of this magnIfcnt
annual revenue, the Sonth receives 81 ,76l-s28l
only, while the North pocketed the neas snm
of $2s, 2ls,0lt-giving her, a. the reward of
having engaged more largely il internal inn
proyemeDts than the South, trentgfue times
more peculiarly ability than her sister section.
Of the CniOn.7
The particular direction which the capital
and labor of a country shall take, does not do
pend upon mere caprice, or arbitrary purpose.
Had the North the same social and labor sys-
TENS that the South has, the difference n,w
pointed out by the Enquirer would net exist,
at least to any noticeable extent.
Were there fourteen millions of people i'll
the Southern States, and no slaves, rs is tho
case in the Northern, the likelihood is that the
former would show as varied and as prodlt-
tive enterprise as the latter.
Under the free labor of the Northern Stats,
wealth is more diffused among the masses thn
it is in the South industry is much more q.
versifed, its products more varied; exchange
more frequent; towns are moro numeroul;
homo markets spring up for the products IF
home labor the community is more equal o
the supply of its own wants; there are ara
must be more internal trade and travel. Nj
classes at the North travel, on business r
pleasure. Railroads spring up there from tic
necessities created by the Free Labor systea,
and react by making this system still moe
productive. In the South three millions IF
laborers never travel, and have no occasion 70
trade on their own account. The masses Of
the poor white people do not travel-t2g
have neither the need nor the means Towls
are scarce; the home market is exceedingly
circumscribed; the population is sparse o
few lines of railroads are required for the
great travel North and South, and for the pur-
pose of transporting the few staples Of slave
labor to their accustomed depots; but as the
necessities of the slave system of labor do not
call for their rapid multiplication, or their
wide extension, this kind of enterprise is of
course far more limited than in the North.
There is but one way in which the South
can accumulate capital as rapidly as the North,
and rival it in the variety and extent of its en-
terprise; and that is, by providing for the sab
stitutio1r of SiaUe Labor By Free Labor