Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-01-24
Labor, North asd' South.

AN all-prevailing argument in favor of our revied
system Of domestic servtude is to be found in the fact
that it has, thus far, been steadily and closely accom-.
panied by thrift and prosperity in every department Of
home industry. In spite of the most oppressive inns.
ce, in the form of unequal exac,ions favoritcsm in
the disbursement of revenue &c. our half Of the Union
has gone on increasing in oil the elements of wealth
and greatness, until ut length We stand, confcsscdy
a chosen people, upon whose exerons q benignant
Providence has thought good TO pour forth one con-
tnued stream of approval and remuneration. The
blight and mildew which TO cover our accursed
sec,ion' rs PAIL where now is it to be found! Let
our agricultural advances, factories, our instu-
lions Of learning our churches and our railroads an
ever the question Last but not least let the futile
imputaton, which that question would convey, be
branded as it deserves by the notorious contrast at
this very time afforded, between the value and pro-
lection of labor North and its value and protection
South From every Northern city, of any consequence,
we receive intelligence, almost daily, 10 the purport
that the wages of labor are falling while provisions
continue 10 rise. Such is also the case in many, if
not all, of the manufacturing towns; and we may
reasonably suppose these TO he very fair exponens of
the rural districts. In the city Of New York, three
thousand mechanics were thrown out Of employment
4 few weeks since, all in single Ward. Another
statement is that there cannot be less than seventeen
thousand able-b bodied working men at this very time,
in the great American Metropolis rs it is called, who
neither have employment nor prospect of it. The
determination of employers TO reduce the prices Of
compensation still lower renders it next to Impossible
for those who have work to help those who have not
Rents TOO continue high, while the ability 10 meet
them is thus growing daily less The end of all this
is melancholy to contemplate. Rags and wretched-
ness disease and crime make up fearful prospective
for the unfortunate men and women who have the
severe ordeal to undergo.
Now turn TO the South. Go to New Orleans, Charles
ton, Savannah, Mobile, Richmond, Norfolk, Raleigh
Columbia, Augusta, Macon. Knoxville, Montgomery
and Galveston. Go into every village within our bor
dcrs. Search through the barrenest hills and ridges
of our section Yon will see nothing approxmating
this condition of things anywhere. You will find u
sleek, well.fed warmly clad ghlly-tasked negro pop
ulation do the bulk of agricultural labor That
they are productive of wealth to their owners is not
for moment contradcted 1t is this that keeps all
right. But in return, they are protected from youth
10 old age, as part Of ones home and family They
are nurscd in sickness, worked in health and preached
to upon the Sabbath The masters right arm is ever
ready 10 be up-ifted in defence Of his mal.treated
slave The slave knows this and feelsi it. He has that
bes, ingredient of comfortable security the assurance
that he will be well cared for in life and deceny
inferred in DEATH Hence his characteristic mlrlhful-