The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-06-02
THE TRIBUNE ON VIRGINIA.
fcoNcLUDED)

dooanaracy of every department or lhous"!
in VIRGINIA It's constantly declining popula-
tion and prosperity, and its worn out ana oe
preciating lands, especially in the Underwater
sectiop TTpon no other subject than one In
which it was blinded by its anti slavery pas
sions and preiudices would the Tribune sho"
sueh disregard to fairness and to facts as In
,base misstatements Its editor in chief is
remarkable fsr his statistical knowledge OF
avery subject connected with the politics and
great interests of this country, and its edito
rial columns are supplied by men of ability
and on most subjects of much Information
We cannot therefore charitably attribute TO
ignorance their assertions that Virginia, and
especially tidewater Virginia, is continually
declining in prosperity and population.
The very reverse of this, as to the whoie
of Virginia, is a fact which the Tribune might
easily obtain from the census returns. 1hose
returns clearly show the advance OF popula-
ton, the improving state of Virginia agrlcul-
ture. and the enhanced value of Virginia
lands. Various causes formerly contributed
to retard ne progress OF hsr agriculture
such as tine want of free intercourse among
her farmers, and the devotion of the intellec'
and energy of her most distinguished sons 10
the service of the common country. 10 TINS
latter cause, indeed, may be ascribed our
backward condition in internal improve
ments, and the other departments OF home
interest. But these causes are passing away.
Our young men are beginning TO devote
their attention to the development of Virginia
interests, and our farmers, in their State Ag
ricultural Society, have secured to the State
the vast advantages Arising from the collec
ton of their united experience.
When the free soil papers talk SO flppantly
Of the utter inferiority and worthlessness OF
Southern mechanical genius, and agncultu'
raj industry, they forget that the only two
exhibitions which saved America from ever
lasting disgrace at the Worlds Fair, were
products Of Southern acknowledgements
Virginia Reaper, and the yacht America
built by young Southern mechanic. Inc
immense valse to the agriculture and com
merce of Great Britain and the world pro-
duced by those two specimens OF Southern
genius, Is beyond all CalCulalIoH'
The census of 1850 shows that Virginia
was at that time the third wheat producing
State in the Union. Pennsylvania was the
first, but wheat is Pennsylvania principal
staple, whilst Virginia, which il her colonial
days produced sixty thousand pounds OF to-
bacco, has now degenerated into the produc-
ton of nearly sixty millions of pounds of that
article, being about fourth of the tobacco
production Of the whole country in addition
to which is a corn crop of about fifteen mil
lions of bushels. Investigations Of compe
tent judges and extensive inquiry leave little
doubt of the fact that, since the census of
1850, the wheat crops of Virginia have ex-
ceeded those of Pennsylvania and Ohio, so
that she may now be set down with truth IS
the first wheat growing State in the Union.
This looks like degeneracy, decay and ruin
An intelligent and extensive traveller in the
United States, and one who is familiar with
the prodigious fertility of the West, has re-
mark ed, "that he had no doubt there was
more good land, in proportion to territory, in
Virginia, exhausted as she was, than in any
St2te IN the Union.
The Tribune is particularly lugubrious
upon the imagined desolation of the tide
water district. If it could condescend to ex-
anime Virginia official documents, it might
save its lamentations. The Governors Mes
sage of january, 1852, exhibits some statis
tical facts which will be instructive to that
paper. In that message the Governor stated
that, in 1919 the lands in the tideWater dis
trict were valued in the aggregate at the sum
of 81 ,496, 1897, and in 1888 at 500, 7O4, O53.-
90 l-2, exhibiting decrease in value, during
the nineteen years that interviewed, to the
enormous amount of $40, 70 I .
We suspect the Tribune has not heard
from tidewater Virginia since TIE assessment
of 1888. If it had, it would have learned from
the Governors Message of 1882 that these
same lands had then been recently assessed at
the SUN of ST. ,964 ,574 80, showing an increase
in their value in twelve years, from 1888 to
1897 of 81, 260. 521 81 1-2. This remarkable
change was not owing to benefits resultin 2
from internal improvements, for these haa
been chiefly confined to other sections, but
to the proper application of compost, mari
and other manures. 1t is in those countie S
of the tidewater district, as statistical tables
demonstrate, which have used mari or lin 9
extensively, that there has been this astonish-
ing increase in production, in assessed valu 3
of lands, in productive population, and III
revenue to the treasury, whilst strikiny
contrast in all these respects is presented by
those counties which did not use these fer.
tilizers. Now, as slavery equally exists in
all these counties, and as, according to the
New York Tribune, it is always and every.
where a curse, will that paper explain TO Il }
why slavery does not prevent the prosperity
of the lime and mari using counties, and WIN
it proves an incubus on those countie
which don't use mari or lime We com.
mend this subject to our venerable friend
Mr. Edmund Rufin, the patriarch of Virgi
MIA agriculture. 1t must occur to him as a
new use of calcare9us manures, that the,
take the pest" out of slaverV!
we could easily show the steady and sub L.
oil r