Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1856-04-18
[From Ne New rork Tdbunr


Southern Poverty
In an article while ago. suggested
By Mr.. 0lmsted's sSeaboard Slave
States" we spoke Of the revelations
be there makes as to the poverty strick
EN- condition OF those States. The
Southern country was made by God
10 be the boon mother Of wealth and
plenty:
"Butsomelhlng ailsi, bow; tho place Is curst.'
God made the soil deep and fertile, he
placed it nearer the sun than we, he
overhung It with skies which dropped
down fatness. and rolled mighty rivers
through its bosom st to Goat the ar
gosies Of tie world. He ordained it
for the paradise Of the land; but the
devil entered in, and its proudest re-
gion has become the abode Of satyrs
and the hab;taion Of owls, while sor-
did poverty aud sqaalid misery deform
the newest and iairest scenes. spread
ing like a leProsy from the laborer TO
tie lord. Over the whole face Of the
country is seen, worked out in black
and white, The problem, orralher the
axiom. that raj prosperity cannot
grow from injustice and creelty. that
The denial OF his natural, civil aud So
cial rights to the laborer that plants
and reaps down the harvest is avenged
upon bis oppressof in the scanty yield
ling Of the earth, in lhe thriflIrss hab-
its, vices and lusts which are the only
crops that spring Spontaneously from
soil cursed with Slavery. In other
words, lhs Slave country, as a whole,
IS in pauprfizrd condition. I: doe
not produce enough for its own con-
sumption. and The difference has to be
supplied by more yirtuous, industrious
and careful producers. This is as prop
er definition Of Pauperisni as words
can convey. and it IS with precisely
THAT very thing ehich the North has
to deal.
The North Is often inyted to mind
her own business, and leave the South
TO manage hers. Bat, unluckiIy, this
is a little thing which the laws OF po-
llitical cconomy--laws as fixed and IN
eviiable as thoseof light and Of gray
itation-will not permit her to do
The South cannot exist without the
North. Every article that is consnm-
ed there, from The cradle aud the pap
spoon to the coffin and the erayc-stone
we have to furnish. The beds in
which they lie. the chairs on which
They sit. The clothes they wear, the
hoes and the gins for their slaves. the
very slayc-whips which form the main.
spring Of their iociai machine. We
supply them with. AS they want III,
things we have to sell. the laws o
trade compel them to low in ceftaif
proBorlionsinto these channels. On
~. here We have to encounter another
inscrulablc law. Incorporation Of which
in our blind haste TO get ain, we ar,
apt 10 overlook: to wit, that countr,
cursed with so thriflless a system o.
labor as Slavery, cannot produce. ia
an average Of years. enough to pay
for what il wants. Hence The period
zeal bankruptcies which square off nc
counts to the ruin of so many mer,
cnants and manufacturers. Perhap.
there is no better test of the bushes.
character and probable solvency Of q
section Of country than It's postage
| bills. 1t is not necessary to recall III,
precise figures, but the last time w
saw them footed up there was bul
one Slave State that paid ITS postage
I And that was Louisiana, through Nh,
/ Northern merchants in New Orleans
The Empire OF South Carolina, as WI
remember il. ieli short Of paying VIVA
lii costs US TO carry her mails by $40,
1000 These immeuce deficits W,
have to make good, and SO as 10 al
the neccssaries and supeIaailies tn,
South needs. We know men OF largs
business who have adopted the mex
orahle rule never give credit Soutl
Of Mason & Dixon's line-to theil
great benefit. II is too much 10 ex
pect that wisdom Ike this should gen
eraly obtain where business is carried
on as il is with US. But until il is
we must make up our minds to beal
the cost Of supporting our peupers a
| the South.
| Now, we commend the considera-
ton OF these facts especially to capt
taists, commercial men. and manu-
facturers. The system Of Slavery il
one that saddles them. as the cfea
TORS and holders Of wealth, with h,
support of this giant Pauperism. I
the merchants OF New York, Boston
and Philadelphia, the colton-spnneri
Of Lowell, The cord-wainers OF Lynn
and the iron-masieis of Pittsburgh
hike to besiow their wares on lhes,
needy ones, looking not for their OWL
j again. Il is their affair and not ours
But we think they cannot bat see tha
this Pauper System IL matter theJ
have something 10 DO With. II they
choose to send their chldfcn's broad
4 ro,,.i a., so.oe f.r,c, .fl,4tr 4fahls al 4t,sa