The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1856-02-22

oper this Union. The competition Of sla
labor, and IL degrading elects upon 9th
labor ass becoming moro and moro povsrf
with the rapid incrsap and extension Of u
institution, and b felt moro and mo,
throughout the entiro country, Is tho slav
arc being gradually introduced into mann
facturing and mechanical pursuits. ~ =.
Mr.. weston's article is therefore timel
one In all respects.
Tho Poor Whites Of tho South
"Bs tho sin, the dangers and evils Of SLAYER
oil our own. We compel, wo ask nons 10 sh,r
them with us."-L.t,u Of Gev. Hamne~l aJS
C. 10 MSs. Clarlson. ..
To he Editor Of The ~ y. ThiIrns.
SIN: Tho number Of slaveholdcrs In th'
|Slsr, :sats e$tLk Union, as ssoartained b,
tho ocnsus returns Of 1850, was three hun
drcd and forty-seven thousand Eve hundred
and twenty-five. An average Of ive porson,
and seven-tenths to family, as assumed BY
the Superintendent of the census, would give
l,9s0,s94 as the number Of persons interest
ed as shareholders in their own right, or by
family relation. The whole number Of
whites in the slavcholding States being g..
De, ,4ls, the slave holding proportion Is q
fnction short Of 80 per cent. .
Considering that tho number Of 347 ,625,
returned Us slave owners, Is subject to some
deductions, and considering that Of the
many are females and minors,
Il Is probable that not exceeding one-6fth Of
the white male adults Of tho Slave States
own slaves.
The non.slaveholding whites Of the South,
being not les than scven.tenths ofthc whole
number Of whites, would sccm to beentitled
10 some inquiry into their actual condition ;
md especially, as they have no real politi-
,al weight or consideration in tho country,
md little opportunity to speak for them.
selves. have been for twenty years read
,r Of Southern newspapers, and q reader
md hearcr Of Congressional debates but In
III that time, I do not rcccollect ever to
have seen or heard these non-slaye holding
whites referred to by Southern gentleman,
rs constituting any part Of what they call
q the South" When the rights Of the
South, or It's wrongs, or its policy, or It's
or its institutions are spoken Of,
reference is always intended to the rights,
wrongs, policy, interests and institutions Of
The three hundred and forty-scycn thousand
Nobody gets into Congress
rom the South but by their direction no.
body speaks at Washington for any South
,rn interest except theirs, Yet there is, at
the South, quito another interest than
isaishs s%mG-r5nr,, INIT ,Al-wc inan
500, entitled to the deepest sympa-
thy and commissention, In view Of tho ma
terial, intellectual and moral privations to
which It has been subjected, the degradation
to which it has already been reduced, and
The still more fearful degradation which II
Is threatened by the inevitable operation of
existing causes and influences,
From paper on "Domestics Manufac-
lures in the South and West" published by
N. Tarver of Missouri in lS47, I make the
extracts:
"The free population of the South may
be divided into two classes-tho stakeholder
md tho non-slaveholder. l am not aware
that the relative numbers Of these two class
,s have ever been ascertained in any Of the
States; but am satisfied that the nom
,laveholders far outnumber the Shareholders
perhaps by three to one. In tho more
portion Of this region, the non
possess, generally, but very
,mall means, and the land which they pos
,es is almost universally poor, and 10 ster-
ilo that scanty Subsistence is oil that can
be derived from its cultivation; and the
more fertile soil, being in the possession Of
the STAKEHOLDER, must ever remain out OF the
nower or those who have none.
This state of things is great dnwback,
md bears heavily upon and depresscs the
moral energies Of the poorer classes. The
of a respectable position in tho
scale of wealth appears 50 difficult that they
decline tho hopeless pursuit, and many Of