The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1856-05-01

which spoke of the exhaustion and impoyerishment
the soil OF portions Of that State Exhibiting the panfu
signs OF seEy and decay apparent in Virginia and th
Carolnas" The inference dsducibe is thar like all of hi
school of politics, be TO impress the idea that il il
slavery which blasts the soil and causes all labor there K
20 unpaid. And although he does not alle2e it, the im
plicadon may be fairly drawn that my address sup
piled him evidence for his assertion. | do not sup
or more of it than the paragraph from which b,
quoted Had he raed it, be would have learned that il
maintained that agricultural labor had not only been
well paid but better paid there in the culture of cotton
than IL had been in any eldtage elsewhere; that il had
enabled the state to realize about S20O0o000 annually
from her cotton crop alone and 10 become the largest
porter OF agricultural products Of all the States q the Union
Had he read but the paragraph preceding the from
which he quoted be would have found that the mpoyer-
shment OF our soil was properly attributed to the constant
and changeess cultivation Of the plant and that the
folly of violating inexorabe laws of Nature illustrated
in the result That this result is caused by slave labor is
conclusion as illogical unjust Indeed cannot sup
pose that any aboitonst negrophilst will concede
that there Is Dieae upon the labor Of the negro
which presents the earth from yielding her in
turn for his tllage As like produce like results it
will be found that artess aohe tage has impoverished
the soil not only of the South but of the North and of Eu-
ropean States Also if there be any truth in agricultural
ports Countless proofs could be cited but it gives
pleasure reearse the msortunes others
the statement may suffice.
If the bad informed himself the char
and condition of southern people and the products OF
southern SOIL evinced in expectations, he would
have found that his apparent triumph her pow
erty her decline and prospective desolation, ill
founded malignant. He would behold her in admirable
and enviaoe with her northern sisters He would
that she has fewer paupers than the North in proper
ton 10 aggregate population that her field labor is better
rewarded that her poor white aborers have land
money of the essentials of comfort and
independence than similar class in New England any
where else And he would seek for the whole truth from
credible and authentic sources instead of partial gmpes
caught from garbled paragraphs and sentences collected
in abolition presses aud pamphlets if he would look
reports commercial and agricultural statistics State
and federal instead of the New York Tribune the pam
phet OF the in Maine who touchingy writes of the
poor whites of the South be would find that class have far
less need of his tender sympathes than many nearer
home
If the senator from Massachusetts, had examined the
ports of the Union he would have that those blasted
fields that offend his vision, and that artless untuored
and unpaid labor which nvokes his pity yield about four
tths OF the products of commerce. lie would have
learned that cotton rice and tobacco the peculiar products
of slave labor furnish nearly wobrds OF the exports of
domestic products of the Union He would have discover
ed that OF the average annual exports of about SO0o00
900 during the last thrtyfour years while the noave-
holding States claim about $40 600 000 the savehold
ing States justly entitled to about $S0,O0oo00 per
annup But present stronger contrast between the
caiues of the fruits of labor North and South and TO
pose clearly and concusivey only the gross and
injustice but the exragant absurdy of the sneer of the
senator from Massachusetts, at the poverty and rewarded
labor OF the South invite attention to the following facts
developed and sustained BY the statistics OF the govern
ment The population Of the cotton-groving States viz
South Carolina Georgia, Alabama Mississippi, Louisiana,
and in 1880 less than oneseyenth
the aggregate population of the Unionproduced in the Of
following decade 1920 TO 1880, in round numbers S2l,
600 900 of exports than all the other States
The population of the six States, with Florida
amounting in 1880 to but l20s65 than the
enh OF the entire population of the Unionprodnced du-
ring the next decade from 1880 l840 in value in round
numbers 220000000 more Of exports than all the
other States.
The population of the same seven States which in 1870
amounted TO less than onesevenh Of the entire population
of the Union by $4,000 produced in the next decade from
1910 $780, in value in round numbers 500 900 more
OF exports than all the other States
The population of the States with Texas, in
$50 amounting TO less than onesxh of the entire popu-
ation of the Union produced in the four years. from
1850 10 1864, inclusive in value in round numbers $751;,
S92 than all the other States OF the
Union
Now sir let 1t be borne in mind that great is the dis
parity favor Of the productions Of slave labor in slave
States manifested by the comparison instituted II does not
do those States Justice because have only included the
products of cotton and rice exported by them and
excluded their breadstu tobacco sugar and every other
product while have given the other States credit for not
only all their exported products hut for much that is
due the States designated by 1t may be safely
alleged that the Union indebted for than onehal
exports less than onesixth It's population, contained
in the eight States distinguished coton-growing. And
those exports form the bdss Of its impors may be
added that the Union indebted to those eight disparaged
and derded States for than one-ha its commerce.
and the entire savehoding States for about four ths
Of il defy the from Massachusetts to find any
parallel for the eNchaugeabo products the materials Of in
dependence Of wealth and prosperity indicated in the
ports Of the South Sir the reproach of poverty Of unre
Quilted toll Of the magu influence Of slavery upon labor
Is made by unCalculang ignorance calculating malig-
nifty II is ohrepesed slander, which Ands no sub
stantia fact and plausible pretext which to
stand 1t Of the poisoned not tolerated in
honorable r0yars which the foreign and domestic foes Of
the South dscbargiug at heri and when shot by
the hand Of any Of New England is not only poisoned
with caiumny but barbcd with iugratitude
What NctO England O0c, 10 SLAVE Labor.
II Is the domestic produce Of the South that gives
ploymen 10 hands and food and rament to the bodies
Of the people Of New England that has multiplied her
population and maguifed her wealth that has built up
her Lowell and her Boston that has made her merchants
princes and her manufacturers lords Of the loom that
has recuated her surface with railroads and studded II
with thrifty villages that has enabled her capitalists
10 indulge In European magnhcence and Asiatic lux
ury.
Take from New England, sir the cotton Of the South,
and she would learn in the sad reverse and rapid de
cline Of her fortunes the immense and ncacuabe value OF
that involuntary servitude which of her representa-
denounces "wtherinR, blghting, aud consuming
curse Take from her the eecy fabric Of the South, and
In her waste waterfalls her freess furnaces her moss
covered mwhee her grassgrown streets her deserted
villages her unfequented harbors ber dapidated palaces
her untravelled raroads-n every spot now fun OF lie
and blooming with the vigor OF commercial health and
active be quickly seen the sad snthess
Of death
allude 10 these facts in no spirit Of vain triumph.
am consrained 10 do so by the wauton and ilounded
taunt Of the senator from Massachusetts, COULD too
easily paint picture Of the wrongs inflicted and suffer
ngs endured under that system of servitude called Voa
tary In New England which would prove that there labor
often fails TO get its just reward. But II yields me no
pleasure to template the msforunes or faults the er
rors or inrmes Of my fellowmenar lcss those OF my
eow-countrymen rejoice rather in their virtues their
good deeds and good fortune. appreciate the intel,