The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-04-17
KANSAS.

The following letter we find in the Camden
Journal, being the response Of Hon. }. w.
Whitfield, delegate in Congress from Kan
sas, to Hon. JAS. Chestnut, jr, touching the
general topography and agricultural capa-
bilties of the new territory:
WAsnrSGroS, March ls, 1885,
Dear SIR: At the request of Hon. w.
w. Boyce, take great pleasure in giving
you such information in regard to Kansas
as will be useful to persons em grating to
that country. In regard to soil, Kansas is
unsurpassed, producing from sixty to eighty
bushels OF corn per acre; twenty-five to
forty bushels Of wheat per acre. The finest
oats have ever seen grow, we raise i'll kan-
sas; III fact, have seen nothing planted i'll
Kansas (cXccpt cotton) that does not pro-
duce more to the acre than the best lands
of Tennessee.
Besides being a fine grain and grass
country, it is a part of the hemp region Of
the United States. Hemp is decidedly the
most profitable crop now raised, and the
statistics will show that the planters Of
Western Missouri are making more money
per hand than is made in any other State
in the Union. 1t is nothing uncommon
for farmers to pay three hundred dollars
hire for negro men per year. White men
cannot be hired for less than $50 per
month. In addition to our advantages as
an agricultural people, we have IL trade with
New Mexico, Utah, Oregon and California,
amounting to several millions Of dollars
per annum; besides, our Indian trade
amounts to more than one million per an
mum. In addition, the government, for
military supplies, cxpcnds a very large sum.
CT all
Of New Mexico and the Indian country
and, TO give you some idea Of the amount
of transportation required for that depart
cntccn hundred iDcn, and twelve hundred
wagons, each drawn hy twelve oxcn.-
Kansas is the starting point for all emf
grants going west Of lis. WAS raised in
Tennessee, and have been in nearly every
State in the Cnion, ana say TO you in all
canlor, that | have never seen any country
that possesses rs many advantages to new
or old settlers, as Kansas. Our friends in
Western Missouri, with similar soil to Kan
s;.s, make from six to eight hundred dollars
!. hand per annum. This will, have no
doubt, seem large TO you, but assure you
it is strictly true.
The climate Of Kansas I regard as being
far better than III Tennessee from lSt Sep
tembcr until lst March we have bu. little
rain--mostly clear, dry weather. The past
winter has been, though colder than ever
known before. Our country, regard as
very healthy; in some localities cl,ills and
fever prevail to some cxtcnt-w. have no
pulmonary diseases in Kansas. In regard
TO supplies, You can procure anything YOU
may want in Missouri If YOU can yet to
Kansas l'y May or June You can raise plcn-
ty of corn. Our lands are ready cleared
YOU can make voui location one tav and
commence farming next.
In conclusion permit me to thank YOU,
and TO thank the pc"pl. OF South Carolina,
for the noble effort they are now making
TO assist Us in preventing the best country,
i'll my opinion. in the United States from
falling into the hands of the ALoli.ioni>ts.
,Si"rc Property IN tie TnitI .cuhs-
According to the United States ccnS,,s for
1850, there were then in the slave States
three million one hundred and ninctv-tiy.
thousand nine hundred and fifty one slaves
Taking six hundred dollars as the average
and allowing for the material increase since
| $50, the total value OF slaves in the Uni
ted States mt this time is estimated ut two
.!,o:! a!t! :.?illons of dollars, the anntl, in
tercst of which at six per cent, will
amount to one hundred and twenty mil
lions
The estimated value of the slaves cman-
cipatcd in the British West Indies WAS only
fifty millions, not half the amount of the
interest of the slave property of the United
States. Yet it is estimated by an able wri-
ter i'll Blackwood's Magazine, that the loss
Of productive property in land, houses, ma
chin,ry, and implements of various kinds
which were rendered vauelcss by cmanci-
patton, was not less than four times the
amount Of the Whole value of the slaves.
Calculate then the enormous financial ruin
that would follow the triumph Of abolition
ism in the United States
Is it wonderful that the South should he
sensitive in view of the fact that furmila-
bic party, strong enough to elect a Speaker
Of the House of Representatives, and a
President Of the United States, Gf the cleo
ton should be thrown, as is not improbable,
holding States, whose avowed Object is to
abolish slavery, to rob six millions OF South.
crncrs Of two thousand millions of property
which would be rendered valuclcss l.y eman
cipa;ion; to say nothing of all the horrors
of civil and scrvile war, which would nee
cssarily accompany the attempt to accom-
plish this stupcndous and unparalleled
wrong ?-Richmond Disputed.
EH- 1t is stated that Sharp's rifles sell
in Kansas tor tritlc. Some keen Yankees
there, the Dayton Empire Informs us, have
been buying them up, almost from the first
month Of their introduction, shipping them
East, and re-seling them TO the humbug-
geJ, to bc again sent back as aid to Kan
sis." 1t is supposed that large number
Of these famous weapons have hecn paid
for hy the Bcechcrs and others half dozen
times over.