The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1857-01-31
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and the golAa&~al2ialNr nia and Australia
ratio ra 10 Of increa, sumption Indicated by
the above figures zen years hence the crop
should ineTease to N,52s,2G4, or yield u
total aggregate crop 81 the years lSGG-'6T of
5,52S, 204 bales, and which may in fact, be
ncareY six millions n bales! Have we the
clcms.4A s Of laboSf> produce it? Clearly not,
The slave pophAlon Of the United States
in ls40 was 2,4S7.4A Eand in 1870 3,2o+,3l3,
showing in round nun. ers about 80 per cent.
increase in ten years. While the slave popu-
iation in the ny Nen years can only increase
30 per cent, " creased power of consump-
ton, domestic foreign, will require ali -
crease Of proc Of nearly 100 per cent?
And is not ,rth, and indeed, the civil
lied world, intercA ! in this increase Of pro
duction? If " clA p of 3,O0o.one Of {2ales
requires the employment Of over 1000 NORTH
cru built and Northern manned and owned
ships, the prodoy..s ~ of 6%,000,000 Z bales
of cotton would require the use of oY 1000
ships. Massachusetts, Instead Of ppiying
Sl6,0O0,OoO of cotton fabrics, mig It suppl
$72,0 o0, 900, and every other kind I trade ami
business growing out of, and conf .cted with
the growth of cotton at the South and carried
on al the North, might also be dod 5led. Cirili-
zation would be extended by fle increase OF
! commerce aud the increased stpply Of cheap
clothing to hide the nakedness Of savages.
For Ten or twenty years past there has been
u gradual transfer Of slaves from the grain dis
tricts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland,
| Kentucky, and Delaware, to the rich cotton
districts bordering on the Gulf Of Mexico.
In the decade from 1870 to 1850, the in
crease Of slave population in the States of
North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland was
only from two to six per cent, while in the
Gulf cotton States it increased from thir,y-iive
to fity.eight per cent, and in Arkansas the
increase was one hundred and ,hirty-six per
cent. Delaware decreased twelve per cent.
Virginia declined four per cent, from 1880 to
1870, but Increased five per cent. from 1910 to
1850. The District Of Columbia decreased
twenty-one per cent. The drainage Of the
slave population from the above States became
SO great as to give an enhanced value to The
products Of tobacco and hemp in the States Of
Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia. Hence we
find the emigration from those to the Gulf
cotton States was checked in the last decade.
Virginia, instead Of losing four per cent,
gained five per cent, while Kentucky gained
fifteen rer cent, and Missouri about fifty pen
cent.
So that viewing as we may the question OF
labor available for increasing the crop ofcotton,
to meet the increase of consumption in ten
years, to 100000 OR to 100000 OF bales,
(near 100 per cent yet in no point OF view
can we arrive at the conclusion that adequate
labor for its production can be found. The
question is an important one, both to this
country. to Europe, and to the civilized world.
The yield of gold, since its discovery in Cali
forllia and Australia, has reached bout SO p
0o0,CGo. The yield last year was Sl.0,o00,t,o %.
This year the yield will not be less than Sl25,-
O0o.oO0. AT this rate OF annual supply CT
gold, with the present supply Of gold i'll the
world, in ten years. it will reach the enormous
sum of 81, 250,00o,o00! Can any one sup
pose that with TIE dissemination Of this i'm
n1ense amount of wealth among the people of
the Cd ard New Word, their power OF con-
2ampticn will not demand in ten years a supply
Of G,000,00U bales Of cotton, which this country
would find no difficulty in supplying, or even
augmcnting TO 1,HG0,U0Oof bales were African
labor at all ava:iub,e for the purpose?