The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-05-02
VIVA. Raises the Value of Land.

There are few, we suppose, who do
not understand what makes the value
of land. Land in q wilderness has no
value; it yields nothing to man. Give
it inhabitants, subject it to tillage, and
it Immediately becomes valuable; its
value is brought out by population as
colors are brought out by light /; the
more numerous its inhabitants, the
higher price it will bear; land in VII
lages and towns are always worth
more than land in the country. But
the value OF land does not merely de-
pend on the number of inhabitants; it
depends also on their character. Real
estate is worth great deal more in a
country inhabited by an active, indus
trious, orderly, thriving population,
than in region peopled by different
class. Village lots in one of our new
towns are worth ten times what they
are in Mexican pueblo. What is
land worth in Hottentot kraal? A
few trinkets wonld pay for acres; but
an acre of land in one of the new
towns in Minnesota is worth Jews
eye. The immense tracts in the mid
land regions of our republic will begin
to have value only when they begin
to have population, and will only
reach their highest value when they
shall possess inhabitants in the great
est number and of the highest charac-
ter.
From this we may understand why
land in the slave States has compare
lively so little value. In the first
place, they can only have thin and
scattered population. This is the in
evitable result of slavery. which re-
quircs large plantations instead OF
small farms, and leads to a superficial
instead of a thorough cultivation.
With their comparatively few inhabi-
tants, their land cannot be rated high
in the market.
But there is another circumstance
which prevents land in the slave States
from bearing price propoftioned even
to the number of the inhabitants.
By making population sparse slavery
stands in the way of establishing
schools. For the most part, the whites
live at sucha distance from each other
that children of several families can
not be sent to the same school, as they
can in the free states. The same cause
prevents the formation of Lyceums
and other literary associations, the de-
livery of public lectures in the rural
neighborhoods, and many other ar
rangements which awaken the think
ing faculties and educate and inform
the public mind. The consequence is
ignorance and mental inactivity. The
possession of slaves also leads to bod
lily inactivity; the negroes are expec-
ted to do all the work; and this begets
the habit of Incidence in the whites.
The exercise of arbitrary power and
the uncontrolled indulgence of passion
which accompany the possession of
slaves, combine with the other causes
we have mentioned, to affect the char
acter iniuriously. We will not dwell
longer upon this aspect of the case,
for we certainly take no pleasure in
contemplating it, and we have no wish
to darkcn the picture by any rhetorical
amplifcation of its shadows. The
two causes which make land in the
slave states worth less than in the free
are clear, sud both are the Legitimate
and undeniable effects of slavery. In
the first place, slavery makes sparse
population, and secondly, it depresses
the character.
1t is now plain for what reason land
is worth more on the right bank of the
Ohio river than on the left; in Indiana
than in Kentucky; in the young state
of Iowa than in the elder state OF
Missouri; in Pennsylvania than in
Virginia. But some of the most re-
markable illustrations of the truth we
are endeavoring to illustrate are to be
found without going out of Virginia
for comparisons.
Take the counties of Greenville and
Southampton, which lie in the south
ern part of Virginia, the portion most
favored by nature-fertile, healthy and
comparatively level-and compare
them with the counties of Ohio anl
Hancock, in the narrow tract of the
northwestern part of the state which
lies along the river between Ohio and
Pennsylvania. Greenville and South
ampton are slave counties; Ohio and
Hancock are, on account OF their bor-
der positions, practically free and cul-
tivated by white labor. We give here
certain statistics furnished by the last
census, showing what is the number of
whites and of slaves in each, the num-
Der of acres, and the value at which
the land in each is estimated:
Whites. Slaves. Acres. Valuation
Greenville i.f3l 2,7S5 I5j,972 s427,I7
Southampn 500 5,755 355 $50 I.ts3 .l03
Ohio 1872 l64 5g.7Si 3,o25.e5l
Hancock 4.o40 8 49,75s l,lsl.5
Hancock and Ohio counties are not
q fourth part as large as Greenville
and Southampton. and yet their lands
are set down in the census at mora
than twice the value of the lands in
these two slave counties. An acre is
worth ten times as much in Hancock
as in Southampton. The Southamp-
ton and Greenville lands are valued at
less than three dollars an acre; the
Hancock and Ohio lands at nearly
thirty dollars. Yet the two slave