The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-12-21
a,ad tie General WeHaare.


pied power and eminence. and the other sinh
ing into q state Of comparative imbecility and
obscurityf" To be the better prepared TO
answer this inquiry. 1t must be promised that
at the formation of the eoufaderaey 10 1889,
the South on the whole had the advantage as
viii be seen from comparison of the coudilioo
OF some 1T the leading States = t.s'i. l.t5
In 1870, when the first census was taken,
New 7 York contained $40 100 inhabitants; at
the same time. the populationaof Virginia was
E748. .30s. being more than twice the number of
New York, Just sixty years afterward. as we
learn from The census of 1850. New York
had population of 8 09z 394, while that of
Virginia was o ly 42l 66i. being less than
half the number of New York. 2 & ssa - - T. e
In 1871. the exports of New York amount
ee to S2,505 465; he exports of Virginia to
So lao. .e65, In 1852. The exports of New
York amounted to ss7 1896; the exports
OF Virginia to ouly 81 T24,6 ,657i 'i''f. 'ss''
In 1870, the imports Of New York and Viz
ginia we're about equal; in 1853, the imports
of New York amounted to the enormous sum
Of S17s270 999 while those of Virginia for
the same period. were 1899 ,0O4 q ''."
In 1850. the products of manufactures,
mining, and the mechanic arts in New 7 ork.
amounted 10 S237 ,597 ,24s; thyse of Virginia
to S29 7O5 ,387. 7a 9.aai!s' eea za'fsszs'5i I
At the taking of the last census. the value
of real and personal property in Virginia, in
Gliding negroes, was $39l GAG .43s; that of
New York, exclusive OF anv monetary value
OF haman beings. was 81 $50 800 ZIG. Estas
An August, 1856 the real and personal
estate assessed in the city of New York
amounted it valuation to $51ll70 491 show
ing that New York city alone is worth far
more than the whole State Of Virginia 7l
+ Gov. Wise, comparing these humilaing
facts, lamenIs over The days when Virginia
stood pre- eminently the first commercial state
in the Union; when her commerce exceeded
in amount that Of all the New England states
combined, when the city of Norfolk owned
more than one hundred trading ships. and her
direct foreign trade exceeded that of the city
of New York: At the period of the war of
Independence. the commerce of Virginia was
lonr times larger than that Of New York"
The cash value of all the farms, farming
implements and machinery in Virginias in 80
was 1928 423 3l5i the value OF the same in
New York was S576 63l ;56s.r In about the
same ratio does the value of the agricultural
products and live stock of New York exceed
the value the agricultural products and live
stock of Virginia. 70 7sE1i g s19dio '.t'i kasi
+ A similar comparison between Massachu-
sets and Moth Carolina; Pennsylvania and
South Carolina; and between the Free and
Slave States. as a whole, exhibits like fear
full disproportion. Boston could buy the
whole of the North State, and within the
recollection of people now living, Charleston.
s. c., imported foreign fabrics for the PhiIa-
delpbia trade. Such are the changes. such
the progress and retrogressioi of seventy years.
Every intelligent Southerner knows that he
is compelled TO- go to the North for almost
every article Of utility and adornmeDt, from
matches and shoe-pegs up to cotton mills,
steam ships aud statusry; that the South has
no princely merchants, few respectable art
fists; that in comparison with the Free States
she contributes nothing to literature or iuven-
: tion. that the few products of Southernsindus-
try do not meet with ready eale, even at
home; that the North disposes of her floating
capital, and that she is dependent on Nortf-
ern capitalists for the means necessary to build
\ her railroads. canals and other public i'm
provements; that TO visit foreign country,
the people of the South sail from Northern
ports; and that nearly all the profits arising
tfrom the exchange of commodities, from in
surance and shipping Offices. and from the
thousand and one Industrial pursuits of the
country, accrue TO the North. In summing
lup this dependence, Mr. Helper says:-i I,
one way or another, we are more or less sub
servent to the North every day of our lives.
10 Infancy we are swaddled in Northern mus
lin; in chi dhood we are hnmored with North
q tern gewgaws; in youth be are Instructed out
of Northern books; at the age of maturity
4 we SOW ours wild oats on Northern soil; in
middle life we exhaust our wealth.. energies
and talents in the dishonorable vocation of
4 ientaiiing our dependence on our children and
on our children's children. and, 10 the neglect
of our own interests and the interests of those
around us, in giving aid and succor to every
department of Northern power; in the decline
Iiof life we remedy our eyesight with Northern
spectacles, and support our in6rmities with
Northern canes; in old age I'VE are drugged
with Northern physic; and finally. when We
die. our inauimate bodies .shrowded in North
ern cambria. are stretched upon the bier. horne
to the grave in Northern carriage. en,omed
with Northern spade, and memorized with a
Northern slab.'f lsG@sa aaei7sg Va
WHY THE NORTH HAS SURPASSED THE SOUTH.
The auihor car find but one cause of trou-
BILE. and that Slavery. "the SON. of "a consid-
crate and mercifn Shareholder, native OF the
South. born and bred in North Carolina, Of a
family which has been in the valley of the
Yadkin for nearly q century and half q
Southerner by instinct and all the Influences
Of thought, habits and kindred" indending TO
remain in the vicinity of his birth. place he has
not only become mot merely Free Soer
but an Aboli,ionst, in the fullest sense of the /,
term" He con,inues:-"We are not only, in
iayor of keeping Slavery out of the Terrific
ries. but carrying our opposition TO the iusti-
tuition step further, we here unhesitatingly
declare ourself in favor of its immediate and
unconditional abolition in every state in this
confederacy where it now exists" This opin
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