Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-12-08

holders, but one family in every three and halt
| families in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts
| and Connecticut are holders of agricultural land
and in European States the proportion is almost indie
finitey less. The proportion which the Shareholders
of the South bear to the entire population great
er than that of the of land houses agricutu
raj stock State, bank other corporation secUri
ties anywhere else No political economist will de-
ny this Nor is that all. Even in the States which
are among the largest slavehoding, South Carolina
Georgia, and Tennessee, the land proprietors out
| number nearly two to one in relative proportion
the owners of the same property in Maine, Massa
| chusetts, aud Connecticut, and If the average mum
Der of slaves held by each family throughout the
South be but nine, and if one half of the whole
number of Shareholders own under five slaves
il will be seen how prepOsterous is the allegation
Of our enemies that the slayeholding class is
ganized wealthy aristOcracy. The poor men of III
South are the holders of one 10 fire SiqUes, ddd loOdC
be edLg consistent 10Th truth and justice TO SdV thd
they represent, in realty, It's SlaUehoding interest.
The fact being conceded that there is very large
class of persons in the saveholding States who have
no direct ownership in that property, it may b
well asked, upon what principle greater antag
| onsm can be presumed between them and their fel
| low-citizens than there exists among the larger
class of non-landhOlders in the free States and the
| landed interests there If a conflict of interes
exists in one instance it does in the other, and il
patriotism and public spirit are to be measured
upon so low a standard this, the social fabric a
the North is in far greater danger Of dissolution
| than it is here.
Though protest against the false and degrading
standard to which Northern orators and statesmen
| have reduced the measure of patriotism which j:
| to be expected from free and enlightened people
| and in the name of the non-slaveholders Of the
South fling back the insOlent charge that they arr
| only bound to their country by the consideration
| of its loaves and fishes and would be found
derelict in honor and principle and public virtue
| in proportion as that they were needy in eircum
stances think it but easy to show that the interes
Of the poorest non-slaveholdeP among is 70 make
| common cause with and die in the last trenches If
defence of the slave property of his more favored
! neighbor.
The non-slaveholders of the South may be classed
rs either such as desire and are incapable of pur
chasing slaves or such have the means to purchase
and do not because of the absence of the motive tC
do so, preferring to hire or employ cheaper white
labor class cOnscientiously obJecting to the own
ership of this property does not exist at the South
for all such scruples have long since been silenCed
| by the profound and unanswerable arguments tC
which Yankee controversy has driven our states
men, popular orators, and clergy. Upon the sure
testimony of Coils holy PooE. and upon the princi
| pies of universal pUhJy, ,hey have defended and
justified the institution The exceptions which en-
brace recent importatiOns in Virginia, and in sOma
of the Southern cities from the free States of the
North, and some Of the crazy, socialistic Germans
in Texas are TOO unImpOrtant to affect the truth OF
| the proposition.
| The nOn-slaveholders are either urban or rural
including among the former the merchants, traders
mechanics labOrcrs. and other classes in the towns
and cities and among the latter the tillers Of the
soil in sections where slave property either could
or could not be profitably employed.
As the competition OF free labor nth sqUe labor is the
gst of the argument used by the opponents of slave
ry and As it is upon this they rely in support of
future social conflict in midst it is clear that in
cases where the competition possibly exist
| the argument whatever weight it might otherwise
have must fall to the ground.
Now from what can such competition be argued in
our cities Are not all the interests of the meT.
chant and those whom he employs Of necessity upon
the side Ofthe Shareholder? The products which he
| buys. the commodities which he sells, the profits
which he realizes, the hopes which sustain him of
future fortunes all spring from this source and from
no other The cities. towns and villages ofthe South
are but so many agencies for converting the pro
ducts of slave labor into the products of Othera
obtained from abroad and in every other agency
the interest Of the agent is that the principal shall
have as much as possible to sell and be enabled as
much as possible to bay; in the absence of every
other source Of wealth at the South, Its mercantile
| interests so interviewer with those OF slave
labor is almost to be Identical What is true Of the
| merchant is true of the clerk. the drayman the
laborer whom he emplOys-the mechanic who builds
his houses, the lawyer who argues his causes, the
physician who heals the teacher the preacher, etc.
etc. If the poor mechanic could have ever com
planned of the competition in the cities of slave la
Dor with his, that complaint in the enormous In
/
has been exhaustng the cities and towns of such Ia
Dor. or making it so valuable that he work il
competition with it and receive rate of remunera
ton greatly higher than in any of the non slavehol
ing towns or cities at the north! In proof Of the
truth of this it is only necessary to advert to the
ample of the city ofCharleston which has alarger
proportion Of slaves than any other az the South,
where the first flag of southern independence was
unfured and where the entire people with one voice
rich and poor, merchant mechanic and laborer stan
h, 90, 4
in the city Of New York, almost dependant upon
Southern slavery as Charleston itself, which re-
cords a majority Of nearly 10000 votes against the
further progress of abolitionism.
As the competition does not exist IN the cities 1t Is
equally certain that 1t does not exist in those sections
OF the South which are employed upon the cultva-
ton of commodities IN which sIve labor could not
be used and that there exists conflict there eN-
cept in the before stated cases of Virginia and Tex
and some Of the counties of Missouri, Maryland
and Kentucky. These exceptions are howqFer too
unimportant to effect the great question of slavery in
fifteen states of 1.-THE South, and are so kept in
check as to be incapable of affecting any mischief
even in the communities referred to. Ii would be
the badest Sbsurdty to suppose that the poor farm
ers of South Carolina North Carolina and Tennessee
who grow corn, wheat, bacon and hogs and horses
are brought into any sort Of competition with the
slaves of these OF other states who while they CON
sumo these commodities, produce but little or none
Of them.
Ile competition GOliliCI II SuCu eAiSl III inc
South between slave labor and free labor is reduced
TO the single case of such labor being employed side
bv side in the production of the same commodities,
and could thus be felt only in the cane, cotton
tobacco and rice fields, where almost the entire ag-
ricultural slave labor is exhausted. Now any one
coCnizaut of the actual facts will admit that the
free labor which is employed upon these crops, dis
connected from and in actual independence OF the
slave holder is very insignificant item IN the ac-
count, and whether in accord or IN conflict would
affect nothing the permanency and security OF
the institution. Is Is a competition from when the
non-saveholder Cheerfuy retires when the occasion
offers, his physical organization refusing to endure
that exposure to tropical suns and fatal miasmas
which are alone the condition of profitable culture
and any attempt to reverse the laws which God has
ordained attended with disease and death. This
the poor white labOrer upon our river swamps and
IN our southern cities, especially in Mobile and New
orleans and upon the public works Of the south is
daily witness off.
Having then followed out step by step and seen to
what 1t amounts, this so much naraded connection
anu connect existing between the non-slaveholding
anu sla'eholdlnE interests of the South will pro-
ceed TO present several general considerations which
/ would be found powerful enough 10 influence the
nonslavehoders, if the claims of patriotisrn wore
inadequate to resist any attempt to overthrow the
| institutions and industry of the section 10 which
! they belong
l. lhenol-SldUeloderQ Of tie South IS assured ofiS
th0t Ae remuneration afforded Jy his labor orer and
Gb0Ue the erpaSe of LUg is larger than that lcEick Is
afforded by the same labor ia the free States. To be
| convinced Of this he has only to compare the value
OF labor in the Southern cities with those of the
North, and TO take note annually Of the large num-
| Ter OF laborers who represented to be out of
| employment there and who migrate to our shores
| as well as 10 other sections No white laborer in
return has been forced TO leave our midst or re-
main without employment Those who come among
us are enabled soon to retire TO their homes with
| handsome competency. The statement is nearly as
true for the agricultural for other interests as
| the statistics will show.
The following table was recently compiled by
| Senator johnson, OF Tennessee, from information
received in reply to circular letter sent to the
| points indicated.
Daily wages in New Orleans Charleston and Nashyirei
Br Brick Carpenters Laborers