Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-11-06
LOOK ar THE FIGURES.

4 Tou who arc akoutSto vote the ticket
that afhrms that t6e Constitution ought
! 10, and actually does, carry slavery into all
! the territories, should look and see how
! Il IS going to effect your interests and the
/! interests Of an untold posterity in those
| territories. For purposes of familiar
comparison We will take two of the coun-.
ties of this State, where there are
fewest slaves, aud two where there are
most, in proportion to the population. In
the little counties of Hancock aud Brooke.
there are respectively, ,73s aud 52,44l
acres of Iaud. In the former county the
average value per acre is S23,75-iu the
latter tits $3.50. Tue aggregate value
of the land in the former county is Sl,lsl,-
sl2-in the latter Sl;sl6,56l There are
but 3 slaves in the former county and
81 in the latter. Now,,o the other hand,
take two of the heavy slave holding coun-
ties, for instance, two of the best-the
counties of Southampton and Greenville.
The former possesses s35,69i acres OF land, }.
ndthslatter l56, sss. In. southampton the
laud'ts worth only three dollars and one cent
per acre, and7insG reeuvills it is worth but
tsso dotIers and seveatgc TheTaggregate
value of all. the land in the former county
is only $l,O6sslo3,. aud in the latter,
S427,l73. In other words, the 4s,739
acres of little Hancock are worth $1ls, oCo
more than the 5000 acres of Southamp-
ton, and nearly million dollars more
than the l66, $50 acres of the county of
Greeuyille. What makes the difference,
fellow citizens2 Why, it's just this, and
only, this, that in Southampton county
there are 5,T55 slaves, and in Greenville,
3,7s5, while, as we said, there are in Han
cock but 3, and in Brooke but 81. The
two former counties have all the natural
and most of the artificial advantages in
their favor, and yet, see how far, how very
far behind they rate. But this exhibit is
not all. Look at this from the U. S. CEN
sus tables:
COMPARISON OF FREE AND SLAVE CITIES.
po.. Popalat e6@ Wealth Wealth per capital
Chicago....ll2000 l7i,o00:o0O i,527
Richmotd..... 10000 20,l43.52O SOB
Ia these statistics slaves in the slave
cities and .in,the Virginia assessment, are
reckoned as property, aud make consid-
cradle share of the amounts. Without
this addition, the contrast would be much
mora favorable to Freedom.
And then, again, look at this:
COMPARISONS OF NEW YORK AND VIRGINIA.
Popula- Assessments, sNatve
! 500 ton: 1850. uiterates.
Now York. 1857 1884, Ss3sS Sl s1ososee2ls es2sr
Virginia. 1880 $3.50 59fSes sae4e4ss 1888
*NetiSe white adults who uld neither read nor
write.
Teachers in yelqmesin No. Of papoTs& Yearly
Sir af1S SS SEQ 81 ns ssssess
But this is not all, fellow citizens.
Look at the exemptions and the privileges
that this institution claims of US. The
tweptS-second section OF the constitution
of our State reads on this wise:
"TnxatiOn shall he equal and uniform
throughout the Commonwealth, and all
property, other than SLAVES, [marl1 thatl
shall be taxed in proportion to its value,
which shall be nscertained in such manner
| as may be provided by law"
All property, fellow citizens, s'Other than
.lares," shalllbe taxed in proportion to its
value-hut slaves shall not be. And yet
these orthodoxists tell us that slaves arc
property, just like our horses, cows aud
sheep are--ou which we pay taxes accord
ing TO their value. To show the fllsity
of this property theory of these orthodox
| istss look at the 2sd section of tue consti-
tuition. 1t is there said that "every slave
who has attained the age of IL years shall
be assessedswith q tax equal to and not
ercseding that assessed on land (the very
lowest -tax) of the value of three hun
dred dollars. Slaves undcr t,celrs gears
Of age shall not be subject to taration."-
Doesn't that look like equality in prop
terSy2 Why are not our horses, hogs
and sheep exempted thus2 Why is
not our iron interest here in Western vir-
GINA, or any other interest that we have,
Exempted just as we'll as the slave proper
~ of Eastern Virginia. But again, fellow
citizens, look at the fact that we, here Of
Western Virginia, possessing over one
hundred Thousand majority of the white
population, have only one-third of the
Senate of the State, and Eastern Virginia,
simply by her slaves, has two-thirds. Is
there any equality of property in that 2
And yet all these inequalities-nll these
Exemptions and all this injustice we are
asked to extend into the territories of this
Union, where the institution does not ex-
fist But this is not all-nor the worst
This property will not let US go and speak