Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-02-07


Total value Of property the Eve Southern States 4aO9'9S3
Average value for eaon Sns person IN .e 387
~ ~ y,lre for each white person in the Eve
Southern Sates.,,' .''''''-''-''-''' '@
Tbaye no comment to make on the facts contained
in this table except to Pemark that they show that
the Southern people have abundant cause to be
satisfied with the practical operations Of their pecu-
7 tnrn now. Mr. President to a conflict which
does exist in all countries and from which our own
can claim no exception allude to the conflict be-
tween capital and labor In every conflict between
these antagOnistic interests. labor Is uniformly
,vorsted In the Southern States, free labor has
maintained itself successfully from the fact that its
interest and that of the controlling capital have been
idnnt7tied and harmonized This is the legitimate
result of the slave labor system in the South But
how has this conf worked IN the Northern States
Does the result there furnish another exception to
the general rule that capital gets the better Of labor
,yheneveP they come in GQllisiQny We know how
feeblV and unsuccessfuly labor has cOntended with
associated and Incorporated capital N the Old
World We know how soon the contest Is gwen up,
and all Is surrendered by labor except the means OF
fine most scantv and precarious subsistence. We
know something of the eXactions and expressions
to which CAPITAL subjects labor in other countries
when population reaches certain degree OF densl-
~ we know something of the wrctchedness and
suffering which free white aborers endure in those
countries But what are the results in the freeabor
States of our own country " e know that the I'M
evampled prosperity Of the Northern States Is a
theme for constant Boosting but we know, too
that Great Britain boasts even more loudly OF her
1rosnerifv and vet it is there that labor has been
6otoriousiy reduced to the starvation pcint. STILL
tb neston vecurs y hat is the result of the conflict
between capital and labor in the treeabor States
1t Is no answer to the question TO point rs tQ the
,.,r;d increase in the wealth Of capitalists That
fac oplv excites the suspicion that labor has had
INT little of the profits lefs for its share. Can the
faet be denied thai labor has been compelled to
nv 70 The exactlOns Of associated capital in the
NoTtbcpR States. inst as it has in oil other coqn-
tries Pretext atteF BFete%ts FesQrteq % lor IN
creasinp these exactiOns, until iasoF submits finally
nth ante as tle resistance as If 1t had ceased to
bn free Occasionally we hear Of a spasmodc effort
ON the mart of the oppressed free white labOrers to
obtain redress from their employers out such I'M
Tote,t rebellion of labor against capital soon
FFiaIds TO the necessities Of wives and children
lin, for bread. On such occasions as these we
are sometimes allowed to hear voice from free
iior ,-bich speaks different language from that
nsed bv the Senator from New York IAat Sena-
tor rearesents 1ee labor ag eager for an invasion
III slave labor wherever it egG be foHnd. Free
labor. when speaking for itself or some q ttese
occasious declares that lis wages age 50 low th4t
tbav do not furnish the RecessaFies OF living fhat
its wrongs are so enormous and ITS expressions
j. tyranncal that negro slavery }SsH ROqld &c
far preferable Without INCREASING 70 eFct4e
how, far capital HIS progressed IN the free states IN
,.rshinr free labor to the point Of abJect submls-
ION II viii be safe to assume that the result OF the
st thus far does not promise TO be dHeren4 from
not yybieb has married. the triumph Of capital IN
rerr other country 1t IS certain that free labor IS
firsd IN conflict al hcme with incorporated capital
which win demand all Of its energies If It succeeds
in avertinu destiny quite as hopeless and cheePless
a. Iat which it Is made to believe IS reserved tol
southern slave labor.
Bnt. Mr.. President, it cannot be that the voice OF
free labor at the North is truly represented oy me
I Senator from New York. 1t Is incredible that IA
! boring men, who depend on slave labor for the
means of subsistence, and whose LABOR Is JAY ~
propriated to swell the profits Of their OppressorS