East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-04-26
Laboring Whites al the south.

As much has been, aud continues to be
said, by the republicans of the abiect
condition of the white non shareholders
of the South, we insert the following,
which, no doubt, gives the true state of
parties there
1--WE took occasion few days ago to
call attention to the misuse OF figures in
an article on the Homestead Bill in the
Press & TribRe. Tho GguLes of our CO.
temporary are scarcely wider from the
sruth than is the entire substance of its
article touching the relative position Of
the Southern Shareholders and non-save-
holders. Ofthe latter, whom il estimates
at G,000,000, it says: "They are, in fact,
as completely without voice, or influence,
or representation in our national councils,
as the people of Timbuctoos."
Now as a verylarge proportion of these
non-slaveholders at the South are men of
northern birth, whose gallant sires fought
for the principle of representation in our
national councils, the wonder is, how
many thousands upon thousands of the
sons and brothers of northern frcemen
have so soon degcnergted into the condi-
ton Of Timbuctoos; and why they did
not, before reaching that deplorablc deg
relation, return to a land of political
freedom. Bat the statement is wholly
without foundation in fact There is no
part of the United States where the PEG.
pie of the white race are so completely
on footing Of political equality as in the
Southern States There is no part of the
4 tot ,,fln hn a.,
is more the peer and equal, both in feel
ing and fact, of the man Of wealth and
capital, and where his voice is moro po-
tcntial at the ballot box, than in these
same Southern States. it is in the North,
and not in the South, that we always find
the great conflict between capital and
labor. There is not now, and never has
been, any collision of interest or political
power between the slaveholding and non
slavcholding people of the South. The
two classes are, in fact and in feeling one,
separated by no line or barrier, but con-
stantly intcrmingling in every business
and relation Of life, every non stakeholder
desiring and expecting ere long to be-
come STAKEHOLDER himself. The truth
is, that he is virtually one all the time.
For it is impossible to live in the South
without being connected with slave labor.
All men at the South, either by per-
pctual or temporary ownership of this
kind of service are virtually shareholders.
And this whole representation Of con.
illct in opinion and interests of two
classes which, in the very nature Of
things, can be but one, is simple absurd
ity-thc mere Pigment of fancy. We
venture to assert, that notwithstanding
the different European and American
stocks from which they have sprung, and
their widely different birth places, there
Is not upon the earth AT this moment n
people more solidly united and homogc-
neous on all social and political questions
than the people of our Southern States
Let any vote be taken ON any question
touching slavery and there is not South
ern State in which the STAKEHOLDER and
non-slavcholder would not stand heart to
heart and shoulder to shoulder in an un.
broken phalanx. All men who have lived
in the South, or who have any real prac-
teal knowledge Of the South, know this
TO be true.
There was a striking Illustration Of this
truth when that question was openly dis
cusscd in Kentucky in 1850, in the can
vass for the new Constitution. There
was an emancipation party with its can.
didatcS in the field, and the effort was to
get what was called an Open clause in
the Constitution, providing for gradual
emancipation. Some of the largest and
oldest slavcholdng families in the State
were in favor of the clause. But when
it came before the people, it was voted
down by an overwhelming majority; and
it was found that the non-slaveholding
people of Kentucky were the people that
constituted that ma orty. There was a
larger proportion Of Shareholders voted
for the Open Clause than of the non.
shareholders. The vast and oyerwhelm-
ing majority of the non-slavehclders .oi
rIeuJucky, contrary TO the wishes of it:
shareholders, carried the day, and there
was not single emancipation candidate
elected to the Convention which framed
the New Constitution. In the face Of
such facts how can any man assert thai
the whole South is made up of $4,000
shareholders, that the Shareholders consti
tute the South, and that the "niggerlcs'
whites are not taken into the account a
all" Chicago UerdM