The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-04-25
African Labor supply--Wealth Argu-
ment---No. 8.
LAND REPAIR.

LAND REPAIR.
Cultivation has three stages. In the f1rs
land is prepared in the second, exhauste
and in the third, repaired. Preparation is Il
clearing Exhaustion the impoYerishng an
Reparation, the fertilizing OF land. Such al
the three stages. But in each of the three, th
cultivation may STOP Cultivators therefor
are either permanent or enaigrant. Land De
sertiOn Of course, is Emigration. What the
is the relation of Preparation Exhaustion, AM
Reparation, TO Permanence and Migration
and what is the relation OF all to the African
Labor Supply?
LAND OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES PROVES WORTH.
In the United States, South, the prepare
ton Of land, has been extraordinary. The
morning slope of the Alleghanies the dusk
marsh Of our public Gull, which ought to be a
Mediterranean to new and nohler Romans
our peculiar bowl of brine, bay with a latch
and the string inside, our household pool, shut
indoor and private as the bower fount where
hid in hair beauty bathes at the jet, her blush.
ing breasts the midnight swamps of the Mis-
sssippi, and the midday glades where huge
bodies of land, hold at their head cannon and
mansions, at their breast, rifles and huts: at
their ioIn, wigwams and arrows and at their
feet tusks and lairs cur broard, bold rauge,
In whatever light in whatever shade, have
been cleared of gum and pine, ofoak and ash,
OF catalpa and magnolia, almost enough to
burn the world and cropped of cotton and
corr, of rice and tobacco, of wheat and hemp,
Utmost enough to pay the fire insurance. We
need not to bTag, for brags are base; but we
ought to estimate, because estimates are hon
orable. And yet without seeming to brag, who
Il
Dor system has done How much ground
have we not cleared, how many burrows have
we not plowed how much timber have we
not chopped We have disparked and dis
atforested the great hunting grounds from
where with shout and oath, with bet and
boast and winding horn, the tallyhe packs
matched in mouth like bells, race from frosty
dawn to hungry dark, the gallant red-fox to
where in short smocks the gay prairie girls
straddlng mustang ponies, lasSo and butcher
on the grass buffalo calves, and pack home the
humps to broil for breakfast. Our drains are
measured by the league !; our Golfers serape
across the half of continent ; and in the
woods, our long lanes of deadening,. let the
Atlantic gale sweep straight through, to salt
the snow-fakes of the Western ridges and
make them oTercold. If our force and time
shall be counted, we stand ready and eager to
put up a province for prize, and banter nations.
Ofall eras and continents, to measure ciearings,
bitches, fences and burrows. What the times
need is truth, and troth. We are deprecate1
by others because we are not appreciated by
ourselves. Our silence is self SANDER But
when all the facts shall be told, our economy
will be the proof of our morality; our labor
systems work viii prove our labor systems
worth
OUR SYSTEM, ESSENTIALLY ENERGETIC.
Although in the United States South the
work has been systematic and extraordinary
the main cause IS scarcely known. 1t has
been charged that we have no spirit of i'm
provement, that we lack energy; and that sla-
very and the sun unstring our nerves and
keep US idle. A mistake so lame, so blind
and scary is folly's foal, spites get, and enyys
hobby. Our labor Is essentially Energetic
Ii necessitates industry. This is its boast
For in our system. labor IS capital But where
this is the principle, industry must be the
practice. Capital IS naturally Industrious
1t enforces on the capitalists the obligation to
labor; it is self enforcing Idle capital is loss;
the capitalist loses its profts.g Ii mlenesS is
criminal, idle capital mulcts the capitalists for
the crime. Loss Of profits is a fine" Our
capitalists and laborers, therefore, are econ
omically enforced TO be industrious. They
have no choice. The capitalists industry IS
to order the peace, health, morality and enjoy
ment of the producers: the modes OF the pro-
duction; the assurance and exchange of the
products, and the distribution and investment
of the profits. On the other hand, orderly
toll is the industry of the laborers. How
then can idleness be profitable? How can
labor which is capital, be wasted? The loss
would be too great; the idleness would be
ruin He who has fifteen hundred or fifteen
thousand dollars invested in labor obligations,
is By the felicity of the investment, enforced
to prevent idleness, except for health, morali-
ty and enjoyment or good will. Thus in our
system, the capitalists and laborers, the mas
tiers and servants, must either work or part
Moreover the expense Of the servants is the
debt of the master Idleness, therefore, s
bankruptcy. But in bankruptcy the servants !
change masters. If the new master is efficient
he succeeds, and if deficient, fails. Thus ma
lures method for the improvement of species,
is our method for the improvement ofmasters.
Those more productive, accede and those less
productive, recede. Our system wills the
masters the true grit are kept and stored, j
but the idle chaff are sifted and blown away.
Free labor is essentially regressiye, but our
labor is essentially progressive. The move
ment of one is constant deterioration the
movement of the other, a constant Moderation.
One system goes on from perfection and the
other goes on to perfection.
LAND OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Land when prepared, is next exhausted
But as it may be either simply tired" or
entirely sterile, exhaustion may of course be
4, Ikt- icfo ID
grees, are the prime, the mean, and the extreme
When without fertilization lands average
product is greatest the preparation is ended;
but when the greatest average product de-
ereases, the exhaustion is begun. Prime ex-
haustion makesa short crop; extreme exhaus-
ton makes no crop; and mean exhaustion
makes less than one and more than thesother
In the first degree, the production pays more in
the second, as much as, and IN third, less than,
its expenses. Hence lands in state of prime ex-
haustiOn are always cultivated, because they
more than pay expenses. This IN the other stages
isnot the case In mean exhaustion, the first
crop barely pays expenses, and the after cIops
nav less 70 cultivate such crops IS therefore
10 c,1Itigate ruin. Hence when lands are in a
.tate of mean exhaustion there must be one
of two movements There must for profit, be
either Migration or Reparation.
LAID RgPARAIIoS-LASD DEsER ToS-MIGRA-
-TIoS.
If Reparation is profitable lands in a state
of mean exhaustion, will be repaired, Int if
penaration is not profitable, the End will be
deserted. Desertion, therefore Is directly as
Exhaustion and inyerseIy as Reparation-
For land and labor are msTe elements Of pro-
III. Ifthsn i is less profitable to stay and
"a loads thar. 20 a.4
nav lands, the migration vii be general and
continuous. Such however Is the breadth
IN our public domain, and sueh our agTarian-
ism that new lands scarcely hare . price, such
tao i fheiF average fertility, that they during
ihs very first season, and before the sap S
scarcely 10 the deadsner,s girdle, yield almost
~ much as old lands past their prime exhaust.
1ihs cost aId preparation of new lands, there
iore are IN aEoF Of migration and against re-
paralidn.
pFauA sESeR -LAB0R-PRoFIT--FER
The elleapness Of new lands does not check
migration. That is fact. But IS the dear.
ness Of Labor check Ihis TOO Is mers
Question ofprofit For Il Permanence IS pro
htaIle. the eultiEat0rs wll be permanent bui
Il usruIallelee is not profitable, the cultivation
yrsll b, eDIgraat, One Of the Clements OF pro
dt i fertility. It's degrees are three. The.
are tle prime tine mean and the extreme, am
ogeeurse correspond to the degrees ofexhaus
ton Prime 6rtiIity is the general average
IRENE i the utmost, and mean IS more thai
- md less tiian the other degree Fertilit.
H. ,te,.gore. corresponds 70 exhaustion the ele
'seat Of profit corresponds 20 the element Q
ioss. and the six degrees range from the ex
,,eneo one 10 tbe extreme Of the other
l'.ab { the scale Of production, tn
So ~ de soil If then cotton land
go, .asas Fertility yield bale 10 the acrs
q n eFtrelne fertility viii yield more, an
ia. ~ Zinc fsrtility viii yield lass. So TO
te M KaIae d . laloreF IS two thousan
sIsr she annual profit on such an inyestmen
a,,1I,t q b, say, ffesp per cent. Or three ur