New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-10-24
narAnn rAY.os AND THE souTH.

4
some time ago Mr.. Bayard Taylor, the great
anthor and traveller, in one of his letters to the
/ New York Tribune, undertook to establish the
| delsterious effect Of our Southern system Of labor
by declaring thatthe lands Of the South Under slave
cultivation, were gradually deprecating in value
| ana productiveness, and would soon become en-
| tirsly worthless. He stated this, parity, as ne
said from information to this effect furnished him
by & an Intelligent Southern gentleman and
partly as the conclusion Of his own Investigations
| His object was to make an argument against
1 slaverv IN its economical relations, and thus still
furtl,er excite the preiudees of the Northern peo
1 f,le against the institution
I Replying to Mr. Taylor, we stated-what is an
undeniabIe fact-that lands, all over the Southern
States, have been, for many years, increasing in
value, as wen as in the quantity OF their produe
tions. Mr.. Taylor, however, still insists that he
knows more about it than we do, and comes back
| at Us with the following rejoinder;
The New Orleans Crescent has denied the aecu-
racg of statement which Imade, on the authority
of an intelligent Southern gentleman, that the soil
deteriorates under slave labor. referred espec-
ally to the tobacco and cotton lands, not to the
sugar plantations of Louisiana, which are evidently
referred to by the Crescent when Il declared that
theTeFerse is true. Since the appearance OF Its
rather impertinent article, have asked the opln.
ion of other Southerners who confirm the truth Of
what said. The fact that agricultural property
| has greatly decreased in value. in the States of
Virginia. the Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia, Missis
sipp and Tennessee, with few local exceptionsl
is really patent that have never before heard
it questioned.
Our article was impeTtinent,i if impertinent at
all, only in our denial Of very erroneous state
ment which Mr.. Taylor had made and which he
had published in one Of the most widely
Journals Of the North. The Northern people
already believe too many horrible and unjust
things about the Southern people and the Southern
country and we were unwilling that this statement,
so glaringly incorrect, as every wellinformed per
son knows, should go forth uncontradicted. We
are not aware that there is anything mpertinent in
correcting an assertion which is not only incorrect
| in itself, but which had tendency to ALLEVIATE from
each other, more than ever. the two sections Of the
| Union.
Mr. Taylor now says he did not refer to the sugar
plantations Of Louisiana. Nor did we. Our denial
was general and comprehensive. We specified the
cotton regions particularly, and referred gene
| rally TO the whole South including the cotton and
| sugar lands, the tobacco lands, the hemp lands,
and The stockraising regions. And we repeat
| emphatically what we said beforehand what is so
| well known to every wel-infoEined Southern man,
that ii would appear ridiculous to adduee proof of
the fact-that there is scarcely county in any of
the Southern States, where the lands cultivated
by slave labor, in which those lands, on general
average have not doubled in value within the last
ten years, as they have also materially increased
| the value and quantity Of their productions.
Does not Mi. Taylor know-he certainly ought
to know, before expressing an opinion upon such
a snbject-of the wonderful increase in the pro-
dustion of cotton within the last few years Is he
not aware that New Orleans alone now receives,
every year, as many bales Of cotton as the whole
South produced only ten or fifteen years ago2
Does he not know that the growth of tobacco in
Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri is now, every
year, largely in excess of the year preceding
How could this be if the lands had decreased in
productiveness or yalue2
But if Mr.. Taylor does not choose to take our
word for IT. let him wait until next year, when the
returns Of the census shall be published. All the
details of the value and produetiyeness of Southern
lands will there be given. They can be easily
compared with similar returns in 1850. If Mr..
Taylor is a gentleman who :. backs his Judgment
we will wager him basket Of his namesake
-Sewell Taylors-best Heidsieck, that the figures
viii show an increase, both in the value and pro-
ductveness Of Southern lands, of fifty per cent.
over 1850. We believe it will be much more than
that-bnt we will not say more, for fear the great
travellers sensibilties will not survive the shock.
The fact that agricultural property has decreased
| in value in certain States that he mentions, Mr..
Taylor says, !" is SO patent that he never before
| heard it Questioned Doubtless, Mr.. Taylor has
heard this from politicians, and read it in Black
Republican papers; but be has too hastily accepted
the statement without taking the trouble to exam
Inc into It's truth. There are great many other
statements, injurious to the South, which the
Northern people too readily believe, and, we are
afraid, in many cases are too anxious to believe.
If Mr.. Taylor, who is not professional politician,
but only literary traveller will extend his journey
ings into the Southern States and come free from
all prejudice ana see things here as they are, he
will go hone we think, if not better man, GER
tanly wiser one.