New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-11-23

Commerce into unfolding Slavery, may lay asido
Tor future use. But the evidence on the point
In question is important. It was testified "a
long before by Mr.. Olmsted, who says that II
one of the best cotton districts in the country.
railroad contractor, even in Midsummer, sub
sttuted Irish and German laborers for negroes.
and with great advantage. He asserts that he
has seen hundreds of white men at work in the
cOtton.felds, poor wretches indeed-the "meau
whites"-mean, poor, and wretched, however.
not because they labor sometimes, but because
they labor so little. But more conclusive still
is the testimony Of figures. The census Of
1850 shows that in the nine SOuthernmost States.
where, it is asserted, there can be no cutivss
ton of the soil except by slaves, there were
500, 600 engaged in agriculture, over 100000
in outdoor labor, and of the 100000 persons
engaged strictly in the cultivation Of cotton.
100, 900 were free whites.
If, then, we take for granted as statistics
and observation both show, that white men
can labor in a Southern climate, the next
question is, is such labor profitable? 1t hardly
needs an answer; for wherever the unpaid
labor Of slaves at high price can be made
productive enough, not only for the support Of
their own class, but for the support Of the
non.producing class of masters, the labor OF
those who work for themselves is sure TO be
profitable. So great is the return upon the
culture of the great Southern staple that free
labor has been, of late years, more and more
applied to it, notwithstanding the presence Of
Slavery always makes labor Of any sort de-
grading. One Of the causes Of this rebellion
is the inevitable necessity, which the South
could not fail to recognize, that free labor
must gradually encroach upon and drive out
slave labor The profit upon raising cotton is
so great that it has raised the price of slaves,
thus diminishing the profit to slaye-owners, who
were compelled to purchase laborers at the
enhanced value. At the same time the GER
tainty of large profits has overcome the preju-
dice against labor, and men who work with
their own hands have come in competition
with those who work only with the hands
of Others. II becomes necessity, therefore.
with shareholders TO extend their dominion
where lands are cheap, and to reopen tbs
slaye-trade that they may work these cheap
lands with cheap negroes, with whom free la
borers cannot compete. The result would be
to diminish the price of cotton, but its culture
would still be remuneratiye with lands and
slaves at low price, though Improbable to free
white labor. The purchase of the Territory Of
Louisiana gave new lease 10 the system OF
Slavery, even without the Foreign Slaye-Trade;
the annexation of Texas gave it another; and
its upholders knew that its perpetuat:on--in
which their political supremacy was involved
depended upon its still further expansion South
and West. They knew as well as we did that
the Republican party had no intention OF inter.
ferng with Slavery directly; but they also
knew that the triumph of the policy of the
non-extensOn of the system put limit to its
existence, though it might be distant ono.
leaving it unprotected against the gradual en-
croachment of free labor, and the working OF
the natural laws that must inevitably UNDER
mine it when they are permitted to have fun
sway. The attempt at the Dissolution of tho
Union and the establishment Of Southern
Confederacy has only been delayed until the
North gave unmstakable evidence, by the sue
cess of a Free-So party, that the South could
no longer count upon tie perpetuaton OIL
Slavery BY its indefinite and unlimited extern
sion into new territory now possessed aud 10 Do
acouired hereafter. The rebellion is one against
the laws of political economy as well as against
the Federal Constitution. But it las brought
into action new forces which must insure inc
overthrow of the system it was meant to pro-
tect
What ought we to dol Manifestly not 10
leave the issue TO chance, but to hasten ne"
and prosperous order of things by wise states
manship. Free labor, aud not idleness, ehouid
follow the disappearance of Slavery. We need
cotton for our own manufactures, and sth
more as an article Of export. There is no Ne
cessity, in the nature of the case OF sacrihclng
staple worth $500, 900 because heretofore It
has been raised by unpaid labor which is to be
no longer at our command. On the contrary.
the value of the staple ought to be increased.
not only by Offering the stimulus OF wages 70
those who have heretofore worked in shift
less way without it, but BY giving to them the
example, and to the production the advantage.
Of the application of free and intelligent labor
of Northern working men. The author OF q
pamphlet recently published in Boston, entitled
CHEAP Cotton by Free Labor, estimates
the annual cost of a slave to his master to DO
$40. This would give $40 per month as the
wages which cotton planter could afford TO