Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-09-26

ceS We nave 10 pay f0E TINS h1ulblOndl
two hundred millions of Northern goods, is exact
" the same, as upon the like goods imported from
abroad. It Increases the prices to the consumers
Of the goods at the rate of twenty per cent under
the revenue tariff Of 1857. and of thirty 20 forty
per cent under the tariff of 1860 Under the revenue
tariff, the additional cost to the Southern consul
mers would be sixty millions annually including
tariff and freights, and with the protective tariff
from eighty to one hundred millions annually. As
onerous and unjust az is this annual imposition OF
sixty millions upon Southern consumption, we can
not complain of it, because it is only the incidental
protection derived by hemanufaetures Of the Nor
from revenue tariff, but when this amount il
sWelled TO eighty or one hundred millions under a
protective tariff, it becomes subject for just com
plant.
we may now recapftulate the substantial benefits
derived BY the North from the course of CONNER.
cial dealings established between the two sections
The following figures exhibit the annual profits
made by the North upon Southern products
For freiRhts to and from Europe SAC, 900 00C
For profits on foreign imported goods
sold to Southern merchants .. 80 600 O0C
For increased tariff prices on Northern
manufactures sold to the South. =. 10000, 00l
Total profits -. $3.50 900, 00C
tor opportunity of realizing annually this aggre
gate profit of one hundred and thirty miIlions on
Southern products the North is indebted mainly to
the Unions These profits result from that peculiar
| course Of commercial trade between the North ani
the South which has been stimulated and fostered
and protected by the legislatonof the Union from
the beginning Of the Government As rich as
the North Is now, she was once very poor. Before
she was blessed by Union with the South, her PEG
pie made living by sending small vessels to the
West India Islands, laden with fish, beef, butter
pork, poultry, cider, apples, cabbsges onions Sc
These articles they sold for money which thew car
/ ried to England who bought their goods, return
| ing by the way of the African coast, catching OF
buying negroes and bringing them back for sale to
the Southern colonies. They had little or nothing
to export whilst the Southern colonies had large
surplus of exports over their imports.
When the Union was formed the fisheries consti
] tuted the great business of the North. They i'm
mediately procured the passage of q law granting
a drawback on fish exported, equal to the supposed
quantity Of salt used. This was soon changed fer
a law granting bounty on vessels engaged in the
fisheries, and this bounty has been continued to the
present time. ITS immediate effect was to stimulate
the building of vessels whilst the annual bountes
derived from the public treasury swelled Northern
capital These bountes have amounted in the ag,
gTegate to more than thirteen millions Of dollars Of
which the people of Massachusetts, have received
over two thirds or more than eight millions.
As long as Great Britain exercised dominion over
her colonies TIE North could not compete with the
mother country for the carrying trade but so soon
as the Union was formed this restriction was re-
aumed and laws we're passed giving large encourage
ment to the colonists to embark in that trade The
North was not slow to take advantage Of these
laws. u - s. - -sFs.s9 3 i,s q s9se
Another field for profitable enterprise WAS at the
same time opened up through the operations Of the
tariff laws which attracted early attention. The
whole country was dependent on Great Britain for
manufactured goods The North saw immediately
that If manufactories could be built up at home the
protection furnished by the tariff law would give
them virtual monopoly of the domestic trade in
manufactures. They had the vessels to briHg the
raw material from the South, where it was pro-
had tha m driv he
machinery-they had accumulated capital in the
African slave trade, and now the tariff laws gave
them large advantages in competing with foreign
manufactures. There was a strong disposition
throughout the Union to encourage domestic
manufactures in order to render our IN
dependence of Great Britain still more
complete. This feeling was greatly strengthened
by the occurrence of the war with Great Britain
in 1872. The North eagerly availed herself of these
favorable circumstances and emb Irked largely in
manufacturing. It was not difficult to procure such
protective legislation as the North claimed to be
necessary, and the Bank of the United States was
more than willing to contribute facilities for rails
ing the capital needed, for enabling the North to do
the manufacturing for the whole country. The
Bank with its branches scattered through all the
States, played most important part in enabling
the North to establish that course of commercial
and financial trade, which resulted 10 the accumu
laten of immense wealth, and which fixed the de-
pendenee of the South upon the North. This course
Bank was overthrown and the high protective pol
icy was modified, that the North has since had but
little difficulty in maintaining its ascendency.
Il is not in the power of figures to convey to the
mind correct idea of TIE advantages which the
North has enjoyed over the South, under the inhu-
ence of the various laws which have stimulated
and controlled the employment of capital. Many
Southern men saw and protested against the unequal
and unjust operation of the system of Legislation
whichwas enrching one section at the expense ofthe
other. They struggled to resist the overwhelming
power that was combined against them, but they
struggled in vain. All they get for their labors is
the bitter foundations of the North as being rest
less 6isunionists. Southern men engaged In COM
merce had no power to stand up against the COM
bined force of Northern capital, welded by manu-
featuring and banking corporations and fostered
and protected by al the power of the Union. All
they could do was, TO submit 10 the power they
could not control, and glide into the course Of
trade which hsd been the fixed habit of the country
Il Is not surprising that with such advantages the
North became rich, but tits surprising that the
South was able to endure the heavy exactons
without becoming absolutely impovished. Moth
ing can show more clearly the real capacity of the
South to become the richest people in the world,
than the facts which we have detailed.
Hitherto the South has done little else than pro-
duce capital for the North to trade upon. We have
produced annually over four hundred millions OF
raw materials, wkichthave passed Immediately into
the hands of Northern capitalists, and constituted
the basis of the wealth which they have extracted
from them. 1t has been shown how they have inside
an annual profit of one hundred and thirty millions
in freghtng our products, returning them to US IN
foreign goods and in the incidental protection de-
rived from the tariff law. But this does not EN-;
brace the millions made in the way of brokerage,
interest. commission, insurance, &C.. in the man
agement Of our produce. Nor does it embrace the
milliens which we spend yearly in travel in the
North. Mr.. KetteH estimates that fifty thousand
SOutherners go North every year and spend an av-
erage of 81, 600 each-making the total annual ex-
penditure for travel of fifty millions Of dollars. Nor
does it embrace the millions that we spend in send
ing our sons and daughters North to be educated
Nor does it embrsce that incalculable amount de-
rived by the North from the system of banking, ex
changes and credits which has made us as nancialN
ly dependent on the North as we have beea COM
mercially. It is impossible to estimate with accu
racy these amounts and therefore adopt the result
of Mr.. Kettel's Investigations. He to the con-
clusion, that the South pays annually to the North
for interest," brokerage insurance, travel &C., about
one hundred and fifteen millions. If this be added
to the amount Of one hundred and thirty rnilionR,
before estimated IS the commercial profits of the
North il yields the sum of two hundred and forty-
five millions, derived annually by the North from
her union with the South
It must not be supposed that these heavy profits
are enjoyed by the capitalists alone IL the North.
As well remarked by the able Northern writer be-
fore quoted "These transactions influence the earn
ings, more q less, of every Northern man. A Por-
ton Of every artisans work is paid for by South
ern msans Every carman draws pay, more or
less from the trade of that section The agents
who sell manufactures, the merchants who sell i'm
ported goods the ships that carry them, the build
ers of the ships, the iunbermen who furnish the
ma karial and all those Uho sunnly means of suD-