The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-03-09
North snd South-Thei~ Commerce and
Population.

Some Of the anti-slavery journals Of the
North have been recently making comparisons
between the growth Of commerce aud popula-
their cue from Helpers book, they are in
dajging in considerable sophistIy and misrepre-
fentatiOn, Of course to the advantage of the
North and the detrinent Of the South. For
instance, they assume that because the popula-
ton of the fifteen Southern States is only twelve
and half millions, and that of the nineteen
Northern States is nearly nineteen millions, or
one third more, that the North is immensely
prosperous and the South miserably slow. But
while they quote the figures from tho census
tables, they carefully keep out Of view the
fact of the artificial increase which the North
has received by emigration from Europe--the
result of revolution and misgovernment in the
Old World. From this source alone the
population of the Northern States has
added to its numbers not less than eight
millions of people within the last half
century, and TO its capital, in money
and labor, all the little property, the skill, in
dustry and enterprise of just that number.
The South, meantime, has gained comparatively
nothing from this source; but in fact and truth
the growth Of the Southern States, by natural
means, has been just rs great as that of the
North.
As to the material prosperity of the two sec
tons, comparisons are drawn between some Of
the Northwestern States and the cotton States
between Illinois and Georgia, for example.
Now, If there be State in the Union which
o"e- mere 10 The iofuencc of immigration than
another it is Iilipois; and moreover, to COM
pare the growth Of new State with an old
one, in almost the first decade of the formers
existence, with labor and capital flowing
into it from abroad, as it has done into
the Northwestern region, is absurd. We all
know to what circumstances the Northwestern
States owe their extraordinary increase in
population and cultivation; and we know that
the Southern States have no. shared the ad-
vantages of these circumstances. 1t is to i'm
migration from Europe and from the Atlantic
States, and to the fever of land speculation,
that the nxw States of the West are indebted
for their ssAden prosperity. But in the matter
of solid financial stamina it is folly to compare
the West with the South. The West, with all
its advantages, is hardly able to pay its way.
1t is only upon the splendid future before It
that one can predicate anything for that section
of country. The South, On the contrary, has
always been sound in it's financial concerns.
1t pays its debts. Commercial transactions
with the South have always been secure opera.
tions-not mere gambling speculations, as with
the West.
But it is urged that the South has only one
staple. This is not so; it possesses in abun-
dance four great staples-esse ntial to the
whole civilized world-cotton, rice, tobacco
and sugar. And if it were not more profitable
to raise these products and buy grain from
the Western States, the Southern fields could
grow cereals as well in much larger quantities
than they are raised now.
Taking the cue again from Helper, the anti
slavery journals argue that the South pays
only one tenth OF the duties on foreign imports.
Now we will venture to assert that more than
half the luxuries paying high duties-such as
wines, rich silks and velvets, jewelry and other
items-are consumed in the South although
the duties are collected in Northern ports.
The West uses very little of these articles; the
Atlantic States, of course, consume their
proportions; but half of the entire importation
of luxuries goes to the South. 1t is the poorest
sopbistry to represent the amount of duties
collected in tho Southern custom houses "a the
test Of the contribution of the South to the re-
venues of the government. No matter at what
port Of entry the duties are imposed, IL is the
consumer of dutiable articles who Indirectly
pays the impost, and in this regard the Southern
States are not behind the North.
Again, it is said that all the cash capital is
centred in the North. 1t is true the great bulk
of cash capital is in the Northern States, but
where is it? Not in Wisconsin or in Illinois,
nor in Vermont or New Hampshire. 1t is in
the large Atlantic cities-in New York, Boston
and Philadelphia; but if the Southern con-
federacy is to become permanent through the
hostile policy of the present administration,
there may be a very material change in its To-
cation before long Already we hear of large
houses here breaking up and going South; and
ii Ia not only the merchants who will transfer
their business in that direction, but even The
manufacturers Of New England will be soon
following; the mill owners and manufacturers
Of Lynn and Marblehead and Lowell will re.
move to Virginia and the other border States If
che Southern confederacy maintains its indie
pendence permanently; and then what becomes
Of our cash capital and of our property of
every description They will go to the dogs
before many years have elapsed. 1t is very
well for the anti slavery newspapers to get up
articles based upon Helpers false tables Of
finances and statistics, endeavoring to prove
that the North enjoys all the prosperity Of the
country, and that the South is weak, poor and
dcspicable. But the theory is not true, and il
the political events now transporting do not as.
sumo an amicablc complexion before lorg, that
theory will be put to bitter test, as we shall
discover when too late.