M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1861-01-10
Commercial Position Of the North
and South.

ern and Southern Confederacy, sepa.
rating, are considerably discussed, it
is well enough to look at facts and fig.
ures. We have been handed an arti.
Ecle clipped from the Cleveland Plain
! Dealer, which deals somewhat in sta,
tistics to prove in the event of two
| ICOnfederacies which will excel the
lother in the elements Of prosperity
Presuming that Southern Confedera-
| cJ would be composed of all the Slave
States, the article argues as fellows:
"There can be no doubt but that Of
beef and pork, corn and wheat, the
North produces sufficient for her own
consumption, and a surplus to send
abroad. But it is not uncommon to
see and hear the assertion that the
South is not selfsustaining in the
matter of breaGstufs and the necessa.
ries of life. The statistics for the pe-
Rod ending in the year 1850, show
that the Southern States produced in
the year 1849, three hundred millions
Of bushels Of Indian corn, which wo'd
allow thirty bushels a year to every
man, woman and child in the South,
black and white. In addition to 9th.
er articles of food, rice, potatoes and
sugar, she also produced fifty millions
Of bushels of wheat. The returns for
the last ten years will undoubtedly
show large increase OF all the pro-
auctions that constitute the principal
food Of a nation. Texas, Arkansas,
Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and
Virginia can raise enough to iced the
whole South, while the labor Of the
! Gulf States is concentrated tothe pro.
ductiOn Of those large elements of com.
nerce-sugar and cotton.
Assuming then that each Conieder-
acy could feed it's own population;
what would be their relative positions
in reference to surplus productions
and articles ofexportation2 The trad.
! ing capital OF nation being its ex,
ports, it follows that the interchange
Of the productions offoreign countries
must depend upon its expectations.
What does the North exportl What
ldees the South export9 Which fur
finishes the elements of our CommerceG
The statistics for the year ending
June 30th, 1860, show that our Ex.
portations, exclusive Of specie, amour.
ted to S3lG220,61Q; of this amount
there was furnished by the free States
exclusively $5,071, ,431; by the slave
States exclusively $214, ,322, $50; of
productions furnished by both free and
slave States S96,S26,2 300; of the am'nt
furnished by the free and slave States
one third is the production of slave
labor. So that ont Of $316, ,220, ,610
Of expectations Of domestic industry,
nearly $3.50, 100000 are furnished by
the slave states, and only 100000, 900
by the free States. Our importations
for the samepeliod amounted to $361,-
797,200. Assuming the population
and wante of the South to be one.half
of those of the North, the apportion-
ment of Importations would be as fol-
lows:
To the South $120,599,066
To the North 241 ,199,132
We can very well see how a South
ern Conlederacy exporting $3.50, ,O0O,-
900 could import $120, 500, ,066; but
how a Northern confederacy exporting
only 500, 100000 could import $241, )
1913, 1872, is problem we are not able
to solve.
One great advantage that South
ern Coniederacy would have over a
Northern consists in this, that while
the soil and climate Of the North ia
adapted only to the production OF
breadstuffs, that of the South is adap.
ted not only to the production of the
necessaries of life sufficient for home
consumption, but also to the proiuc.
ton Of 100000, 900 in the single ar.
ticle of cotton alone, which is equal to
80 much gold and has the WORLD for
its market.
While the North furnishes but little
of our national wealth as exhibited by
the exports, how is her industry EN-.
ployed ,and in what consists her weaithl
In her manufacturers.
But in the event OF a Northern and
Southern Confederacy, the South will
have no necessity to protect domestic
industry, and hence the interests of
her people will be that of free trade.
What then would become of the man
utacturing interests OF the North, the
chief source OF her wealth Z The Pa
cific conlederacy would have it's gold,
the Southern its cotton, the Northern
its manufactures. The world wants
the gold, the world wants the cptton,
but where could Il market be found for
the manufactured Let free trade be
established by Southern Confodsra-
cy, and capital and labor in the North
would at once feel the blow, while in
the South they would be benefited.