The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-04-04
Southern Labor more Productive than North

We desire, to-day, to place beforelthe public,
once for ALL conclusive and overwhelming
proof, that the indus trial system of the Sou tn
Is more productive than that of the North,
which will be equivalent to proving that ii
Is more productive than any system of free
labor on the globe. The Immediate application
intended to be made of the facts we shall
give, will be to the proposition now before
the State Of Virginia, to wit by remaining
with the abolition North, to crush out and
expel her magnificent institution of slave
labor.
In the case of Virginia, the driving out of
her negroes will not be the inviting in Of free
laborers; for these latter could only be
brought in by slow degrees and the heavy
weight Of taxation that would immedia tely
fall upon the inhabitants of the State on the
stampede of the slaves would utterly fore
stall, and shut the door to, the ingress of free
laborers so that the expulsion of her half
million of laboring population would be a
dead loss to Virginia, which would not be re-
placed in any form for generations to come
But even upon the supposition that an
equivalent amount of slave labor would i'm
mediately come in to occupy the place of her
stampeded slaves, we are about to show that
in THAT case Virginia would still be a heavy
loser by the exchange.
We have already shown that in the swampy
and feverish region of Tide water, white la
Dor cannot be profltably employed in it's agri-
culture. We have already demonstrated,
from the large areas and Numbers of hands
required for the cultivation of tobacco with
profit, that that plant cannot be grown to ad-
vantage by the free labor system of petty
farmers and small capitals. But even con-
ceding, for the sake of argument, that Tide
water Virginia and the tobacco crop of our
State could be cultivated by free white Ia
borers, still it will be shown that the ex-
change of her slave laborers for these, by Vir-
ginia, would be attended by heavy pecuniary
losses.
Even without the proof of facts and fig
ures reason would teach us that the pro-
auctions Of the individual freeman, working
at his leisure, are not greater than those OF
the athletic African slave working under com
pulsion while the fact is obvious that white
citizens wants and necessities are much great
er. 1t follows of necessity, that the surplus
production of the white freeman is much
smaller than of the black slave. He consumes
much more, while his labor lacks that con-
centra tion and systematized cooperation tina
marks slave labor. If this reasoning be true
it would follow that the products of the
South are greater in proportion to population
than those of the North. Is this in fact the
case7 We shall answer from the tables of the
Census of 1850, rs compiled by Mr.. KErrELL
who classifes the States into the North, EN-
bracing New England, New York, New Jer-
sey and Pennsylvania the West, embracing
Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wiscon
sin, Iowa, California and Minnesota and the
South, embracing the fifteen slaveholdng
States and the District of Columbia The
population of these respective sections was, in
1850, as follows:
South. West. North
Population. ,6e4 CSC 1900, 800 e25 $50
Their productions of different classes were