The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1862-07-05
Communications.
For The Cecil Wing.
The Abolition OF Slavery i'll New DER.
soy-Its Causes and Results.
BY MRS. lamar DAVIS.
NO. | ".

of course the poverty of tho soil, and
the Ii tie profit arising from agriculture,
must have had tendency to deprcss the
prices of labor. The fields were nomi-
nally worthless, and the mari undis-
covered. Farms with houses, barns,
fences, and all necessary improvements,
could be readily purchased at from three
to five dollars m acre. We're the
buildings and improvements wanting,
very few of the poorer classes of white
men would have accepted he soil as u
bona idc gift, wi h the obligation to pay
the taxes. The whole property of many
uble-bodicd, tax-paying men would not
have amounted, in hard cash, to one
hundred dollars each, when their debts
were paid.
Three farms Of IS acres each, in the
lower part of Salem county, New-Jcrscy,
sold in 1888, one for $500, the two
others for $500 apiece. Pu. in the
market tomorrow, they would bring
more thousands than they did hundreds
then. Land in Cumberland county,
which sold at that time for S. an acre,
brought $3.50 per acre, two years ago.
Do you think the abolition of slavery
had any effect on this rise in the price
of lands! - l have often asked of in elli-
gent Jcrscymcn.
Not in the least was the invariablc
reply. " Not ono of these farms had
been cultivated by slave labor. ques-
ton much whether a slave ever trod
their SOIL"
"And would the price of land 90
down were New Jersey to be made a
slave S,ac %
"Not one iota indeed, I think such
an event would have a contrary ten
dency The chief difficulty with our
farmers is to procure efficient laborers,
over whom they can exercise rational
authority, and who cannot leave them,
or demand higher wages, at any time of
their improved value or your necessity"
Thus have been told over and over
again, by residents of the Safe who had
every opportunity for knowing. 70
inquiries of what, in their view, had
raised the price of land, several reasons
were given. shall mention the most
importan'. The first was undoub cdly a
start and progression in agricultural
energy and improvement, and particu-
larly The use of mari, guano, and lime.
New Jersey has gained little from rail-
roads still less from emigration the
sources to which the increased value of
Western lands must be attributed. Her
present inhabitants are the immediate
descendants Of the early settlers. But
they have grown wiser than were their
fathers. Science and skill have been
brought to the assistance of agriculture,
and The increased value of the land arises
from its increased productivcness. An
other, and perhaps more potent cause,
was the imitation of the credit system
When farms were cheap the purchaser
expected to pay the cash at once as
lands rose so did credit, until at present
farms change owners without dollar
being paid the purchaser receiving a
decd for the farm, and giving to its
former owner a mortgage, on. interest,
for the stipulated price, and this annual
interest is all he expcc's to pay, or will
ever pay. Perhaps he ge:s tired of his
bargain and sells out hut this again is
no hing more than transferring from one
to another the paper promises to pay
Many men, ambitious to own farms, will
give almost any price, or rather bind
themselves to pay the interest on almost
any sum, for the sake Of getting an