The Placer herald., 1862-04-05
Chean Labor the Source of Wealth.

project of aboishing the system OF slavery, now
in the slave States. Measures intended to effect
this object are already in practice. and others
projected will doubtless soon be instituted
Should the design succeed it mast produce Il
mighty influence upon the commerce and national
wealth Of the entire country.
The negro is naturally indolcnt it is necessary
that he be made to feel his subservient position,
to induce him to act. The proposition now is to
release some four Millions OF this population from
forced labor-which 50 far us the free States of
the North (and we intend our remarks to apply
exclusively to them) is concerned, is equivalent
to releasing them from labor altogether. 1t can
scarcely be possible, that these Republican philo-
sophers have fully calculated. the effects of such
IA step upon the material interests of the Northern
people. Certainly aha. people do not understand
the natter, as We do, or they would never favor
any sach doctgiae. Let las see what experience
his pSovcn to be true in the past, and then we
may calculate that. like causes will produce like
interests in the future. And first we premise
as au axiom, that in the main all wealth is derived
from the profits on labor If labor consumed all
il produced, then there would be nothing left for
commerce.. ana IL is through tHe ulueTcHCe III thc
exchange of commodities, that the accumulatons
Of wealth arise. Then the cheaper you have labor,
the richer the rewards to commerce. and the cheap
est of all human labor is that of the slave. He
receives nothing for his industry. but the mere
necessities of life. Northern merchants have en-
joyed almost monopoly of the commerce Of the
South, and therefore have reaped the profits from
the labor of those four million of slaves. Ma
tional causes would contribute to continue this
state of things. no difference what result attends
present political complications. But if you abol
ish slavery. it is lost to the world.
We have appealed to experience TO sustain us
in our view. Let us take a single Illustration.
The East Indies are to-day, what they were nearly
four thousand years ago, in all that contributes
to national wealth. During all this time it has
been struggle with nations as they have success
sivcly arisen to Importance, to secure to itself
the trade of that Empire. Whosoever could
secure anything like monopoly of it. became
rich, and when it became devoted to particular
point. vast city arose adorned with palaces filled
with oriental splendor. and the most costly lux
uries. ancient Baby ylon upon the banks of the
Euphrates, become through this traffic 1.-The city of
merchants the focus of commerce with Asia
Minor Persia and Arabia. Palmyra is said to
have been established by King Solomon on pur-
pose to catch this traffic. Tyre with this trade be-
came 1.-The royal exchange of the world,' and
Alexandria upon her decline became the scat
of opulence and commerce upon the Delta of the
Nile, Cairo is to some extent this day, on that
river. Constantinople also became mighty upon
the toll of the millions nhabitng the banks of
the Ganges and in the Punjaub. and the diamonds,
rubes and costly shawls and silks found in her
bazaars. bad first to make the overland trip from
Hindostan. At length, in the fourteenth century,
doubled the Cape of Good Hope. and in the for
tunes attending that commerce, it has now found
it's focus upon the banks of the Thames. Great
Britain CLEANS with the jewels of Golconda and
revefs in he luxurics of Delhi The India trade
is now. and has been fer two centuries. the prop
and support of that Empire, in material wealth.
through the rcckles. mismanagement and extra
vagancc Of her rulers. 1t has cost her much of
treasure and blood to maintain her rule in that
distant region but it is worth to her guadruple
all it has cost. Now to the secret of this wealth.
that has for century upon century, filled the cof-
fers of the world. IIndostan is country about
event four times greater in area. than the State
Of Illinois, containing every variety of climate
from eternal SHOWS to perpetual summer, pro
ducing every variety Of fruit and vegetables
yielding from her Mines. gold, diamonds and
jems of the greatest value, besides COAL lead
copper, and other useful minerals and metals
- .l,:o
ton tobacco rice and indigo were indigenous.
Perhaps no other country on earth has been so
favored in native richness To develop these re-
sources, there is a population at once ingenious
industrious and servile, Of nearly two hundred
million of souls These people have for hundreds
cf years, been divided into casts or classes, and
held in that position to this day. through the
strongest convictions of religion. The lowest of
these casts are regarded even by themselves, AS
utterly vile and contemplate so that the mere
shadow of one Of them falling upon the person OF
| higher cast is deemed pollution. The great
mass of this people, however, belong to 4 caste
called Soodras or laborers Each caste is rigidy
restrained to the occupation of their parents, MOI
can they by any possibility ascend out of the
class in which they were born. A man of high
caste might strike dead any one of lower class
for touching him even by accident. The late mu
tiny in the Scpoy army originated out OF sup
| posed insult to one Of these castes.
| Here then is country, in which through reli
gious teaching and the practice of countless ages
| the great mass of tecming population, is hope
lcssly condemned to n slavery, as certainly as il
their bonds resulted from other causes than reli
gious superstition 1t necessarily results that
labor in India is almost valueless-th compen.
sation for labor affords but meager subsistence
They who unearth the gold and the diamonds do