The Cecil Whig., 1862-04-26
Correspondence.
For The Cecil Whig
A Few Plain Facts.

was pleased With an array of sta istics
showing and comparing the condition of
the counties of Pennsylvania with that
of the border counties of Maryland near
them, and they with the coun les of
Maryland where slaves were the most
numerous and l must say that l have
long since arrived at the conclusion that
it would be- God.send to Maryland,
and to each of the other States of the
same latitude if there was not slave
within their borders. will not 90
over any part Of your statistics, for they
are SO plain that those that run ought
to be able to read and understand them
but | will add few more of the same
plain sort, to strengthen what you have
said on that now all absorbing subject.
There are 4,O74,2l4 acres of land in
Maryland under the head of cultivated
aud uncullvated, which was valued by
the census of 1850 at SIS 81 per acre,
producing to:al value of $S7, ,178,515.
1t is seen from the same source that
New Jersey-the most southern of the
Free States, and which is only separated
from Maryland by the narrow strip of
land, called the State of Delaware, and
the river and bay of the same name
has within her boundaries only 2,753,-
945 acres of improved and unimprovcd
land, which is valued at trife over
$43 per acre, and are put down at an
aggregate value of $l20,2a7 ,5ll. Had
the lands of Maryland been assessed at
the same value, say $43 81 per acre,
they would have run up in 1850 to
$20l, ,0S2,065! instead of $S7,l7s,5l5; :;
making difference in value of $li4,-
903,55O; or, six times the assessed
value of all the slaves in the State.
There can be no doubt but that the
lands of Maryland would have been fully
as high IN price as those of New Jersey,
if slavery had been extinct. Because
the lands of Mary yland are far superior in
quality and better adapted 10 the growth
of the great staples, wheat aud corn
the crops of wheat in Maryland in 1860
being over 100000 of bushels, while
in New Jersey it was less than 1,S0O,-
600 bushels; Notwithstanding the
slovcnly mode of culture in Maryland
with slave and free labor, against the
well-directed free labor of Now Jersey.
1t is we'll known ha; for all agricultural,
as we'll as mineral wealth, the land of N.
Jersey is mere barrens in comparison
with that of Maryland. Now why is this
difference in price and value of lands in
these two neighboring States Ger
tainly from no other cause then the
presence of the insti ution of Slavery
| have no data to show when the law to
abolish slavery in New Jersey was
passed but find by the census that
there were over $4,000 slaves there in
1900. Both Agriculture and Manu-
facturcs were at much lower ebb in
New Jersey then than at any time since.
But from that time slavery rapidly fell,
from 30 per cent in the next decade. to
70 per cent in other decades; until now
it is extinct in that State and with its
extinction the resources of the State
were developed. Her products of Agri-
culture and Manufactures, as well as the
price of her land, increased as the ratio
of slaves decreased until now the lands
of New Jersey are valued higher than
those Of any State south of it.
Nor is Maryland alone in this impede
ment to the dcvclopenent of her
resources Of Agricultural, Manufac.ur-
ing and Mineral wealth. In proof of
this l will offer another example for
comparison of Free States with slave
States, and will pit free Massachusetts,
against the three great cotton slave
STATES of Virginia, North Carolina and
South Carolina, taken from the Census
reports of 1850: Massachusetts has
3,356,0l2 acres, valued at 1872 SO per
acre, making total value of $l09, ,l76,-
347; her products Of Manufactures
amounted to 1857, ,407, ,069, and her
Agricultural products to $l4,277,954;
making the total of her Manufacturing
and Agricultural products $l71, 1885,
O23. Virginia has 26,l52,3ll acres,
valued at 1927 per acre, making total
value of $2l6, ,4Ol AL; her products of
Manufactures amounted to $3l 1867, ,976,
and her Agricultural products to $751;
5l2, ,452. North Carolina has $780,
9Sl acres, valued at 1928 per acre,
making a total value of $67,S9l, ,766;
her products of Manufac ures amounted
to $ll ,200,l4 and her Agricultural
produces to $3l, l,7l2,l46. South Caro-
lima has l6,2l7,9l0 acres, valued at
$5.OS per acre, making total of $S2,-
43l ,6S4; her products of Manufactures
amounted to $7,979,315, and her Agri-
cultural products to $50, ,06S,l54. Total
amount Of Manufacture and Agricultural
products of the three slaves States,
$l65,439,lS5; or, IS, 5,S3S less than
those of Massachusetts,.
Thus it is seen that the aggregate
value of the 3,356,O12 acres of Massa-
chusetts land Is $l,245,47l more than
in the three great slave States of Vir-
ginia, North Carolina and South Carolina,
with their 63,367, ,192 acres. This
result may seem strange to some who
have never given thought to the SUBJ
ject particularly wher it is known that
Massachusetts is almost barren rock,
in cold bleak climate, withou. mines
of coal or any other mineral not pro-
ducing over . of bushel of wheat to