Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-11-13

tnat we should buy IN the chespeft and SOL
10 the dearest market, applies to labor as
well as to the produsts Of the soil aDd loom,
aud demonstrates the interest Of the State
/ ~ be " supply herself with laborers for
nothing, and set loose the capital which un.
der a system of purchased laborers would
be invested 10 the persons ofits inhabitants,
" thd employment In useful arts and inter.
nal improvements. Accepting Observer 8
| statistics ~ the basis, there should at this
Z time be $il wv, wv of capital in the hands
Of citize,.s Of this State for investment. 10
State where slavery does not exist, 80
J large an amount of capital would exhibit
itself in increased trade and facilities for
travel, fine houses, magnificent stores, and
I Uther evidences of civilization. With US, it
is tied up in the torn of $500 slaves. Is
this valuation intrinsic or tctitlous2 If in
trinsic, the property being here, fr the
most part, no destruction has taken place
/ This valuation, however, is high average,
based upon the prices OF slaves in the Caro-
lima aud Georgia market before the rebel
hon. lD other words, in Maryland there is
/ no home demand tor the article, aud the
value OF slaves heretofore has l'eep governed
i by the Southern market. The rebellion
has destroyed that market, and, as conse-
quence, the value OF slave property in
Maryland is but nominal The people
North OF the Potomac will not buy. aud we
cannot get South Of " sell; and pei haps
would hardly IKE to take Confederate scrip
II We could. The Presidents proclamation
had nothing whatever to do with destroying
the Southern market for Maryland slaves,
no more than Tor other products Vt our little
State. Ii. befoIe the proclamation, the
slave property IN this State was wo tn $4l, :
OUJ, ,OJU the stock being still on hand and
undispOsed OF, II follows that the holders
are still IN possession OF their intrinsic val
ue, though unable to realize marketable
}. value; tor presume, though a considerable
nuluUer have run away 1t Is not upon tina,
theory that Observer rates the remain Ter at
less than Sl,UO0,0J0. The runswxys surely
do not amount to forty out oi every forty.
one.
Before the rebellion slave property par
ticlpated IN tie general high valuation
which many years OF great prosperity be-
slowed upon all other kinds OF property; in
tact, from certain peculiar circumstances, 1t
had reached speculative, or what might
more properly be called fancy prices. A
limited supply OF class laborers, kept up on
ly by natural increase, to DO scattered over
an unlimited territory, while au ever iucreas.
ing demand was oceasioned by the already
Outnunbering white population OF the
Southwestern States, who were making
daily acceSslons by Immigration, together
with the speculative establishment OF large
cotton and sugar plantations by Northern
capitalists, had raised the price Of slaves to
i n fctition> value ln- -ustobsr, 1860, chs
month before the Presidential election. one
negro man sold in New Orleans tor 3,601
a m
same dav. King Cotton had run mad
The GLORIOUS institution" had become 30
sublimated by the sOphisnis and idolatry oi
DE Bow, Dr. Palmer. the Mercury, Rich
mond Enquirer, Southern Literary Messen-
ger, Governor Wise, Yancey, keitt, Khett,
ct III Omne gea,ts, that negroes had almost
! become articles OF rertu. Rich fellows
bought them as they do fast horses. Col.
lectors looked up varieties among them as
they do among old colns--rsre books, min
erals, or eonch- shells They had become
too valuable for dangerous work. Bull
Run Russell, at Governor Clark's sugar
plantation, found live Irishmen ditching
along the levee of the Mississippi, and
learned with surprise that negroes were too
valuable to be put at such work. Or course
the slave-traders Of Maryland felt tho bene-
hts OF this state OF things. Although
white free labor, while slaves were so high,
was to be had here tor less than haH the
, cost OF slave labor, yet the high pricss oi
the Southern market made II profitable
stock to raise. The real state OF the labor
market here may be shown by a single ex'
ample. 1 have free negro cook, q frs,
rate, young and likely looking girl, to whom,
pay S5 per month, making $50 year
That Is the interest on only 81 900, and she
uses the money at her own discretion, buys
Il her own clothes, pays her own doctor bills.
Before the rebellion she would have sold
tor the Southern market tor at least 81, 5O0.
The interest On the capital invested alone
would amount to 80 per annum, or $50
more than her wages; aud then l should
have TO cothe her, pay her Doctors bills,
aud little expenses, which would certainly
Cost me $50 per aunum more, and then,
either by death or running away, sink the
whole capital Ii she were to remain with
me twenty years, aud then die, her labor
, toould hare cost NE sDlcttg $1,000 more a,
stdre than free uOH,nn. How; then, Gould
afford TO kecp her as slaveI In no other
way than by breeding from her for the
Southern market Need say the gensr
Gus soul revolts ut such horrible proposi
ton? May ask, indeed, it tho braiu and
heart OF noble old Maryland IL to be much
longer prostitutei to the fostering Of sueh
an institution tor breedtag purposes alonsi
E God forbid!
And then what does slave property COS,
us annually in legislation aud judicial ma.
!, chluery tor its protection! observer
says Its value was $il, l,U00,0Oa. 1t never
,, paid taxes on one-tilth OF that amount -
Demanding unusual protection; making ol
every man, woman aud child an othcer fol
the arrest OF runaways; consuming one-haii
OF the time OF every Legislature, but the
last that has met, for ten years at Sl,0Jt
per day to the Siate-consumlng III the
counties one. third Of the time OF the Courts
OF Justice IN the administration of the laws
.. tor its protection ut cost OF = so q day Ia
the cuunty--turniGg our county jalis into
negro boarding houses by arrestlug alleged
/, runaways and boarding them from eighty
, to one hundred days at a cost OF 800 TO S75
per head--yet, strange 20 say, the institu-
ton has shielded itself from The burden OF
|, taxation which all other property has To
/, bear for its protection. DO the people know
that by the assessment bill OF ls52, now
!, part Of the Code OF the State, while all 9th.
er property was subject to valuation by sworn
assessors, an arbitrary valuation was fixed
81 ,,nn, uiuvas at "A ratp when co,nparei wit h