The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1862-09-23
COMPARATIVE STRENGTH OF THE
NORTH AND SOUTH

When this war broke out the population of tlte
/ North was in round numbers, say twenty -one mil
lions, all free. That Of the South was twelve
millions OF which four millions were slaves Now
let us anal yze little in order to ascertain what
the real power of numbers, SO much boaSted of by
/ the Northern l1ickmans, is in this case WI
speak, of course, with reference to the relative ac
tual capacity for raising armies possessed by the
respective sections
First thcn--of the twenty one millions of the
North, the population Of California, Oregon, The
| territories of New Mexico, Utah Jefferson and
Washington, amounting to at least a million is
geographically unavailable to the Washington
Government for operations against the South
Deducting this item leaves twenty millions. OF
these twenty millions, one half are females De
ducting these, leaves ten millions of males From
these ten millions deduct four millions necessary
Tor agricultural purposes and household service
and million and half for filling the various
public Offices, for conducting commerce in its va
rious branches, for ship-building, printing, the
management Of railroads. and necessary mechani-
cal work Of hundred kinds other than cotton
spinning and weaving. This deduction leaves
four and-a half millions. Take from this all the
matc children under Ii years Of age and all the
men over so, Cat least two and a half Millions J
and there is a remainder Of Just about two millions
OF the twenty-onc millions for fighting purposes,
ana Ot these thousands are unfit from disease and
various physical ntrmitics for military service
So, at the most, two millions Of white Inaes be
tween the ages Of lG and 80 constitute the actual
military strength Of the North for offensive and
defensive var operations.
Let Us now look into the Southern statistics.
The four millions Of slaves suffice for our agricul-
tural purposes We have then left the whole
white population Of eight millions against cor
responding sixteen millions Of the North after
deduction Of the requisite number Of field labor
ers there and the population Of California, &c
Ont Of the eight millions deduct one half for the
female proportion. This leaves four millions Of
males. Deduct from this the males under Is and
over 30, say two millions, and we have two mil
lions left. Deduct those filling public offices, con
Quoting commerce, printers managers Of railroads,
and mechanics Of all kinds, two hundred and fifty
thousand, and there remains one million seven
hundred and fifty thousand as the actual military
strength OF the South-beimg ouly tco h"Harrd,
and ,ftiY Mous0nd less MoR the u,uch rau4ird
nu1uJcyS that arere 10 orermhrlna rs So &OccdHY
and rcSiMcsly
The above we believe to be about as fair and
correct estimate Of the comparative strength Of
the two sections in soidiery as can well be made
and our people should be taught by it how little
real terror there is in the cry Of mumbeyS which
has been raised to fr9hten them by the clustering
5raggarts of the North Even if their armies out
numbered ours three to one we could beat them
but if we were to draw fully upon muscle we
could meet them almost man for man-IefeysGurg
ErErcSs.