Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-02-04
Why DE BoW was Imprisoned.
New Corner stone for the SOutI-COft0n 10
Longer King.

1t is a fact not generally known that De-
Bow, the Southern Reviewer and the only
man at the South possessing attainments suf-
fcient to edit a first class review, has been
imprisoned by JEFF. Davis and his ReyieU sup
pressed in consequence Of an article going to
show that cotton was no longer King. An
article based upon indisputable figures and
facts.
The following are the more important por-
tons of the article which have caused De-
Bows incarceration:
1t is true we have believed that cotton is
king: it is undeniabIe that we possessed a
monopoly for its production, arising out of a
variety of causes, but it is not true that it
will grow nowhere else. Indeed we find that
the production Of it in various countries is
increasing in a geometric ration, and that in a
vuar or 50 the South will no longer be needed
to supply the commerce of the globe with
what we vainly hoped would grow nowhere
else
Shall we not learn from our enemies {?
What are the causes Of their prosperity :?
Why do even the laborers of the North live
with a degree of comfort often unknown to
The statistical reports accompanying the
census of 1860 establiA fully the results Of
material conditions; and if we admit that the
people of the North have already hardly felt
the war up to this point, We must look to and
examine the material conditions which sur
round them.
They cannot be more prosperous because
there is no slavery certainly it is cheaper to
have slave who labOrs for you than to labor
yourself; therefore, slave labor is the more
economical, or rather it was before the time
Of Henry 4. Wise and John Brown. Consid-
cring the present condition of the country,
and prospcctivcly, also, it may well be sup
posed, as it already is by many in the slave
States, that it actually may be more econom-
ical to labor for ourselves than to maintain
negroes for that purpose.
We have taken to raising cereals, and have
succeeded 50 badly as to make it matter of
doubt whether we will not have eaten every
thing before the time of green's which when
boiled with fowl, are so priced by the First
Families of Virginia.
In the meantime, the production of cotton
is slipping away from rs, andwe have already
slipped away into unknown depths and
are drifting to a fearful and to an uncertain
future.
more so, indeed than the majority of the
slave owners in the South. They educate
their children, and teach them that there is
no dishonor in employing either their hands
or their heads, and | say boldly, even against
our prcjudices, think they are right in that.
We know that the turnip crop of England
is now by far more valuable than any other
cultivated by the English, although it has be-
come so recently. In regard to the compare
tive productions of the people Of the North
and Of the South, us given by the census re-
port, we observe in those common to both
regions that the widest divergence exists in
regard to milch cows
In the North the ratio of increase of milch
COWS was slightly in excess of the ratio of
increase of population between the years
1880 and 1860. In the South there was an
actual deficiency in the ratio above stated OF
43l, 30l In proportion to the ratio of in
crease Of population, the chivarous State of
South Carolina is deficient in milch COWS g.
766 As her dccadence is far greater than
that Of any other State, and her deficiency
in the ratio of milch COWS to the proportion
is the greatest, may we not suppose that eth
cr the deficiency indicated, or some cause
coincident to it, has been the ruin of that
State?
People must drink something. If they
cannot get milk, naturally they take to whis-
ky, and we may we'll lamchY the result. The
suhjoincd tables show plainly that the de-
crease Of milch COWS in proportion to the
population Indicates precAriOuS condition of
society and, if it has not led directly to the
rebellion, the causes of the decrease of milch
COWS are cOincidcnt and analogous, at least,
to it.
In the slave States tabulatedin 1850, there
was milch COW to every 81 persons. In
the free States, tabulatcd, one for every s.
persons. In 1860, i'll the slave States, one to
every SO persons, or slight gain of the pro-
pOrtionatc number of milch COWS.
The want of good meadow lands in most of
the slave States, the poor and insufficient
quantity OF food usually given milch cows,
the unsheltered condition in which they are
kept and the neglect of them by the negroes,
would make the yield of milk less than one
half per each COW of those in the Northern
States. This appears to be shown by the
amount of butter and cheese produced.
Mr.. De Bow then gives in tabular form the
amount of butter and cheese produced and
the number of miIch cows in the free and slave
States and adds:
eve see in the above ourroad of progress /;
cotton has failed or will fail us; the negro
has failed us or will fail us; it is idle to hope
longer to enjoy peacefully the proceeds of his
labor when at this moment eighty thousand
| of his color are organized and hold arms in
their hands to free their fellows. The longer
the war is protracted the more violently will
slavery be destroyed. For two wears and a
half we have waged war, and lost more than
half the territory over which we asserted
| jurisdiction; the supply of cattle no longer
comes from Texas nor does cotton ESCAPE
| longer from the frontier to furnish us sup
| plies. The Mississippi bears a hundred gun
boats, half of them iron-clads, that effectual-
| ly prevent our occupation of any point along
Its entire course, or even the passage of it
except under cover of darkness and by stealth
"The fruitful valleys of Kentucky and of
| Tennessee have been desolated by war, and
are held by the enemy. Arkansas, a large part
| of Louisiana, of Mississippi, of North Caro-
lima and Virginia have been held or are now
held by the enemy, and have been exhausted
by the supplies drawn by the contending
forces. Nor can we regard Alabama, Geo
| ga South Carolina or Texas exempt from
the march of heavy armies now organizing
for purpose of invasion.
We will say to Congress and to President
Davis that a careful study of the last "Cen-
sus Report of the United States" will correct
| or destroy many pcrturbations in their minds
| as well as our own Let them legislate so as
| to increase the number OF COWS and think no
more of the negro. The land, then, instead
of being desolatcd by war, and the inhabit-
ants gaunt with privations and misery, will
flow literally with milk and honey, as in times
of yore.
4 census taken now, as recommended by
| his Excelency Mr. Davis in the same manner
as that of 1860, over the districts where it
might be effected, would show plainly the