Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-05-24
From the Petersburg Express.]
SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF FREE

We have long been Of opinion that the institu.
ton OF Slavery was clog in the wheel Of pro.
gress In virginia but, for sufficient reasons, We
have refrained from troubling the public With
our thoughts upon the subject. For a large por.
tion of our life, we have had daily opportunities
OF familisrzlng ourself with facts illustrative of
the power OF negro slavery to retard the advance
of the State in the various branches of. enter
prise and development which lead TO solid en-.
richment and prosperity. We could fill columns
with arguments drawn rom experience and OBJ
servaton, demonstratiye of the truth of our afir.
nation. that the Institution has been any thing
else than favorable to the extension and multi
plication OF those influences and agencies, by
which the condition OF a people is most i'm.
proved. Eut space cannot be spared in q news.
paper for such yoluminous expositions, and we
must Therefore be content with very brief and
imperfecs attempt 10 explain what We think are
some OF the advantages which will be realized
in Virginia, by the change from slavery 10 free
labor, which has been wrought by the war.
In the first place, the effect will be TO reform
our agricultural system by making 1t the inter-
est II farmers 10 cultivate less land. They can
not hencefOrth afford to waste labor, as they
haze heretofore done, upon hundreds and thou.
sands Of acres, in order to give employment TO
multitudes Of slaves, who would otherwise have
been idle. We have frequently known it TO be
the case that the owner Of two or three large
plantations has purchased still another, merely
that he might settle his redundant slaves upon
1t, thus expanding his operations upon the delu-
sion that he was thereby increasing his wealth.
There is no calculating the amount of damage
which this wasteful misdirection OF labor nhict-
ed upon Virginia during the long period it was
persisted in. In few instances, perhaps under
moie energetic aud skilful management our
large land-nolders may have augmented their
incomes so as 10 be partially remunerated for
this prodigal cultivation; but in general it was
more the source OF loss than OF profit. The vslue
of land was seriously impaired by the unwieldy
dimensions Of farms which could only be pur-
chased, when thrown upon the maj ket,
by those those who owned slaves enough
to work them. This remark leads us TO
the consideration of the second ana no less
important advantage which will result from
the recent change, and that is, the breaking up
of the absurd system of which we have Just been
speaking, and the substitution for it of the policy
OF small and compact farms, which can be
thoroughly and. easily managed, with an eye to
their Improvement in every way The quality,
rather than the quantity OF land, will now be the
main point with every farmer, and his attention
will necess irily be directed TO the production, by
careful and judicial culture, of the largest posi-.
Bile crops from greatly reduced areas. From a
hundred acres he will, at far less cost Of labor
than that which he used 10 expend upol thou
sand, get far more remuneratiye returns and he
will moreover, have the satisfaction of seeing the
value of his land regularly enhanced from year TO
year, by the active demand which will be caused
by the increase of population. The subdivision
OF large farms into small ones. will attract thou
sands Of purchasers and settlers from every direc-
ton, whilst the cheapness and superior efficiency
of free labor will furnish every desirable facility
for working them pro6tably. 1t will not be long
before every Intelligent farmer will find out that
0 few acres thus worked will put more money in
their pockets than the many over which they
formerly strewed the labor OF supernumersry
alavaa