The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-11-11
TuE srAgE Aan1culr,utaar, 4 81 3 2. SD NJ.

FINANCIAL LksSOcIETY. -Ihl8 6oc1etys met
hst evening. mt Carolina Hail. The
President. General Hagood. called the
Society to order, and delivered the foi.i
lowing excellent address. which was re-
ceived with attention and applause:
Gentlemen of the State Agricultural and Mecha.
nical Society:
More than eight years have elapsed since
tho last meeting of tho society whose success
ors You are. For four of those the voice of
peaceful industry was hushcd amid tho clash
vancement were directed to the preparation
and welding OF the implements OF war; and
the accumulation of two centuries of labor was
freely devoted to a cause III which all OF it that
Was de5tructiblo perished For other four OF
these years we have been recovering from this
fierce paroxysm of civil strife, and havo moved
''as sick man in his Sleep"
e was the teaching OF our States Rights po-
liticians. apart from its being 80 nominated in
the bond, that with the maintenance of their
dogma. the Ii ,terisl prosperity of the Southern
States was insepsrably connected; of our the
Ologians, that our system of labor had its
sanction in Divine dccrees; and recent expert
ence in adjacent countries had shown, that
without it, in tropical climates at least, q race
composing enc-third Of our population could
not be utilized, and would relapse into fetish
ism: What wonder, then, that at the results
OF tho war, our people stood aghnst; that the
emigrant spirit of their ancestors partially
vived; that for time the voice of hope herself
grated harshly upon the car--that it became
fashionable to be poor and patriotic to lie de-
spondent. Bat, thanks to the rcvivng ener-
gies of our blood, and the sunny skies and
blessed us, to-day in productive capacity our
glorious land nearly equals the value il not
tho quantity, OF tho days of her prosperity
Time, which ''makcs all things even" has
toned and mcllowcd the partisan CXaggcration
with which We held our peculiar views; and
while with reycrent To-! atty we bury the dead
past. we now accept the inevitable present,
and stand ready to grapple with it's difficult
scmblcd--that You are here marshaling your
forces for one moro advance i'll the battle of
material progress. Where arc the gaps in
our line? What means have we left with
which to boar worthily our part in this re-
newcd effort at prosperity?
The destruction Of buildings, fences and
stock, Of capital invested in banking, manu-
factHres and trado, of human life, and the
time devoted to the war, or lost in tho pros
tration that followed, is so much clear loss.
1t is idle to go into statistics to estimate it.
We know and feel its magnitude; and time
and labor can alone make it good. The loss
resulting from tho enforced change in our
system of labor il, however, that which most
prominently attracts attention-as involving
means of recuperation. Let us cndeavor to
make some estimate of it's extent. The capi-
talist desiring, under our old system, to invest
slOO, 600 in planting, found that about 10000
was required for land and stock, and furnish
ing tho plantation; while tho remaining
SSp, coo was required for purchasing tho com
nAnity of lahorcrs for the place all OF which
who consumers and something like half only
we'll managed, at the end OF the year he found
that 80 per cent. OF the gross product OF his
plantation had been consumed by. or been ex-
pended upon, this communicating in fact
the wages of the labor Of the producers
among them-and his balance sheet probably
showed profit on his investment of trom4 toi
7per cent. from current income, with all add
tion OF to per cent. to his capital from ma
tural Increase OF his purchased labor. 1 feel
assured that these figures nearly approximate
accuracy. especially in the item of the annual
to be found in the up;cersal and simultaneous
determining throughout the South upon the
third az tho proper compensation for farm
labor when emancipation made the payment
him and not upon the employee the support
OF the community OF which he was y part.
Farmers, generally, do not trouble themselves
much with the details OF bookkeeping, but
most of them, by q Jumping process, have a
shrewd idea of how their business stands.
They knew that they could hope for no rea-
sonablo profit and pay more for labor than
they had paid before, however the form OF
payment might bo varied. Now, suppose fer
moment that after emancipation this COM
munity Of laborers had remained undisturbed
upon the plantation, and that their labor
WAS as efficient as before. The income
the same, and he would not have realized
change in his sffairs. unless he endeavcred to
sell ont and abandon the business. Then he
would havo found that he could no longer
make a title to the largest portion OF tho i'll
vestment in which he had placed his money
Individuals among us could and did often sell
out to each other, and realize their slave capi-
tai. But to whom could community of slave
holders-thc S.ate-scl out =? And il the 500, 900
was to remain an investment permanently
backed up in the ownership of labor, it mat
tered not to the State tthc labor remaining
equally efficiently whether tho employer owned
the !abOrer, or the laborcr owned himself
Nor can l see, il as supposed, the employers
income from his plantation remains the same
after emancipation as bef0rc-if the per cent
age on land and slavos which tempted him
into the business is now realized from the land
alone-what he has lost by the change in the
legal relation between himself and his labor
ers. lIe has lost the portion of his capital in
vested in slaves, but his land has appreciated
to exactly that extent. He is getting from it
the customary ra to of interest upon the amount
of his original Investment, and continuing to
do 30, in n healthy and normal condition of
public affairs, his land when sold would rcim-
burso him.
Those, however, aro unfortunately not tho
results of emancipation in our case; and ig
noring the potent influences of tho political
tinkorings to which we havo boon SO merciless-
ly subjected-tho cause lies in the reduced ef-
iicicncy Of labor. The extent of this, and not