Vicksburg weekly herald., 1870-08-13


place since the commencement
ofthe war in the amount Of capital
and cost Of the instruments requi-
site for the production and devel-
opment Of industry. Il is not
necessary to here inquire ah 10 the
causes which have contributed to
produce this result; but simply
recognize the fact, which, how.
ever, is 80 patent as ty hardly need
demonstration. Nevertheless, the
demonstration is afforded by the
experience Of every business man !
who knows that. the employment |
Of capital to the value Of two |
dollars is necessary to return the |
same product which, in 1850, was
atFordad by the employment Of
One.half that amount" OF course |
increase of capital which does not |
increase production means simply |
increase Of cost. Thus 1t appears
that the cost Of productive indus
try in general, making due allow
ance for the difference between
the currency dollar and the specie
dollar, is nearly one hundred per
cent. greater at the present time
than It was ten years ago. While
this has been the average rise in
the scale Of cost, circumstances
peculiar to agricultural enterprise
in the South have combined to
make the percentage considerably
larger in the case Of cotton pro-
duction, the great industrial spe-
ciality of this section. Nowhere
have the events Of the past ten
years operated SO powerfully and
mercilessly as in the late slave
holding States TO diminish the
power Of capital-inCluding in
this term tools, food, clothing,
houses, fences, money, but above
all, command Of needful labor-to
develop agricultural industry
The diminution which has taken
place in the matter Of labor sup
ply alone would have more vividly
perceived, but it would not have
told more forCibly in impairing
the means and retarding the pro-
gross Of cotton production in the
South, IL food, or earthquake, or
. pestilence had swept of half the
agricultural laborers in the cotton
growing States. A loss Of thil
, nature Is slow to be repaired
0 After q great upheaval, thing
Q never settle back in their ole
J. places. Freed people Of both sexeI
Q 6ocked 10 the cities by the thou
f sand upon thousand, there perma
2 nently TO remain, for such accef
n sions to the population Of th
e cities do not spontaneously see
o the country again. Freedwome
e quit the cotton fields, Considerin
q it mark of degradation to wor
) there; and they do not dream {
o returning even when povert
IS urges, for this is one Of thos
1t cases in which pride, whether al
T. surd or heroic, is stronger tina
Il want. That, Notwithstanding q
,e this, cotton production in th
it South has gradually increase
5, since 1865, until it is now consid
r erably more than one-half th
l. maximum Of ten years ago is du
s partly to a closer tillage, an,
# partly to an immigration Of negr
), laborers to the cotton produCinI
s region induced by the high wage
+ offered by planters.
}, Another highly pertinent redeC
: ton in this relation Is suggeste
Il by our correspondents allusio
It To the amount Of cotton picked
n the hand. Grant that the averag
g is greater now than ten years agv
s. why is 1t SOP Because, as q gel
C eral thing, women and childrC
1t have ceased to be counted in Il
y cotton field or in any Of the eco
y omies of the plantation. The re-
n ular force of field hands consist
sr adult men, such as planters ha'
f. recently been engaging OF the ra
st of about two hundred and for
le dollars per year, in addition
er "linding" them; whereas former
GO the like labor could have be-
,e bought in perpetuity for an ave
10 age of about twelve hundred dC
le lars per capita, with an averai
ID expectation of about thirty yea
as of life on the part Of adult labC
le ers, of the efficient class referr
= to, to say nothing of the expect
o zion of valuable increase. Divi
lg ing $1,000 by thirty, we have 8
as the yearly cost per capita, G
H. elusive of subsistence and the
I'll tere1t on the money advanced,
IN labor ten years ago such as th
,u now employed in cotton prodl
W. tion.
in A comparison Of the rent Of i
y, proved lands in good plight
70, producing cotton with what it 4
he merly was will exhibit q simi
Is result. Such lands command I
ng per acre in the comparatively W
ID. country of Upper Red River,
O3 " three times as much as Il
would have been estimated at
years ago for rent. We can o