The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-01-06

ues to be as deficient, and labor as scarce as at
present, it would bc impossible for the planter
to submit to so limited remuneration as one
thousand dollars per annum for services essen
tial to the production OF q cotton crop, the
product of one hundred acres of land, and 10
accept of a social position implied in such
state of remuneration.
In this estimate of miscellaneous expenses
they have been put rs low us would be con-
sistcnt with the utmost economy.
On the suppoSitionS We have made, If wages
should rise above $40 per month, or cotton TALL
below 20 cents per pound, tho remuneration
of the cultiratOr would be in the greater part
transferred to the laborcr, showing the init
mate connection between the wages OF labor
and the market price OF the product. 1t re-
mains to be seen whether it be possible to
make fair division Of the produce Of the
land under such an arrangement OF wages
and the prices of cotton.
This discussion has been conducted In an en-
tire ignorance Of or inattention to, those
principles 10y which the relation Of capital to
labor is adjusted OF settled by competition.
The proceedings of what is called the Labor
Convention at Columbia, are subversive OF all
sound doctrine on the subject. fits purposes
were realized, they would reduce the State Of
South Carolina to barbarism. The scheme be-
fore the l. 5islaturc of reasscSsment OF lands,
we do not class with those Radical proceed.
and uncultivated, in conformity will! its actual
value, is a measure that will prove salutary, If
carried out with justice and impartiality
SUPPOSED INCREASED VALUE OF SLAVES.
An increased value of slaves has been sup
posed, and has been frequently alleged, as one
of the benefits Of purchased labor. This
imaginary increase, if it exists, must arise
from two sources: !, enhanced money value;
2, natural increase. One born in slavery was
of little or no value until he or she reached
his OF her thirteenth or fourteenth year, and
was then estimated to be worth $500, If the
male parent was valued at $500. Now-thc
maintenance Of such an adult slave was COM
putcd at s75 annually, equal TO about S?5 for
minor, so that the increase of money value
would be about equal to the maintenance of q
slave until he or she had reached their thir-
teenth or fourteenth year. The other source OF
enhanced value from natural increase has been
always estimated at three per cent per annum,
but as the loss from purchased slaves exceed
cd the gain by about eight per cent, no profit
from natural increase could have followed.
THE INEFFIcIENcY OF HIRED LABOR.
It will not admit of denial that hired or vol
untary larbor is inefficient as compared with
involuntary or coerced labor. 1t would per-
haps be impossible to define cXactlythc extent
of this difference We would not, perhaps, be
far out of the way were we to Affirm that the
employer who relies on voluntary eXertion in
the performance of the tasks OF the field, sut-
fers a loss of about one-fourth, as compared
with him who commands involuntary labor.
Now the whole body of workers In the ten
cotton States, as estimated In the census OF
1850, was 1858, ,760, Of whom not more than
one-iourth were cultiyators Of cotton. AS the
rs the loss CT African life by the war was
computed by General Howard, the super,
intendent of the BuIcau OF Freedmen and
Abandoned Lands, at 25 per cent, it would he
reasonable to estimate the loss Of efficiency at
the same rate; but as il is impossible to meas
urc moral relations by numbers, with any ap-
proach to accuracy, an approximation to cor
rectncss might perhaps bc attained by coin
putting The loss of efficiency by Il difference in
the rate of wages, in supposng the employer
TO pay onc-fourlh more ior the price OF labor
that is hired than he paid before the war. In
such case if he pays SIS per month he might be
considered as Uirtual'y paying $40 per month.
This result is PERHAPS unavoidable, arising
from moral causes. The disposition to indo-
lcncc and slacknesS of cXertiOn has not been
overcome on the. part of the freedman BY the
hope of bettering his condition, and the usual
incentive to increased cXertion has 1alled oil
effect, while the standard Of comfort and cd,i-
cation being raised in his mind, has added dis
suasivcs to any such increase OF effort.
1t would then be safe to estimate the efficient
working force in producing cotton at cot more,
at present, than COO, 900 adults, to which, If re
add 200, 600 whites, engaged in the same agrl-
cultural pursuits, the aggregate power Of pro
duction (three bales to the handy would be
somewhere in the nciShborhood OF 2,OOO,oOo
bales.
1t still must be conceded that the comparison
between hired and purchased labor is forced
on us by a fat acc0mpli, and That 1t is the part
of wisdom to draw the lessons of patient phi
losophy from the adverse influences by which
we are surrounded.
COSTS OF PRODUCTION IN CONNECTION WITH
THE PRICE OF COTTON.
There is an adjustment between the cost OF
producing cotton and Its market price which
is beyond all artificial regulation. When cot
ton was at 10 to II cents per pound (5d. TO Cd
in Liverpool,) the bale, 400 pounds, was worth
from $40 to $50 At that period (antcrior to
the civil war; the maintenance Of slaves costs,
according to the estimate of practical men, SIS
per head annually for adults. The rate OF
wages will soon be $40 per month, If not high
er, which is about twice the price of labor and
the cost of maintaining slave before sudden
emancipation had so deraRgcd the ordinary
relations of the demand as compared will the
supply Of labor at the South.
The legal rate Of finterest in South Carolina,
before the war, was per cent per annum,
but money could have been borrowed in large
sums, on good security, at Gpcr cent. The
current rate OF interest is II per cent. per an
mum. Here, then, are the two elements OF
production ut twice the cost they were before
the war; Cotton having risen in the ratio OF
the increased scarcity Of these clements, the
market price has followed this law of adjust
mcnt. 1t follows necessarily that they must
preserve the same relation to each othcrin all
future conditions OF supply and demand. The
cotton trade is still in thut state of transition
by which this adjustment is being brought
about.
The consequence results that cotton will not
fall TO its former price until the supply OF labor
and capital shall reduce wages and the interest
of money TO their former level. If 20 cents
for middlIng upland affords no higher remllne-
ration to the grower than 10 cents did when
the maintenance Of the slave and tho price OF
money were half of what they are, this consc-
quence must continue until money and labor
have become rs cheap as they were before the
arrangement took place to which we have al
ludrd.
FLuCTUATIoN OF PRICES.
The change in the relation of demand 10
supply Is, oil course, the source Of considerable
iluctuation of prices, as when new markets are
opened, when there prevails a great scarcity OF
abundance Of money, when trade is staSllant,
or spirit of speculation is induced 10y short
crous and deficient supply OF Il great staple OF
trade. But there is q source of flnclratlUn much
more halassing and annoying. having no in-
flucncc OH prices but what is nominal. The
,,ur.b,nt 10 rn,nYpil hy these inflatiODS