Litchfield enquirer., 1873-08-28

IfOm tn0 war more tIlan deOfSia or Ala
 bama, yet Alabama has lost fl per cent
 and Georgia 47 per cent of all it's wealth,
 while Missouri has gained 114 per cent.
 Arkansas and Missouri had almost the
 same number of slaves i'll 1860, yet Arkan-
 sas has lost 2 per cent of its wealth.
 Whatever cause has deprived these l3
 States of their share of the general gain in wealth has therefore cost the country not only twelve hundred millions which they
 hvve lost, but the four thousand millions
 which they have not gained by prosperous
 industry. A sum more than One-fifth as l great as our entire national wealth, sum
 more than twice as great as our whole na-
 tional debt, has thus been thrown away.
 Five thousand millions more of property at the South ought now to be bearing it's
 share of taxation, Tightening the burden
 borne by Northern people, and adding by | its increase for all time to come to the na-
 tional wealth and power
 The causes of this great decrease of
 wealth in certain States, and still greater
 loss through the prevention of their natu- l raj increase, deserve separate examination.
 and the serious attention of the Northern
 people.
 INDUSTRY AT THE SOUTH LOSS OF ONE 1 HALF OF THE VALUE OF FARMS,
 Some idea of the condition of industry
 at the South may be formed from the fact,
 revealed by the census reports, that the value of all farms in the Southern States
 Ill 1870 was less in currency than it was
 Tn 1860 Tn gold, by more than $75O, ,OOO,-
 OO0i
 According to the census of 1860 the cash
 value of all farm land in the then slave
 holding States was g, 55O, 237, ,6O8. Omit l ting from the comparison Delaware. Ma- 1 ry1and, and Missouri, the value of farms
 in the 13 States hitherto separately con-
 sidered was g, 142, POS, AS. But in the
 same States the value returned at the cen
 sus of 1870 was only $1 ,3S9, ,976, ,SO4 in cur
 rency. During the agricultural year pri-
 or to the taking of the census, the average
 value of this currency was only 753 cents
 on the dollar; the cash value in gold was,
 therefore, $1 ,049, 432, ,287, and the loss in gold value since 1860 was $1,O92, 773, 161,
 or more than the entire value now remain ! ing.
 Railroads give additional value to farms.
 and at the South, since 1860, fully 2.830 ! miles of railroad have been built, costing, l with equipment, over $1O0, ,O0O, ,OOO, and l raising the proportion of miles of road to | oSACo OA 1duu 1IOM tWO tO seven mllGS | to the 1O0,0O0 acres. Notwithstanding has given to lands adjacent to new roads. l the South has lost more than one-half the entire value of it's farming land. During the decade ending in 1860, the value spent in building of railroads in that section, as l in the whole country, was returned more than three-fold in the increased value of farms alone. The increase in value of Southern farms from 1850 to 1860 was more than $1, 1000, GOO, 900; but the loss from 1860 to 1870 has been still greater. so that the entire value of farms in l3 States is less than 1t was in 1850, g years ago. In other words, these States have lost quarter of century.
 EMANCIPATION NOT THE CAUSE.
 Does any one imagine that the ravages | of war or the emancipation of slaves has l caused this destruction of value? Let
 him then consider Maryland, in which the value of farms in 1860 was $l45, ,OOO, 900, and in 1870 had risen to $17O. .OOO, 900; Delaware, ln which the value in 1859 was $31 ,OO0, ,OO0, and had risen in 1870 to $46,- OOO, 900, and Missouri, in which the value inl1960 was $230, GOO, 900, and in 1870 had risen to $392, ,OOO, 900. What other State, ,ex- cept perhaps Virginia, was more harried and torn by contending armies than Mis- souri? Did any other State witness more desperate and merciless neighbor- hood warfare, brother against brothe, and
 father against son? Was there not slave labor in Missouri before the war, and ! were not 114, 931 slaves there emancipat- ed? Yet in that State the value of farms
 has increased $16O, 1000, ,OOO. What has caused the loss elsewhere? Missouri has increased nearly 50 per
 cent ill the area of improved land in farms,
 adding about 5000, 900 acres since 1860. But the thirteen States have lost nearly 1000, 900; in 1860 their area of improved lands in farms was 64, ,476, ,360 acres. and in 1870 only 57, ,671, ,387 acres. This is not the only loss. Nearly 90, ,00O, 900 acres 1 of unimproved land, included in farms in 1860, are no longer farms but waste land.
 The entire area of land in farms in these thirteen States has decreased nearly one sixth within ten years.
 Nor is this abandonment of land due to any decrease in the laboring popula- tion. The number both of whites and of colored people has increased, in spite of the losses by war and the immigration of a population larger than that of Kansas, or either of six smaller States. In 1860, with 10000, 900 inhabitants, these States cultivated 61 acres to each person; in 1870, with over 1000, ,OO0 inhabitants, they cultivate only five acres to each per son. More than one-fifth of the popula- tion of working age must therefore be idle. 5&sS c:g@
 VALUE OF LANDS PER ACRE.
 Ascertaining from census reports of xo1rro aff feyv nla ox,1 0R the average value per acre, improved and 1870 to gold for comparison with those of 1860, we may form some estimate of the loss other than in the number of acres oc- cupied. The loss in the average value per acre was in Virginia and West Vir- ginia, g. 8, or 20 per cent; in Kentucky, S1 II, or II per cent; in Texas, S3 cents, or 9 per cent; in Tennessee, $4 10, or 30 per cent: in Florida, $223, or 40 per cent; in North Carolina, g S4, or AT per cent; in Georgia, g 66, or 46 per cent; in Arkansas, s g, or 56 per cent; in Ala bama, 8 40, or 60 per cent; in Mississip- pi, S7 01, or 58 per cent; in Louisiana, SIS 29, or 60 per cent; and in South Car olina, ,$5 63, or 66 per cent. Such ayera- ges per acre, improved and unimproved, | indicate an enormous depreciation in the actual value per acre of improved lands. Meanwhile, according to the same test,
 the average in Missouri has risen 8 O4 per acre, or nearly 30 per cent in gold value. ssz.s. S a., ...st ,z. s.s..r sz..s .4 IMPLEMENTS AND STOCK. m r. l In 1860, the value of farm implements ! in the 13 States was $S9, ,S46, ,OO9 in gold;
 in 1870 it was only S55, ,821, ,280 in cnrren- cy; loss of more than one-haH. Yet the
 cost of implements has generally advanc- ed, so that the number in use in these States must have diminished more than
 one-haM. Meanwhile, in Delaware, Mary land, and Missouri, the value of farm inn plements has increased $8, 600. 600 in cur rency. In 1860, the 13 States had 2, 2,099,
 401 horses; in 1870 the number had de-
 creased in every State except Texas, and was but ], ,795, ,459. Meanwhile the num-
 Der in Delaware, Maryland, and Missouri
 had increased from 470, GOO to 600, 900. \ | 1 fR Il