The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1874-05-13

10 guard against mlScOnceptlOn IL
may be desirable to say here, what it
is, of course, unnecessary to point
out to the reader, that, however val
liable the slaves were to their owners,
! from a national point of view they
did not constitute property at all.
To the nation it was their produc-
tive capability which alone was of
value, and they lost no part Of that
BY emancipation. The four hundred
millions, then, is not to be reckoned
as part Of the cost OF war, as so much
property subtracted from the wealth
Of the United States, nor even from
the wealth of the Southern States,
but only from the wealth Of the white
inhabitants of those States who hap
pened to have owned slaves.
If we would know what has been
The permanent loss Of the South in
its corporate capacity, we must de
termine what, irrespective Of the
slaves, has been the deterioration OF
property there since 1860. To do
this, however, it is not enough to
simply compare the table Of values
in the two censuses. We must first
make allowance for the fact that in
/ 1860 the money of the United States
was gold, aud in 1870 inconyertible
paper, Now, in 1870 the premium
on gold averaged 234 throughout the
year; that is to say, the paper dollar
was worth somewhat more than
eighty cents in gold. To compare
! the valuation Of 1860 with that Of
1870, we must, therefore, strike off
one-tifth from the valuation of the
latter year. When we have done
! this, we find that, deducting the
worth Of the slaves, the value Of the
real and personal property of the eley-
en- Confederate States in 1860 amour
ted to GAO, 446 2OOl.; in 1870 the value
had fallen to 473,97o,3167. The de-
probation Of property in the ten
years had been, therefore, over q
per cent, or notavery far short Of six
shiliings in the pound. It will be
recoilected that this is actual loss
loss Of property that once existed
consequently, it conveys a very III
adequate notion Of the real impoveT-
/ ishment of the South. The rate OF
increase in the value of property all
over the Union during the decade
averaged about 100 per cent. In
some States, such as New York, the
rate approached double the average,
but for the whole Union, with all the
war, and including the South, it was
as stated. If the rate had reached
this average in the South, the value
of the real and personal property OF
the Confederate States would now be
nearly l,2sO,OO0,0O0L sterling, where
as, as we have seen, it is very little
more than one-third as much. In
Guiding, then, the prevention of in
crease. as well as the actual loss, We
find that the South is now poorer
than it ought to be by sum greater
than the whole National debt Of
Great Britian-and this, be it remem
bered, takes no account of the retar
dation of production all over the
Union in consequence Of the wal
It would be futile, however, to at
| > .
tempt to estimate the loss Oh a basi:
! including this new element of retar
ldation.
If now we proceed to inquire OF
what kinds of property this tremen
dous loss more especially fell, w
find thatit was pretty equally dis
/ tributed over all the constituents o
. wealth in the South. For example
the value of all the farms in til,
J States that seeded was considerabl,
t under one-half their value as return
i ed in 1860. More even than this,
| was actually less than the value re
turned twenty years previously. L
5 other words, to use the striking eS
' preston of an American writer, i
e agriculture the South has retrogra
e ded a quarter Of century. Th
full significance Of this fact onl
e comes ont when we call to mind tina
E in America generally the construt
/, ton of a new line of railway immed
f ately and enormously enhances th
f value of the land through which
/. passes for fifteen miles On eithe
G side; that in the South about 2S0
+ miles of railway were constructed j
j the ten years here under consider
S ton; and that in this one indust,
h nlonn q non;tnl not rnrr, for short 1