Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-09-01


cable, make what il consumes-the bread
and the meat, the hats and boots, and
clothing, and farming implements and
machinery of every kind.
BY again looking to the census returns,
we discover that we have not made the
effort to supply all our wants, We have
devoted ourselves too exclusively TO the
cultivation of the soil.
in all the United States there were in 1870
twelve million five hundred and five thou
sand persons az, eos, 923 exactly engaged
in gainful occupations; of this number,
6,922O 900 were t,lers of the soil, producing
cotton and tobacco, grass, the cereals, food
of every kind, whilst in all other pursuits,
that is, in the professions, in mining and
manufacturing, in commerce and trade,
were to be found 6, 5S3, coo persons
Now, in the secession Sta es, including
Kentucky, containing at that time total
population of 10 S0S, 600, 1905, 600 persons
were engaged in agriculture, and only
1913 OO0 in all other pursuits.
But in the remainder of the States hav-
ing population of p, 3O7, 900, only 3, 227,-
600 were employed as agriculturists, and
$500, 600 were otherwise employed.
And considering the total population of
the United States, its accumulated wealth
was $50, O6S 5lS, COZ; but Of this aggregate
the II secession States named with pOpu-
lation of 10, SOS 00J, possessed only a. %
100000, and the remaining States, with
population Of - 307, 900 persons, had $50
| 725 6OO, 900. The uN Grage wealth of the in
habitants of one section being about $4,000,
and of the other nearly Sl,0O000
But limiting the comparison, and looking
to our own State and Massachusetts, we
| find that we had 26I020 of our people en-
gagged in agriculture, in mining and man
ufacturing z906l, in trade and transporta-
| ton 1890 when Massachusetts, with "A
population exceeding our own by 100000,
| had only 72,SlO persons engaged in agricul-
| ture 292 Sos in manufacturing and mining,
and S3,07S in trade and transportation.
| New York, with a population of 4, $4,000,
more than three times our own had only
| 374, 323 tillers of the soil, while the remain
der of her ] ,49l ,0lS working sons aud
daughters had other pu suits.
| 1t is unnecessary to refer to the returns
| exhibiting the profits made in these States
| in the different pursuits. The story is told
! by glance at the tables of accumulated
! wealth
| The disparity may in some degree be
ascribed TO the ravages of war, the distract
| ed political condition of the secession States,
to the new system of labor not vet adapted
to existing conditions: but after making
allowances for their full effect, we are still
| forced to the conviction that the chief and
| controlling causes are the varied industries
| of the richer States, their industrious habits
and greater conformity to the laws of
nature in the application of labor to the
| supply Of the wants of mankind.
| We know that the labor of Georgia, Mis-
| sissippi, Alabama and Arkansas has been
chiefly directed to the production of cotton,
and that the people of those States Lave
| mainly depended upon other communities
| for their daily and necessary supply of
bread and of meat, of clothing, and imple-
ments of husbandry.
| We of Tennessee, Kentucky and Nir.
| GINA, not relying upon single production,
make our own bread and meat, and to some
extent have engaged in the manufacture OF
articles in daily use. In the North and
| West are produced bread and meat for the
South and for Europe, tools and imple-
ments of husbandry, and various articles
| of handicraft and machinery which we and
| the South buy from them. But in the
! Northeastern States all the various produc-
| tions are combined labor is applied to the
culture of the soil, to the manufacture OF
articles of cotton and wool, of wood and OF
| iron, and to the navigation of ships. They
are a commercial and trading as well as q
manufacturing and agricultural people.
| The combination of two or more of these
| forms of labor requires that labor shall be
well rewarded: in othe- words, demands
intelligent labor. Hence, with these varied
| productions we HDu ASbOCldLeu SGlOOl
| houses and schools, and n people almost
without exception able to read ntelligently
the thousands of newspapers and magazines
and books, &c, published to meet their in
| tellectual wants.
Wethus see that dear laboris cheap labor
! in that it promotes the interests of the en-
ployer as we'll as the laborer, and tends tc
the improvement of society.
| We want, the good of the State demands
! ,vFn al 1aNt ht1
must have system of public and free in
struction for all the youth of the land-not
supported grudgingly, but heartily; main
| tanned rot with narrow parsimony, but with
generous liberality.
| We must have moreover, grammar
schools and colleges, and lastly universities
for those fitted to become thinkers, invent.
ors, teachers and statesmen. We have
begun the work in every part CT our be-
loved State let us push it forward to 8
| glorious cOnsummatiOn.
| But obedience to the natural laws that
govern the adaptation of labor to the wants
and necessities Of mankind, is moro far.
reaching in its consequences,
The Old World is full to overlooking
with active, intelligent men, whose
thoughts by day and by night are how tc
improve their own condition and make the
pathway of life less rugged to their child
rem. Their attention, naturally, is directed
to this New World of ours, where meri
is sure to receive its just reward where in
telligent skill will find employment, and
labor secures to him who employs it, COM
fort and happiness. In seeking a new home
the immigrant, with no other ,capital than
his intelligent skill, his brawny arms and
brave heart, looks not where nature has
been more lavish in her bounties, butwhere
his skill will be appreciated, and his toll
will meet with just recOmpence.
Accordingly it agriculture be his occupa-
ton he will search for cheap lands, easy tC
be brought into cultivation, with railways
extending their willing arms to bear e
suitable markets his grain and cattle and
grass.
If an artisan, he will find home in more
densely populated regions, where is to be
heard the din and hum Of engines, and
water wheels of mills, and looms. And
wherever he may go will expect the school
house to be ever open, that his children
may be instructed and fitted for the great
battle of life.
The correctness Of these assumptions, i:
established by the same census returns tc
which i have already so often referred.
will not weary you by going into details
and will simply state the fact that of every
nine inhabitants of the State of Massachu-
sets, two were born in foreign countries,