The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-01-18
TFor the Dispatch.]
IsV rsinia Bankrupt7

( '
+: % 49,. No. Q.
Virginia Bankrupt7
The fundamental condition which is pro-
dnc;ne material development In Virginia IS
the contsnted condition of her people, in
dnced by an honest and just government.
:. There is absolute security for every man
To enioy the earnings of bis Wn'lapor and
the happiness OF his own family, and hence
the greatest encouragement OF thrift ana
industry. a -,
:, The other great instrumentality at work Is
our system OF public education. Ii there Is
an axiom of political economy, it is that skill
ad lsbor is more valuable 10 society than IN
skilled. and that the laborer is productive
inst in proportion rs he Is intelligent.
y An unlettered negro at $40 per month Is
ooorth more than mule because he is more
Intelligent; and an artificer in our work
shops at $50 per day more than the negro
for the same reason. .I J. .--.
Therefore, just as you educate the laborer
YOU make him more valuable to the commu-
We are doing this in Virginia with wis.
dom. courage, snd forecast worthy Oh the
best DAYS of the Commonwealth. s.
During the year 1874 the total receipts for
ppblic schools in Virginia was Sl,O15 ,O54.3l,
which was expended in the support OF 1907
uublic schools and the education of 9S.S5I
children, This system was inaugurafed IN
1870 nut in operation toward the end OF that
wear. and is now laying wide and deep those
foundations of material prosperity which
rest on an educated, active, ambitious work.
ing class.
Time sufficient has not elapsed to develop
the direct influence of this education on the
production of the State, but we can discern
jts indirect influence on the increased activity
Of the large mass Of laborers, white and
b)ack-the latter not so much so, for their
ignorance being denser it takes longer to
generate il. There are general causes ope-
rating to accumulate property in Virginia,
to develop her material resources, and after
while to attract to her capital and popula-
ton. I desire now to show some details OF
their workings:
The statistics of the census Of 1860 and
1870. supplemented by those gathered by
parties whose attention has been directed
to them, demonstrate the remarkable fact
that there is no very great disparity between
the gold value Of the staples OF this State in
those two years.
Bv way Of showing the extreme poverty
of our people, Governor kemper compares
The receipts OF certain leading articles at
Richmond by the James River canal in the
wear 1860 with those of 1874, and because
The latter are much less than the former he
thence infers that the production has been
diminished in the same ratio. But Cover
nor Kemper oVerlooks the fact that since
1860 two great railroads leading out Of
Lynchburg have been consolidated and
merged into lines leading respectively to
Norfo, * aud Baltimore, and those means of
have diminished the receipts
py the canal; and it is not diminished pro-
duction. In the same connection, for
the same purpose, the Governor shows
the production In Virginia in 1860
o. tobacco, wheat, and corn, and compares
i. with thai in Virginia in 1870, thus con-.
plring al Virginia in 1860 with present Vir-
ginia il 1870. Her territory being now one
third less han it was then, of course there is
a falling off; but such comparisons can only
lead to erroneous inductioDs. The crops
now are in fact less in quantity in the same
area than they were in 1860; but taking the
difference in price into consideration, the
wheat, tobacco, and oat crops OF Virginia OF
1870 produced as much in gold to the State
as they did in 1860; and in the corn crop
q one is there any falling off.
The total tobacco crop of all Virginia in
1860 was 123,000,0O0 pounds. We have no
means of separating the products OF the
counties now comprising this State to show
what their crop was. The crop of this State
in 1870 was 81, 100000 pounds, and have the
authority Of the best men in the tobacco trade
in this city for stating that the crop Of 1870
produced as much an gold as the crop of
1860.
The total wheat crop of all Virginia in
1860 was 13,190,977 bushels. 1t was sold at
one dollar, gold, per bushel, and conse-
ouently produced S13,130,977. The total
crop of both Virginias in 1870 was 9,SS2,-
$50 bushels, and was sold at $3.50 per BUSH
el-S14S23, 900, or $685., 023.33 more in gold
than in 1860. The oat crop of both States
in 1860 was 100000 bushels-at 80 cents,
100000 That Of 1870 was 9,271,3O4
bushels-at 40 cents, $3,S0S, 400 or S30S, 4OO
more in gold than in 1850. The corn
crop of both States in 1870 was 25,S47,0OO
bushels. and sold at 30 cents-S12 ,923.5O0.
That of both States in 1860 was 3S.3l9,9 99
bushels sold at so cents, was Sig, 1893
making the deficiency in that crop Of Sc ,246,-
400.
The census of 1860 was remarkably accu-
rate and honest; that of 1870, as far as the
South is concerned, we know was utterly
unreliable and superficial. While the census
officers collected statistics wherever they
went, there were whole neighborhoods of
which they took no account; and I believe
q large part of the deficiency in quantity of
these crops can be accounted for by the neg
Iect and emissions of the census-takers.
Thus they report the tobacco crop of Vir-
GINA as 37,0S6, 364 pounds whereas the
statistics of the trade in Richmond
and they are carefully collected and col.
lated-show that that identical crop
amounted to 94,5O0,000 pounds, or nearly
three times as much as the census makes it.
If they thus erred in their report Of the to-
bacco crop it is fair to presume that true re-
turns Of the other crops would be much
larger than they made them. The produc-
ton of Virginia, then, of 1870, measured Dy
the gold standard, was not 80 very greatly
behind that of 1860. The purchasing power
of gold was less in the former year than the
latter. and to that extent its value was I'm.
paired: but as am only showing that We
are not bankrupt make out my case When
I prove that our annual earnings now ap-
proximate with reasonable cioseness TO those
before the war.
The loss of all the banking capital in the
State was severe blow. With it went all Of
the active investments which might have
been used to build up trade and develop
PRODUCTION. 1t amounted in 1861 to $780,
ls6. 210, with discounts Of over S25 Zoo, OO0
But the energy, enterprise, and thrift of
our people have been so great that in the last
eight years they have replaced nearly one
half of this loss In this business. The sixty
six banks and their branches existing before
the war have been replaced with sixty-six
banks and savings institutions with paid
up capital of 81 3,326.50, and discount
line of little less than Sl5,O00,0O0. A part