Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-08-18
SOUTHERN VERSUS NORTHERN PRO-
GRESS.

The Louisville Courier-Journal the other
day undertook to brand as g a stale Repub-
lican lie, the assertion of the RECORD.
UNION that the Southern States had not
kept pace with the North in material pro-
gress. Fortunately this is question which
can be determined in the most conclusive
manner, since the United States Bureau of
Statistics has gathered all the data requi-
site for critical comparison between the
two sections. In this enumeration of the
relative business of the North and South,
the latter is made to include the States of
Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, louisiana, Texas, Arkansas,
Tennessee and Kentucky. The researches
which have been made by the Chief of the
Bureau of Statistics show that of the
total exports of the country only 221
per cent. were shipped from Southern
ports, and less than % per cent.
of imports were received at these
ports. Ninety per cent. of all the
internal trade of the country is now done
by railroad, but of this the South has only
u per cent. OF the entire amount OF
tonnage only Q per cent. is owned at the
South. OF the entire amount OF revenues
derived from customs duties the South
pays only u per cent, and only IL per
cent. Of the internal revenues, while 90
per cent of what it does pay is on whisky
and tobacco. Further evidence of the
comparative backwardness of the South in
material growth is shown in the fact that
only II per cent. of the total weight of
mails is carried in that region. According
to the latest statistics the South can claim
no more than 81 per cent. of the manu-
factures OF the country, and but 81 per cent.
of the mining products. 1t issues less than
y per cent. of the entire paper currency.
1t Las less than l per cent. of the entire
savings banks deposits, and employs only
per cent of the full line of bank dis
counts. 1t has paid but Is per cent. of
the cost of the railroad system of the
country, and it contributes no more than
10 per cent. to the entire cost of support
ing the public schools. These are facts
which can neither be denied nor explained
away. They prove the absolute justice
and truth of what this journal has said in
regard to the material condition of the
South, and they fully warrant the infer
ences we have drawn as to the causes of
this remarkable state of backward
ness and stagnation. 1t is perfectly
evident that the South has kept pace
with the North in nothing. In indus
try. in manufactures, in agriculture, in
commerce of every kind, in education, in
thrift, in enterprise, it is far behind.
And in the face of these facts the country
is asked to accept the assertions of such
papers as the Courier-JournaE that this
sluggish and decaying section has by some
mysterious process gained an increase of 40
per cent. in population, though without
having bettered its condition in any other
respect. An increase of 10 per cent. in
population would involve a proportionate
growth in commerce and production and all
the factors of progress but these inevita-
bic Accomplishments and consequences of
such a growth of population are all wanting
at the South, and that alone must dis
credit the pretended results of the new
census enumeration.