The evening times., 1900-10-03

house, has plenty OF good food and fuel,
with whole clothes from head to foot,
the manufacture perhaps Of his own fam
ily.'
Such were the economic conditions
with which our Republic started. They
did not exist throughout the South. but
even there the concentration of wealth,
which came later through the Institution
of slavery, was net at first SO glaringly
marked. The people OF the South, as
Fislie points out. almost as much as the
people of New England, came not from
the courtier but from the Puritan ele-
ments Of English society. These Puri-
tan elements were composed almost en-
tirely Of small farmers and tradesmen
and the better class of mechanics. They
We're almost no rich men among them,
and relatively few dependent poCr When
they went to the South a large part OF
specially in western Virginia,
the western Carolinas and the from
tiers beyOnd-became small farmers, and
! knew nothing of slave labor.
Even where slave labor was employed
it was not to any great degree profitable
during the colonial period, The great Vir-
ginians, Jefferson, Washington and Mason,
( hoped for the early abolition of slavery,
and had it not been for the invention OF
the cotton sin, slavery, bscause unprofta-
BILE. might have been abolished in the South
just as it was in the North. II was not
until the invention of the cotton gin and
the subsequent development of the cotton
/ industry doubled and quadrupled the value
of slaves that the concentration of wealth
at the South became marked n-that sec
ton, however, the concentration increased
until the civil war for the presence OF
slaves put such a stigma upon labor. and
the presence Of riches gave such an inpe
tus to luxury that it became difficult for
the pocr to rise. In the North no such in
fluenc6s were at work, and the wide and
relatively even distribution of wealth con-
tinued until the civil war. In 1850 the na>
tional census investigated the ownership
CT real estate in certain counties in seven
different States The counties selected in
the slave States had &C, 000 families; those
selected in the free States had but $1,000
families. Yet in the free States Jhsre were
more property owners than in the slave
States. Almost three-fourths OF the faIli-
lies in the Northern counties owned real
estate, while in the counties in the South
barely one-fourth owned any. In the
North, however, only two property owners
out Of 1900 owned more than $50, 600 worth
Of real estate. In the South, among a
smaller number of property owners were
hundred times as many great estates. The
aristOcTacy OF this country was practically
confined 10 the South. II We except few
large cities III the North where a certain
degree of concentration of wealth existed,
it may be said that only where slavery ex-
listed was wealth concentrated.
The war overthrew slavery. and in the
visions of the men who fought against that
institution the country seemed assured of
the peTmanence everywhere of that re-
publican equality upon which our iustitu-
tions were founded. Ia the South the over
throw of slavery did bring about the result
anticipated. The people of the South who
had formed the aristocracy and had cuIti-
Tod r. i
labor Of their slaves were forced either to
abor themselves or to sell their great eS-
tats TO others In the course of d genera
tlcn the great estates have been broken up
and among the white people of the South
the distribution Of wealth is as wide and
as even as IL is in the rural districts Of the
North. The section which before the civil
war represented the aFistocracy of the ma
ton is now dominated by Woodworking
farmers whose sympathies instinctiveIy are
with the middle classes which formerly
ruled the North.
The Bond-HolsiinG PIutocrncy
While this change for the better has
been taking place in the South, and the
section which represented aristocraey. now
. represents democracy, a change for the
worse has taken place in the North The
slaves emancipated by the civil war were
worth in round numbers 50, ,0GO, ,0OO, ,O0O.
The bonds issued TO ema1cipate them
aggregated nearly 50, eos. .0C0. Geo. The
wealth of the Southern pIutoeracy which
was destroyed was less than the wealth of
the Northern plutoeracy which was Great
ed. ThVbonds were not at first worth
$4,000, eco, for they had as a rule been paid
fer IN deprecated paper money and were
payable in the same currency The inffu-
ence OF the bondnClders, however. secured
hrst the passage of the credit strength
ening acts by which the bonds should be
paid in coin, and the-same Influences a lit
tie later secured the characterization of
silver SO that the bonds which had before
been payable in coin were made PAYABLE
in gold. AS all OF this legislation affected
private debts as well as public the new
plutCcracy of bondhoIders in the North
became far richer than the old plutocracy
of slave holders in the South had ever
been.
Similar influences were at work in 9TH
er lines. During the civil war, while the
mass OF the people were patriotieaIly sub
mitting to any and every tax in order that
the Union might be preserved, the wealthy
classes influenced tariff legislation and in
ternal-reyenue taxes, so that they, in
stead of being burdened by taxation, we're
enriched by 1t. Those best able. to pay
taxes not only were exempted from a lust
share in their payment, but became the
recipients or taxes levied upon the neCeS-
sites and comforts of the common people,
When the war ended, appeals to the pas
sions and prejudices which it had created
were for years used as an answer to the
representatives of the farmers or the
workingman- BY this time the wealthy
classes of the nerth who until after the
election Of Lincoln stood with the wealthy
classes OF the South in defence of slavery
and in opposition to Fremont and Lin
coin, now Joined the party which they had
fought and rapidly advanced to con-
trolling position in shaping it's policies"
Influence of Railroads.
third influence has operated in the
same direction of concentrating wealth
This is the influence of the railroads
Prior to the civil war the railroads had
been relatively unimportant By 1870 they
had assumed almost dominant position