The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-04-06
CONDITIONS in THE SOUTH.
Prof A, B. Hart Presents His Views; Manu-
facturers' Record Replies.
Cambridge, Mass, March q. 1908.
No, 10 cra,gie street

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Cambridge, Mass, M y g. {lsV'. "A
Editor or I,he -1ospatcll:
ali, :. sn,,,o,oa1, ,.a coed enough to for
4. ~ M ,,,,,, t,,.,,, Il,
ware me a copy OF Inc
OF March ED with an editorial upon an
article which II have recently written for
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q q the negro race. tSo 4 ~
grounG for difference as to the main re-
suits ofsthat discussion, but in your cdi-
,a,.,ai ,o,rae,f on,v 10 thnti
q, M 1. ,,.,,,an ai,,,ae. - Ia
part the, article Whicfl - ~
present general economic ltion of the.
so,,tb 3 .i,on,d hc sor,.v TO think that
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tt''ss9s y iillt = ny
tant Of Richmond. Where nave recc1'e g
many personal kindncsses and have, u
trust, some warm friends, should think
that nin oblivio,,s to tho remarkable
prosperity and business sagacity Of that
city,. IN tho Narticlo under discussion, u
was chiefly concerned with the condition
OF the, negro race, especially. In ngricul-
t,ral regions and did not mako clear
TINT any discussion Of the backwni dness,
Of the South must leave out Of account.
tho highly thrifty belt of country OK
tending from Richmond 10 New Orleans
andsincluding many prosperous cities. In
another article published within n few
days in another. periodical, q have careful
ly scparated o,,t that regionfnnd tho State
or Texas from, any general criticisms on
the Southern ECONOMIC conditions
Nevertheless It Is only fair to say that
tho only available figures for comparison
show thatfth South as a whole and many
OF thc particular States appear to be less
prosperous than they were in 1850. The
basis Of this generalization is the census
OF 1850, ana the census OF 1890, both of
which give what we must suppose TO be
carefully asccrtnined summaries Of the
real ana personal property assessed for
taxatlon in all the States OF the Union.
seen published p,sh and have therefore been
thrown upon tho figures for 1901 pub.
lished by the Worlds Almanac Of 1906
presumably based on correspondence with,
the State officials. am well aware of
the imperfection Of such n basis The.
ratio OF assessment to- actual values diff
different sections; but for tho purpose of
comparing the, same communities at diff
ferent-epocls, they may be accepted as a
basis of rough estimates. In the use of
the figures OF 1860, there Is a further cons
pllcatiSn owing to the fact that the slaves.
were ASSESSED. for taxes to an amount not
possible TO- ascertain, but probably not,
less than one thousand million dollars;
but In the COMPARISONS that | make be-
low. / have IN all cases eliminated or
deducted an estimate of the amount OF
assessments for slaves.
What are, the results Of these calcula-
tons, always allowing that the basal fig
,,res which i have used are only approx
mates, and that there may be some small
errors in calculation? The fifteen slave,
holding States in 1860 were assessed for
forty-fiycs $huidred millions QeavinE out
slave property, Of which about twenty
four hundred millions was real estate and
huiidred millions personal es-
tate;Y II, 1902 tie total assessment was
fifHefivei y hundred millions, a gain of
about t%etlt y-ftFe per cent, While the;
population'hsIl 5hcreased from twelve to
Twenty-Five emiiionss H That IS, the per
capita Observation-Disclosures was about s375.,
n.sqSs9 II t. was SEQ and In 1904 8sdf the:
Worlds Almanac's statements of the
assessments are correct aud they, are con-.
|sidcrably arger) than the figuressof Your
cditorial), the .Jatt was still only so60.
II Texas and the {. four border States
Except ,yirgnia) be taken out,Sns being
communities which haveibeen. much effect
ed by imnigra ton and other special srea-
sons, fthe figures are even more startling
The ten States which seeded Except
Texas)#in 1860 had q valuation Of about
Ithirty-three hundred millions and a pop
ulation OF eight million three hundred
thousand. or 500 per capita The same
States Including West Virginia) in 1901.
have an assessed valuation Of thirty-threes
hundred and twenty-five millions which.
Is aboutss six hundred millions more than.
| tho census figures of 1880, and averages
less than $500 per capita. That is, these
communities have on their own state
ment made ttlc3sor no increase Of capital
ana. Mississippi and South Carolina. leay-
a'.s ~. ~ = ,,,s
"a Gao Mol, 10 = !, = 1sen T.,,n,,
fhe state -, 1r,rs;,,,, ha, i, ' '1sso a,,o,,t
six h,,nflr.d ava. fiftv.savan ,nill,ons' ~
which. 'nerhans B onn hundred millions IVA !
slave property: While the assess,nent,of