Year: 1879

i


ing article on the staple product OF


the South: In the year 1861 a pam


phlet was written by the under


signed upon "Cheap Cotton by Free


Labor" in which attention was


called to the excessive cost of slave


labor and the economic failure OF


the system Of slavery. An instruc-


tive chapter in our industrial his.


tory might well be written at the


present time under the title OF
"Cheap labor and free cotton" II


will be most consistent with the


space that the columns of newspa-
per afford to submit a statement


of facts and few questions. The
crop of cotton of 1878 and 1879


was the largest ever raised. The


ten crops of 1852 and 1861 inclusive,


being the last crops raised by slave
labor, numbered 1895, ,440 bales.
The ten crops of 1870 to 1879 in


elusive, being the ten last crops
raised by free labor, numbered Al, @
454, TAB bales. The excess of the
ten years of free labor amounts to
6, ,459, ,303 bale s. The value of the
ten last crops. of which thirds
have been exported, has not been
less than $2,560,O00,0OO, and has
probably amounted to S3,000,00O,
900. The increase is progressive,
the excess of the five last crops
over the five crops Immediately pro-
ceeding the war has been $685.
bales.


1t was formerly alleged and cur
rently believed that the free negro
would not and that the white man
could not work in the cotton field.
Who, then, raised these last crops?
If it is the negro who has done the
most of this work, then is he not
the financial power of this land by
whom specie payment has been re
stored3 The negro population Of
the south, which may have been di-
minished or kept stationary, in
point of numbers, during the first
few years of freedom, in which they
were adjusting themselves TO the
care of their own families, is now
rapidly increasing. The improved
methods of cultivation and the use
of various kinds of manure have
caused the crop of cotton of the
more northern cotton states to ma
ture about one month earlier, have
made it more capable of withstand
ing drouth and worms, and have
greatly improved its quality.


If tho cost of labor be measured
by its effectiveness as we'll as by the
measure of the money with which il
is paid, is there any place in the
| world where so effective an amount
of manual labor can be procured at
so little cost as in life employment
of negroes upon the cotton fields Of
the south. The price of bacon and
corn gauges the cost of cotton.
Eaten together they are digestible
and nutritious-eaten separately
quite otherwise. They constitute
the food that the negro field hand
freely chooses. Three and one-half
pounds of bacon, one peck of meal
and one quart of molasses or syrup
constitute the weeks ration of an
adult man or woman. This ration
has beer lately and can now be sup
piled at a cost of thirty. eight to
forty-two cents per week, or SIX
cents or less per day. The plot of
sweet potatoes and fish from the
ponds and rivers serve for the rest
The south then possesses the con
troll of crop which commands the
Of hn fl of In
borers more easily and effectively
directed by those who manage them
with justice and tact than can be
found elsewhere. Are not these
forces more potent than the fayo-
nets of the north or the shot guns Of
the southp Can states, capable of pro
ducing this crop, which is now, or
is rapidly becoming salable surplus,
permit their labOrs TO be abused or
cheated2 Will not one state present
ly find it's own interest in keeping
the peace by its own constables, as
surlng justice by its own courts and
promoting economy and thrift by
its own methods, and will not such
action compel neighboring states TO
90 and do likewisel


The worlds cotton crop is now
equal to 100000 or 100000
bales of the average American cot
ton, probably the latter. OF his
quantity 100000 bales are raised
in the United States, and between
100000 and 100000 are spun
and woven upon machinery con-
tanned in large factories in Europe
and America. The rest is spun
and woven by hand, and there is
probably a larger portion of the
population of the globe still insult
ficiently clothed in hand, made goods
than are clothed in those furnished
by the fastorieB OF Europe and
America combined. The average
work of one operative working one
year in Lowell will supply. the annu
al wants OF 900 fully clothed Chi
nese, or 5000 partly clothed East
Indians. No country in the world,
except Egypt, produces any sub
stantial quantity of cotton, so well
adapted TO work upon machinery as
that of the southern states. Near
ly one half of the world remains |
to be conquered by cotton and |
commerce. To the cotton fields |
and factories of the United States |
will not the increase as surely come |
as commerce slowly but surely |
opens the way?


The whole cotton crop of the |
world could be raised on a section |
of Texas less than one-twelfth OF
it's area; or could be divided be
tween any of the other principal
cotton states without exhausting
one-half Of their good land, or II
could all be raised on less than one
half the Indian Territory that is
not yet occupied at all. Are not
these the forces TO which southern
politicians must yield, or by which
they will be destroyedY Will not
free labor and the spelling hook
presently bury the mIsrepresenta-
tives of the ''lost cause" in obscu-
rity? Are not the southern leaders
of the future to be those who are