Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 06 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 06 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Capital, $430,240,051 $95,029,877
Value of raw material, 465,844,092 86,190,639
Annual wages, 195,436,453 33,247,560
Annual product, 842,586,058 165,423,027
This might be illustrated by details with regard to different
manufactures,--as shoes, cotton, woollens, pig iron, wrought iron, and
iron castings,--all showing the contrast. It might also be illustrated
by comparison between different States,--showing, for instance, that
the manufactures of Massachusetts, during the last year, exceeded those
of all the Slave States combined.
In _commerce_ the failure of the Slave States is on a yet larger
scale. Under this head the census does not supply proper statistics,
and we are left to approximations from other sources; but these are
enough for our purpose. It appears, that, of products which enter into
commerce, the Free States had an amount valued at $1,377,199,968, the
Slave States an amount valued only at $410,754,992; that, of persons
engaged in trade, the Free States had 136,856, and the Slave States
52,622; and that, of tonnage employed, the Free States had 2,791,096
tons, and the Slave States only 726,284. This was in 1850. But in 1855
the disproportion was still greater, the Free States having 4,320,768
tons, and the Slave States 855,510 tons, being a difference of five to
one,--and the tonnage of Massachusetts alone being 979,210 tons, an
amount larger than that of all the Slave States together. The tonnage
built during this year by the Free States was 528,844 tons, by the
Slave States 52,938 tons. Maine alone built 215,905 tons, or more than
four times the whole built in the Slave States.
The foreign commerce of the Free States, in 1855, as indicated
by exports and imports, was $404,365,503; of the Slave States,
$132,062,196. The exports of the Free States were $167,520,693; of the
Slave States, including the vaunted cotton crop, $107,475,668. The
imports of the Free States were $236,844,810; of the Slave States,
$24,586,528. The foreign commerce of New York alone was more than twice
as large as that of all the Slave States; her imports were larger,
and her exports were larger also. Add to this evidence of figures the
testimony of a Virginian, Mr. Loudon, in a letter written just before
the sitting of a Southern Commercial Convention. Thus he complains and
testifies:--
“There are not half a dozen vessels engaged in our own trade
that are owned in Virginia; and I have been unable to find a
vessel at Liverpool loading for Virginia within three years,
during the height of our busy season.”
_Railroads and canals_ are the avenues of commerce; and here again the
Free States excel. Of railroads in operation in 1854, there were 13,105
miles in the Free States, and 4,212 in the Slave States. Of canals
there were 3,682 miles in the Free States, and 1,116 in the Slave
States.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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