The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 5, May, 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 5,
May, 1864, by Various
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Title: The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 5, May, 1864
Devoted To Literature And National Policy
Author: Various
Release Date: September 26, 2007 [EBook #22770]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY ***
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THE
CONTINENTAL MONTHLY:
DEVOTED TO
Literature and National Policy.
VOL. V.—MAY, 1864.—No. V.
CONTENTS
AMERICAN FINANCES AND RESOURCES.
ÆNONE:
'OUR DOMESTIC RELATIONS; OR, HOW TO TREAT THE REBEL
STATES.'
THE MOUND BUILDER.A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE:
A SUMMER'S NIGHT.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
THE ENGLISH PRESS.
THE HOUSE IN THE LANE.
MUSIC A SCIENCE.
THOUGHT.
THE WAR A CONTEST FOR IDEAS.
HINTS TO THE AMERICAN FARMER.
APHORISMS. NO. IV.
THE WILD AZALEA.
A PAIR OF STOCKINGS.
LITERARY NOTICES.
EDITOR'S TABLE.
[Pg 489]
AMERICAN FINANCES AND RESOURCES.
LETTER NO. V. OF HON. ROBERT J. WALKER.
London, 10 Half Moon Street, Piccadilly,
February 8th, 1864.
In my third and fourth letters on American finances and resources, the following
comparisons were instituted: Massachusetts and New Jersey, Free States, with
Maryland and South Carolina, Slave States; New York and Pennsylvania, Free
States, with Virginia, Slave State; Rhode Island, Free State, with Delaware,
Slave State; Illinois, Free State, with Missouri, Slave State; the Free States of
1790, with the Slave States of that day; the Free States of 1860, with the Slave
States of that date. These comparisons were based on the official returns of the
Census of the United States, and exhibited in each case and in the aggregate
the same invariable result, the vastly superior progress of the Free States in
wealth, population, and education.
I will now institute one other comparison, Kentucky, slaveholding, with Ohio, a
Free State.
Kentucky—population in 1790, 73,077; Ohio, none. 1800: Kentucky, 220,955;
Ohio, 45,365. 1860: Kentucky, 1,155,684; Ohio, 2,339,502. We must institute
the comparison from 1800, as Ohio was a wilderness in 1790, when Kentucky
had a population of 73,077. In Kentucky, the ratio of increase of population from
1800 to 1860 was 527.98 per cent., and in the same period in Ohio 5,057.08.
(Table 1, Census 1860.) Thus from 1800 to 1860 Ohio increased in nearly
tenfold the ratio of Kentucky.
Wealth.—By Tables 33 and 36, Census of 1860, the value of the product of
1859 was as follows:
Ohio, $337,619,000
Kentucky, 115,408,000Per Capita.
Ohio, $144 31
Kentucky, 99 92
Thus is it, that, while in 1790 and 1800 Kentucky was so very far in advance of
Ohio, yet, in 1860, so vast was the advance of Ohio as compared with
Kentucky, that the value of the product of Ohio was nearly triple that of
Kentucky, and, per capita, much more than one third greater. No reason can be
assigned for these remarkable results, except that Kentucky was slaveholding,
and Ohio a Free State.
Their area is nearly the same, and they are adjacent States; the soil of
[Pg 490]Kentucky is quite equal to that of Ohio, the climate better for crops and stock,
and the products more various.
We have seen the actual results in 1860, but if Kentucky had increased in
population from 1800 to 1860 in the same ratio as Ohio, Kentucky then would
have numbered 11,175,970, or nearly ten times her present population; and if
the product had been the same as in Ohio, per capita, the value would have
been $1,612,804,230, or more than fourteen times greater than the result. Thus
it is demonstrated by the official Tables of the Census of the United States, that
if Kentucky had increased in wealth and population from 1800 to 1860 in the
same ratio as Ohio, the results would have been as follows:
Kentucky: population in 1860, 11,175,970; actual population in 1860,
1,155,684; value of products in 1860, $1,612,804,230; actual value in 1860,
$115,408,000.
Some attempt has been made to account for these marvellous results, by
stating that Ohio has a border on one of the lakes, and Kentucky has not. But to
this it may be replied, that Kentucky borders for twice the distance on the Ohio
River, has a large front on the Mississippi River, and embraces within her limits
those noble streams, the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, making, together
with the Big Sandy, Licking, Kentucky, Green, and Barren Rivers, the natural
advantages of Kentucky for navigation, superior to those of Ohio. But a
conclusive answer to this argument is found in the fact that, omitting all the
counties of Ohio within the lake region, the remainder, within the valley of the
Ohio River, contain a population more than one half greater than that of the
whole State of Kentucky.
Lands.-The farm lands, improved and unimproved, of Ohio, in 1860, were worth
$666,564,171. The number of acres 20,741,138, value per acre $32.13.
(Census of 1860, p. 197, Table 36.) The farm lands of Kentucky, improved and
unimproved, were worth $291,496,953, the number of acres 19,163,276, worth
per acre, $15.21. (Ib.) Difference in favor of Ohio, $375,067,165. But if to this we
add the difference between the value of the town and city lots and unoccupied
lands of Ohio and Kentucky, the sum is $125,009,000, which added to the
former sum ($375,067,165) makes the difference in favor of Ohio $500,076,165,
when comparing the value of all her lands with those of Kentucky. We have
seen that the value of the products in 1860 was, Ohio $337,619,000, Kentucky
$115,408,000. But these products embrace only agriculture, manufactures, the
mines, and fisheries.
We have no complete tables for commerce in either State, but the canals and
railroads are as follows (Census of 1860, No. 38, pp. 225, 226, 233): Ohio:
Miles of railroad, 3,016.83; cost of construction, $113,299,514. Kentucky: Miles
of railroad, 569.93; cost of construction, $19,068,477. Estimated value of freight
transported on these railroads in 1860: Ohio, $502,105,000; Kentucky,$48,708,000. On the 1st of January, 1864, the number of miles of railroad in
operation in Ohio was 3,356.74, costing $130,454,383, showing a large
increase since 1860, while in Kentucky there was none. (Amer. R. R. Journal,
p. 61, vol. 37.) Canals in 1860 (Census Table 39): Ohio, 906 miles; Kentucky,
two and a half miles. These Tables all prove how vast has been the increase of
the wealth of Ohio as compared with Kentucky.
Let us now examine some of the educational statistics.
By Census Table 37, giving the newspapers and periodicals in the United
States in 1860, the whole number of that year was 4,051, of which only 879
were in the Slave States; total number of copies circulated that year in the
United States, 927,951,548, of which number there were circulated in the Slave
States only 167,917,188. This Table shows the total number of newspapers
[Pg 491]and periodicals published in Ohio in 1859 was 340, and the number of copies
circulated that year in that State was 71,767,742. In Kentucky, the number of
newspapers and periodicals published in 1859 was 77, and the number of
copies circulated that year was 13,504,044, while South Carolina, professing to
instruct and control the nation, had a circulation of 3,654,840, although South
Carolina, in 1790, had a population of 249,073, when Ohio was a wilderness,
and Kentucky numbered only 73,077.
As regards education, we must take the Tables for the Census of 1850, those
for 1860 not having been yet published.
By Table 144, Census of 1850, the total number of pupils in public and private
schools, colleges, and academies, was for that year as follows: Ohio, 502,826.
Kentucky, 85,914. Percentage of native free population who cannot read or
write (Table 155), Ohio 3.24; Kentucky, 9.12; Slave States, native white adults
who cannot read or write, ratio 17.23; Free States, 4.12. (Table 157.) If we
include slaves, more than one half the adults of the Slave States cannot read or
write. Indeed, it is made by law in the Slave States a crime (severely punished)
to teach any slave to read or write. These Tables also show that in South
Carolina, the great leader of secession, (including slaves) more than three
fourths of the people can neither read nor write. Such is the State, rejoicing in
the barbarism of ignorance and slavery, exulting in the hope of reviving the
African slave trade, whose chief city witnesses each week the auction of slaves
as chattels, and whose newspapers, for more than a century, are filled with
daily advertisements by their masters of runaway slaves, describing the brands
and mutilations to which they have been subjected; that passed the first
secession ordinance, and commenced the war upon the Union by firing upon
the Federal flag and garrison of Sumter. Yet it i