THE
EDUCATION, LABOR, AND WEALTH OF THE SOUTH.
BY SAMUEL A. CARTWRIGHT, M.D.,
OF LOUISIANA.
Note.—This article of Dr. Cartwright's was designed by the Editor to follow "Cotton is King," but the copy was not received until the stereotyping had progressed nearly to completion.—Publisher.
It has long been a favorite argument of the abolitionists to assert that slave labor is unproductive, that the prevalence of slavery tends to diminish not only the productions of a country, but also the value of the lands. On this ground, appeals are constantly made to the non-slaveholders of the South, to induce them to abolish slavery; assigning as a reason, that their lands would rise in value so as to more than compensate the loss of the slaves.
That we may be able to ascertain how much truth there is in this assertion, let us refer to figures and facts. The following deductions from the Report of the Auditor of Public Accounts of the State of Louisiana, speak in a language too plain to be misunderstood by any one, and prove conclusively, that, so far at least as the slave States are concerned, a dense slave population gives the highest value and greatest productiveness to every species of property. Similar deductions might he drawn from the Auditors' Reports of every slave State in the Union Editor.
1. Annual Report of the Auditor of Public Accounts of the State of Louisiana. Baton Rouge, 1859.
2. Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Education. Baton Rouge, 1859.