Journey through Texas, or, A saddle-trip on the southwestern frontier : with a statistical appendix Page: 16 of 552
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ALETTER TO ASOUTHERN FRIEND.
XV
iiminishing the rightful profits of labor. Bread is to cost them
more by the pound, cotton and wool stuffs more by the yard.
Will you say that no superficial observations of a passing
stranger can shake your confidence in the great higher law of
demand and supply? That slavery cannot be forced by any legis-
lation to exist for an injurious period in any country or region
where free labor would, on the whole, be more economical? That
free labor, on the other hand, cannot be restrained? That the
climate of Texas demands African laborers, and that Africans are
incapable of persistent labor, unless they are controlled, directed,
and forced by a superior will ? There are a few facts men-
tioned in these pages which bear on both these points, and to
which I will simply beg you to give a fair consideration. Espe-
cially, I would be glad to have you ponder the experience of the
'German colonists, of which, though the narration is influenced,
perhaps, by an irresistible enthusiasm of admiration, the details
have been carefully obtained and verified.
As to the needlessness of legal restrictions upon slavery where
its introduction would be uneconomical, let me ask, do you
consider public lotteries of money economical institutions ? They
exist in every civilized community wherein they are not prohibited
by law. Gambling-houses, and places of traffic in stolen goods,
you will hardly deem economical conveniences in any climate;
yet laws are everywhere required to restrict their increase.
I consider that slavery is no less disastrous in its effects on
-industry-no less destructive to wealth. The laws and forces
sustaining it, where it has been long established, may have be-
come a temporary necessity, as poisons are to the life of some
unfortunate invalids. Judge you of that. But laws intended to
extend its field of improvidence are unjust, cruel, and oppressive.
Revolutionary resistance to them by all men whose interest it is
to have industry honestly paid, can only be wrong while likely to
be unsuccessful.
There are two reasons, both of which, you have confessed to
me, operate on your own mind, why, the power to hold slaves
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Olmsted, Frederick Law. Journey through Texas, or, A saddle-trip on the southwestern frontier : with a statistical appendix, book, January 1, 1857; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2407/m1/16/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.