Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Slavery volume 5 .djvu/326

314 478 miles of railroad; you had 1826 miles. She had 74,000 tons of shipping; you had 942,000. The value of her cotton factories was not two millions; the value of yours was four and a quarter millions. She produced $841,000 worth of woollen goods; you produced $7,030,000. Her furnaces produced two millions and a half; yours pro- duced eight millions: her tanneries $894,000; yours, $ 9,804,000. All of her manufactures together were not worth $9,000,000; those of the city of New York alone have an annual value of $105,000,000. Her attendance at school was 109,000; yours, 693,000. But there is one thing in which Virginia is far in advance of you. Of native Virginians, over twenty years old, who could not read the name of "Christ," nor the word "God"—free white people who cannot spell "Democrat"—there were 87,383. That is, out of every five hundred free white persons, there were one hundred and five that could not spell Pierce. In New York there are 30,670— no more; so that out of five hundred persons, there are six that cannot read and write. Virginia is advancing rapidly upon you in this respect. In 1840, she had only 68,787 adults who could not read and write; now 28,596 more. So you see she is advancing!

Virginia has 87 newspapers; New York 428. The Virginia newspaper circulation is 89,000; the New York newspaper circulation is 1,622,000. The Tribune—and I think it is the best paper there is in the world—has an aggregate circulation of 110,000; 20,000 more than all the newspapers of Virginia. Virginia prints every year 9,000,000 copies of newspapers, all told. New York prints 115,000,000. The New York Tribune prints 15,000,000— more than the whole State of Virginia put together. Such is the state of things counted in the gross, but I think the New York quality is as much better as the quantity is more.

Virginia has 88,000 books in libraries not private; New York 1,760,000,—more than twenty times as much. Virginia exports $3,500,000 worth each year; New York $53,000,000. Virginia imports $426,000; New York $111,000,000. But in one article of export she is in advance of you—she sends to the man-markets of the South about $10,000,000 or $12,000,000 worth of her children every year; exports slaves! The estimated value of all the