Hinton Rowan Helper's The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It, which you have probably heard of. 1857.
Sort of the anti-Kettel. A southerner who hated slavery because it was detrimental to non-slaveowning whites, not because it was unjust to black people.
Tries to use the same batch of statistics to prove the great impediment that slavery produces, not its advantages.
I'm not enough of a statistician to tell who is right. Suspect both are, to some extent. Slavery was wildly profitable for some, and immensely destructive to the prospects of others.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/helper/helper.html
Guy is amazingly long-winded and tends to over-egg his pudding. 400+ page book would probably have been much better edited down to <200.
Again, thanks.
I added Helper to my saved books, along with Kettell and Colwell and the DeBow's Review of Kettell.
Will have to read enough of each to know where to find their most vital statistics...
Had not heard of Helper before, but have seen some of his comparisons in other books.
Indeed, various historians argue the case one way, others the other -- the South was worse off, no it was better off, worse, better... ;-)
A lot depends on exactly which numbers you look at, and how you look at them, especially the values of slaves.
Anyway, there's much to consider and thanks again for the references.