National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1792-01-02 00:00:00, page 4

Fa&s appear to correfpon.i with thisconcltUion.
The importations of manufactured supplies feerr
invariably to drain the merely agricultural peopli
of their wealth. Let the situation of the manu
facturing countries of Europe be compared in thi:
particular, with that of countries which only cul
tivate, and the disparity will be striking. Othe
causes, it is true, help to account lor this difpari
ty between foine of them ; and among these causes
the relative state of agriculture j but between o
thersof them, themo ft promhasnt circumftasice o
•<Ji flimi 1 it ude arises fiorn the comparative state o
manufactures. In corroboration of the fame idea
it ought not to escape remark, that the Weft-In
dia ifiands, the foils of which are tht most fertile
and the nation, which in the greatest degree sup
plies the reft of the world with the pitcious me
tals, exchange to a loss with aimoft every othe
country.
As far as experience at home may guide, it wii
lead to the fame conclusion. Previous to the Re
volution, the quantit) of coin, possessed by the co
Innies, which now compose the United States, ap
peared to be inadequate to their circulation j an<
their debt to Great-Britain was progreflive. Sinci
the Revolution, the dates, in which manufacture
have most encreafed, have recovered fafteft fron
the injuries of the late war j and abound most ir
pecuniary resources.
It ought to be admitted, however, in this as ir
the preceding cafe, thac causes irrelative to th<
state of manufactures account, in a degree, so
thephenomena remarked. The continual progref
of new settlements has a natural tendency to oc
caiion an unfavorable balance of trade j thougl
it indemnifies for the inconvenience, by that en
crease of the national capital which flows from thi
converlion of waste into improved lands : ant
the different degrees of external commerce, whicl
are carried on by the different states, may maki
material differences in the comparative state o
their wealth. The firft circumfta/ice has referenci
to the deficiency of coin and the encreafe of deb
previous to the revolution ; the last to the advan
tages which the most manufacturing states appea
to have enjoyed, over the oihers, fmce the termi
nation of the late war.
But the uniform appearance of an abundance o
specie, as the concomitant of a flourishing state o
manufactures, and of the reverse, where they d<
not prevail, afford a strong presumption of thei
favorable operation upon the wealth of a country.
Not only the wealth but the independence an<
security of a country, appear to be materially con
ncCted with the prosperity of manufactures. Eve
ry nation, with a view to tnofe great objeCts
ought to endeavor to possess within itfelf all thi
efl'entials of national supply. These comprise thi
means of Jubfijience, habitation, cloathing, and de
fence.
The pofiefiion of these is necelTary to the perfec
tion of the body politic, to the fafety as well as t<
the welfare of the society ; the want of either, i
the want of an important organ of political life an<
motion ; and in the various crises which await ;
state, it must severely feel the effeCts of any fuel
deficiency. The extreme embarrassments of th<
United States during the late war, from an inca
pacity of supplying themselves, are Hill matter o
keen recoll'Ction : a future war might beexpeCte<
again to exemplify the mifchiefs and dangers of;
situation, to which that incapacity is still in to<
great a degree applicable, unless changed by time
-ly and vigorous exertions. To effeCt this change
a3 fait as (hall be prudent, merits all the attentioi
and all the zeal of our public councils j 'tis th
next great work to be accompliflied.
The want of a navy to proteCt our external com
merce, as long as it ihall continue, must render i
a peculiarly precarious reliance, for the supply o
cflential articles, and must serve to strengthen pro
digioufly the arguments in favor of manufaCtuies
To these general considerations are added fom>
of a more particular nature.
Our distance from Europe, the great fountaii
of manufactured supply, subjeCts us in the exist
ing state of things, to inconvenience and loss in twi
ways.
The bulkinefs of those commodities which ar
the chief productions of the foil, necefiarily im
poses very heavy charges on their transportation
to distant markets. These charges, in the cases
in which the nations, to whom our produCts an
sent, maintain a competition in the supply ef thei
own markets, principally fall upon us, and forn
material deductions from the primitive value o
the articles furniflied. The charges on manufac
tured supplies, brought from Europe are great);
enhanced by the fame circumstance of distance
These charges, again, in the cases in which ou
cwn|induftry maintains no competition, in our owi
markets, also principally fall upon us j and are aj
additional cause of extraordinary deduction fron
the primitive value of our own produCts j these be
ing the materials of exchange for the foreign fa
brics, which we conl'ume.
The equality and moderation of individual pro
perty, and the growing settlements of new dif
triCfcs, occasion, in this country an unusual de
mand for coarse manufactures j the charges o
which being greater in proportion to their greatei
bulk, augment the disadvantage, which has beer
just defcrit. 1.
As in most countries dom°4ic supplies maintaii
a very considerable compet- on with such foreigr
productions of the foil, as *re imported for sale
if the extensive eftabli/hment of manufactories ir
the United States does not create a similar compe
tition in respeCt to manufactured articles, it ap
pears to be clearly deducible, from the confidera
tions which have been mentioned, that they muf
sustain a double loss in their exchanges with so
reign nations 5 strongly conducive to an unfavora
ble balance of trade, and very prejudicial to thei;
interests.
These disadvantages press with no fmalf weight,
on the landed interest of the country. In feafoni
of peace, they cause a serious deduction from.tlx
intrinsic value of the produCts of the foil. In tlx
time of a war, which ihould either involve our
selves, or another nation, pofTefitng a considerable
ill are of our csfrrting trade, the charges on the
transportation of our commodities, bulky as moll
of them are, could hardly fail to prove a grievous
•burthen to the farmer j while obliged to depend
in so degree as he now does, upon foroigr
markets' for the vsnt of the surplus of his labor.
As far as the prosperity of the frfreries of the
United States is impeded by the want of an ade
quate market, there arises another special real on
sol cicfiring the extension of manuh>Ctures. !>e
fides the filh, which in many places, would be
likely to make a part of the subsistence of the per
sons employed 5 it is known that the oils, bonr:
and /kins of marine animals, arc of extensive uf<
in various manufacture*. Hence the ptofpeCt ol
an additional demand for the produce of the fish
eries.
One more point of view only remains, in which
to consider the expediency of encouraging manu
factures in the United States.
Jt is not uncommon to meet with an opinion,
that though the promoting of manufactures, may
be the inter eft of a part of the ifoion, it is contra
ry to that of another part. The northern and
foothern regions are sometimes represented as ha
ving adverse interest? in this refpeCt. Those are
called manufaCtui ing, these agricultural dates,
and a species of oppoirtion is imagined to fubfin
between the manufacturing and agricultural in
terejls.
This idea of an opposition between those two in
tereft® is the common error of the early periods 0/
every country, but experience gradually difiipates
it. Indeed they are perceived so often to luccour
and to befriend each other, that they come at
length to be conli-dered as one ; a supposition
which has been frequently abused, and is nor uni
versally true. Particular encouragements of par
ticular manufactures may be of a nature to facri
fice the interests of landholders to those of minu
faCturers j but it is nevertheless a maxim well
eftabli/hed by experience, and generally acknow
ledged, where there has been futficient experi- ice,
that the aggr'gatc prosperity of manufacture? and
the aggregate prosperity of agriculture are Ulti
mately connected. In the course of the difc< fion
which has had place, various weighty cons ora
tions have been adduced operating in fupp tol
that maxim. Perhaps the superior fteadin ol
the demand of a domestic maiket for the 1< >lu<
produce of the foil, is alone a convincing gu
ment of its truth.
Ideas of a contrariety of interests betwee the
northern and fo-uthern regions of the union are
in the main as unfounded as they are miichie ? jui.
The circumstances, on which such con
trariety is ul'ually predicated, authorises a direCtl)
contrary conclulion. Mutual wantsconfticute one 01
the strongest links 'eft* political connection, and the
extent of these bears a natural proportion to th<
diversity in the means of mutual supply.
Suggestions of an opposite complexion are evei
to be deplored, as unfriendly to the steady purfuil
of one great common cause, and to the perfeCt har
mony of ail the parts.
In proportion as the mind is accustomed tc
trace the intimate connexion of interest, which
fublifts between all the parts of a society, united
under the fame government ; the infinite variety
of channels which serve to circulate the profpeiky
of each to and through the reft, in that propor
tion will it be little apt to be disturbed by folici
tuues and apprehensions which originate in Joca!
discriminations. It is a truth as important, ai ii
is agreeable, and one to which it is not easy to
imagine exceptions, that every thing tending tc
eftabli.'h Jubfiarrial and fetmanent ord.it•, jr. *
fairs of a country, to encreafe t|ie total mals of in
dustry and opulence, is ultimately beneficial t*
every part of it. On the credit of this greai
truth, an acquiescence may lately be accorded
from every quarter, to all institutions, and ar
rangements, which proniife a confirmation ol
public order, and an augmentation of national re.
source.
But there are more particular confederation!
which fervfe to fortify the idea, that the encourage
ment of manufactures is the interest of all parts 0!
the union. If the northern and middle state:
ihould be the principal scenes of such eftabliih
ments, they would immediately benefit the mori
southern, by creating a demand for productions
some of which they have in common with tin
other states, and others of which either are peculiai
to them, or more abundant, or of better qoality
than elsewhere. These productions, principal!}
are timber, flax, hemp, cotton, wool, raw silk, in
digo, iron, lead, furs, hides, /kins and coals 9 o
these articles cotton and indigo are peculiar 4o the
southern states $ as are hitherto lead and coak, flax
and hemp are or may be raised in greater |bun
dance there, than in the more northern flftes 1
and the wool of Virginia is said to be of sjetiei
quality than that of any other state j a cirirum
ftance rendered the more probable by the refl|.3io"
that Virginia embraces the fame latitudes wijh the
fineft wool countries of Europe. The climite 01
the south is also better adapted to the prodtKtior
of silk.
The extensive cultivation of cotton can perhap*
hardly be expe&ed, but from the previous efta
bli/hment of domestic manufactories of the article :
and the surest encouragement and vent, fcr thf
Dthers, would result from similar eftabli/hments in
■efpeCt to them.
If, then, it fatisfaftorily appears, that it is the
interest of the United States, generally, to encou
rage manufactures, it merits particular attention,
that theie are circumstances which render the pre
sent a critical moment for entering with zeai up
[>n the important bufineCs. The effort cannot fail
to be materially feconAed by a considerable and
increasing influx of money, in consequence cf fo
reign (peculations in the funds—and by the disor
ders which exist in different parts of Europe.
The firft circumftanCe' not only facilitates the
execution of manufa&ui ing enterprises : but •.in
dicates them as a neceflary mean to turn the 'h'.ng
itfelf to advantage, and to prevent its being even
tually an evil. If ul'eful employment be not found
for the money of foreigners brought to the coun
try to be inverted in purchases of the public debt,
it will quickly be re-exported to defray the ex ■
pence of an extraordinary consumption of foreign
luxuries j and diftrefling drains of our specie may
hereafter be experienced to pay the interest and
redeem the principal of the purchased debt.
This ufeful employment too ought to be of a
nature to produce solid and permanent improve
ments. If the money merely serves to give a tem
porary spring to foreign commerce 5 as it cannot
procure new and " : ng outlets for the products of
the country ; there will be. no ical or durable ad
vantage ga'r.ed. As far as it fliall fiad its wav in
agricultural ameliorations, in opening canals, and
in fimiiar improvements, it will be productive of
fubftaniial utili y. But there is reason to boubt,
whether in such channels it is likely to find fuffici
ent employment, and (tiil more whether many ofj
thole who pofi'efs it, would be as readily attracted
to obiects of this nature, as to manufaCturing pur
suits j which bear greater analogy to th >fe to
tWiich they are aCCustomed, and to the i\ i 1: gen
erated by them.
To open the one field, as well as the other, vl
at least secure a better prospeCt of ufeful employ
ment, for whatever accession of money there
been or may be.
There is at the present juncture a certain fer
mentation of mind, a certain activity of foecula
cion and enterprise, which if properly directed
may be made subservient to ufeful purposes j but
which if left entirely to itfelf, may be attendee
with pernicious effects.
The disturbed state of Europe, inclining its citi
zens to emigration, the requisite workmen will be
more easily acquired, than at anorher time j ano
the effect of multiplying the opportunities of em
ployment to those who emigrate, may be an en
:reafe of the number and extent of valuable ac
quisitions to'the population, arts and induttry oi
the country*
Tdfind pleasure in the calamities of other nati
ons would be criminal j but to benefit ourfrlves,
L>y opening an asylum to t-hofc who fufFer, in con
lequence of them, is as justifiable as it is po
litic.
A full view having now been taken of the in
ducements to the promotion of manufactures in
the United States, accompanied with an examina
tion of the principal objections which are com
monly urged in oppojition, it is proper in the next
place to confide* the means by which it may be
effected, as introductory to a fpecifieation of the
objeCts which in the present ft2te of things appear
the moll fit to be encouraged, and of the particu
lar measures which it may be advifeable to adopt,
ki respeCt to each.
Jn order to a better judgment of the means
proper to be resorted to by the United States, it
will be of use to advert to thole which have been
employed with success in other countries. The
principal of these are—
I. Prote&tr.g duties—or duties on tbofe foreign
articles vub'uh a*e the rival: of the domejlic ones in
tended to be cnccuraged.
Duties of this nature evidently amount to a vir
tual bounty on the domestic fabrics, since by en
hancing the charges on foreign articles, they ena
ble the national manufacturers to under fell all
their foreign competitors. T.hc propriety of tnis
fpeciesof encouragement need not be dwelt upon j
as it is not only a clear result from the numerous
topics which have been fugpefted, but is fanCti
oned by the laws of the Unifd States, in a variety
of instances J it has the additional recommendati
on of being a refour.ee of revenue—lndeed all the
duties imposed on imported articles, though with
an exclusive view to revenue, have the efFeCl in
contemplation, and except where they fall on raw
materials wear a beneficent afpeCl towards the
manufactures cf the country.
11. Prohibitions of rival articles, or duties equi
valent to prohibition
This is another and sn efficacious means of en
couraging national manufactures, but in general
it is only fit to be employed when a manufacture
has made such a progress, and is in so many hands
as to ensure a due competition, and an adequate
supply on reasonable terms —Of duties equivalent
tcrprohibitions, there are examples in the laws of
the United States, and there are other cases to
which the principle may be advantageouily extend
ed, but they are not numerous.
Considering a monopoly of the domestic market
to its own manufacturers as the reigning policy of
manufacturing nations, a fimiiar policy on the
part of the United States in every proper instance,
is dictated, it almost be fa id, by the princi
ples of diftri'outive justice } certainly by the duty
of endeavoring to secure to their own citizens a re
ciprocity of advantages.
111. Prohibitions of the exportation of the mate
rials of manufactures*
The desire of securing a cheap and plentiful
supply for the national workmen, and, where the
article is either peculiar to the country, or of pecu
liar quality there, the jealousy of enabling foreign
workmen to rival those of the nation, wirh its own
materials, are the leading motives to this fpecres
of regulation. It ought not to be affirmed, that
it is in no instance proper; but it is certainly one
which ought to be adopted with great circumipcc
tion, and only in very plain cafe*. It is seen at
once, that i immediate operation, is to abridge
the demand and keep down the price of the pro
duce of some other branch of induftrv. general!)
speaking, of agriculture, to the prejudice of those
who carry it on ; and though if it be really efTen
tial to the prosperity of any very important nation
al manufacture, it may happen that those who are
injured in the firft instance, may he eventually
indemnified, by the fu peri or steadiness of an ex
tensive domestic market oe-pending on that pros
perity : yet in a matter, in which there is so much
room for nice and difficult combinations, in which
such opposite confidrrations combat each other,
prudence seems to dictate, thzt the expedient in
tjueftion, ought to be indulged with a Iparing
hand.
IV. Pecuniary bounties*
This has been found one of the most efficacious
means of encouraging manufactures, and it is, in
some views, the best- Though it has not yet been
praCtised upon by the government of the United
States (unless the allowance on the exportation of
dried and pickled fifli and salted meat could be
confidcred as a bounty) and though it is less fa
vored by public opinion than some other modes—
Its advantages are these—
1. It is a species of encouragement more positive
and direCt than any ether, and for that very reason,
lias a more immediate tendency to ftimulat; and
uphold new enterprises, encreafing the chances of
jrofit, and diminishing the risks oflofs, in the firft
attempts.
2. It avoids the inconvenience of a temporary
augmentation of price, which I* Inc! r* fomfl
ather modes, or it produces it to a -*fs degree j
either by making no addition to the charges on
the rival foreign article, as in the cafe of protect
ing duties, or by making a fma-ller addition. The
ririt happens when the fund for rhe bonoty is de
rived from a different objeCV (which may or may
not encreafe the price of some other article, ac
cording to the nature of that object J the second,
when the fund is derived from the fame or a si mi -
lar object of foreign manufacture. One per cent,
duty on the foreign article converted into a boun
ty on the domestic, will have an equal efreCt with
a duty of two per cent, exciofive of such bounty ;
and the price of the foreign commodity is liable
to be railed, in the one cafe, in the proportion of
one per cent, in the other, in that of two per cent.
Indeed the bounty when drawn from another
source is calculated to promote a reduction of
price ; because without laying any new charge on
the foreign article, it serves to introduce a compe
tition with jr, and to encreafe the total quantity of
the article in the market.
3. Bounties have not like high protcCHng du
ties, a tendency to produce Icarcity. An encreafe
of price is not always the immediate, though,
where the progress of a domestic manufacture doe«
not counteract a ri-fe, it is commonly the ultimate
effcCt of an additional duty. In the interval, be
tween the laying of the duty and a proportional en
bltrafe of price, it may discourage importation, by
interfering with the profits to be expeCted from the
sale of the article.
4. Bounties are sometimes not only the best,
but the only proper expedient, for uniting the en
couragement of a new objeCt of agriculture, with
that of a new objeCt, of manufacture. It is the in
terest of the farmer to have the production of the
raw material promoted, by counteracting the in
terference of the foreign material of the fame
kind—lt is the interest of the manufacturer to
have the material abundant and cheap. If prior
to the domestic production of the material, in fuf
ficient quantity, to supply the manufacturer on
good terms, a duty be laid upon the importation
of it from abroad, with a view to promote the rai
sing of it at home, the interest both of the farmer
and manufacturer will be dii-erved—By either de
stroying the requisite supply, or railing the price
of the article, beyond what can be afforded to be
given fpr it, by the conductor of an infant manu
facture, it is abandoned or fails, and there being
no domestic manufactories to create a demand for
the raw material, which is raised by the farmer,
it is in vain, that the competition of the like fo
reign article, may have been destroyed.
It cannot elcape notice, that a duty upon tie
importation of an article can no otherwise aid the
domestic production of it, than by giving the lat
ter greater advantages in the home market. It
can have no influence upon the advantageous sale
of the article produced, in foreign markets ;no
tendency, therefore, to promote its» exportation.
The true way to conciliate these two intcrefts,
is to lay a duty on foreign manufactures of the
material, the growth of which is defiied to be en
couraged, and to apply the produce of that duty
by way of bounty, either upon the production of
the material itfelf, or upon its manufacture at
home,or upon both. In this disposition of the
thing, the manufacturer commences his enterprise,
under every advantage, which is attainable, as to
quantity or price of the raw material : And the
farmer, if the bounty be immediately to him, is
enabled by it to enter into a fuccefsful competition
with the foreign material ; If the bounty be to the
manufacturer on so mucn of the domestic materi
al as he consumes, the operation is nearly the fame;
he has E motive of interest to prefer the domestic
commodity, if of equal quality, even at a higher
price than the foreign, so long as the difference of
price is any thing short of the bounty, which is al
lowed upon the article.
Except the fi'mple and ordinary kinds of
houfliold manufacture, or those for which there
are very commanding local advantages,pecuniary
bounties are in most cases indifpenfible to the
introduflicm of a new branch. A flimulus
and a support not less powerful and direel is,
generally Ipeaking, eflential 10 the overcoming
of the obstacles which arise from the competi
tions of superior (kill and maturity elsewhere.
Bounties are especially cflential, in regard to ar
ticles, upon which those foreigners who have
been accustomed to supply a country are in the
practice of granting them.
[To be continued.)
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