Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-04-23

'~S'~sNA t""As',y cAPolteu was t4S,Oo4 DuSncIS,
or about one fifth Of what it should have been,
anu httie more than one third of what il was
more thantwenty yearsago. Wrought not then
to be surprised at the extreme depression of the
price OF that article of which have heard nv
honorable friend (Mr. Bassett complain, nor Of
the distress of the corn growing districts ada
cent TO chesapeake Bay. We exported ~, 1884
barrels of beef in 1905, and last year but IL :
4l8 instead of 40, 274 barrels. In the same
year, 1867 we exported 90 SOP barrels ofporlk,
and last year So ,52e, instead Of l73, S32 barrels
Iice has not advanced, by any means, in the
proportion which it ought to have done. All
the small articles, such cheese, butter candles
Nc too minute TO detail, but important in their
aggregate, have also materially dirnnished Cot
ton alone has advanced. But whist the uuan-
uty OF 1t is augmented, its actual value is consi-
dcrably diminished. The total quantity last
year exceeded that of the preceding year by
near thirty millions of pounds. And vet the
total value ofthe year of smaller expectation. ex-
cceded that ofthe last year by upwards of three
and a half millions of dollars, lfths article, the
capacity of our country to produce which was
scarcely known in 1890, were substracted from
the mass of our exports, the value ofthe residue
would only be little upwards of Se7, DOC. 600.
during the last year. The distribution of the
articles of our exports throughout the United
States, cannot fail to fix the attention of the
Committee. OF the SAT, 5s,4Oa. to Which.
thcy amounted last year, three articles alone.
COTTON, rice, and tobacco,) composed together
S28,549, III. Now these articles are chiefly
produced TO the South. And if we estimate that
portion of our population who are actually en-
gagged in their culture, it would probably not
exceed two Millions Thus, then, less than one
fifth Of the whole population of the United States
produced upwards Of one half, nearly two thirds
OF the entire value of the exports of the last
year.
Is this foreign market, SO incompetent at pre-
sent, and which, limited as its demands are op-
crates SO unequally upon the productive labor
OF our country, likely to improve in future ?
IL 1 am correct in the views which l have pre-
sented to the committee, it must become worse
and worse. What can improve it Europe
will not abandon her own agriculture to foster
ours. We may even anticipate that she will
more and more enter into competition with us
IN the supply OF the West India market That
oil South America, for articles Of subsistence.
Fill probably soon vanish. The ualue Of our
exports, for the future, may remain at about
what it was last year. But, if we do not create
some new market; if we per>evcrc in the pur-
suits ofagriculture, the inevitable consequence
must be, TO augment greatly Tie quantity of our
produce, and to lessen It's value III the foreign
market. Can there be a doubt on this point !?
Take the article of cotton, for example whicli
IS almost the only article that now renluneratcs
labor and capital. A certain description OF la
Dor is powerfully attracted towards the cotton
growing country. The cultivation will be great.
ly extended, the aggregate amount, annually
produced, will be vastly augmented. The price
will fall. The more unfavorable soils will then
be gradually abandoned. And have no doub,
that, in few years, it will cease TO be profita-
bly, produced, any where North of the 31th de-
gree of latitude. But, in the mean time, large
numbers of the cotton growers will suffer the
greatest distress. And whilst this distress is
brought upon our country, foreign industry will
be stimulated by the very cause which occa-
sIons our distress. For, by surchargng the
markets abroad, the price Of the raw material
being reduced, the manufacturer will be able
to supply cotton fabrics cheaper, and the con-
sumption in his own country, and in foreign ma
tons, other than ours, (where the value of The
import must be limited to the value of the OK
port, which baye supposed to remain the same, J
being proportonally extended, there will be
consequently an increased demand for the pro-
duce of ms industry.
Our agricultural is or greatest interest. It
ought ever to be predominant. All others
should bend to it. And, in considering what
IS Tor ITS advantage, we should contemplate it in
adj ITS varieties, of planting, farming, and graz
ing. Can we do nothing TO invigorate it, no.
thing to correct the errors OF the past, and 10
BRIGHTEN the still more uEpTeTlising- prospects
winch lie before us2 We have seen. I think,
the causes OF the distrcsseS OF the Country We
have seen, that an exclusive dependence UPON
the foreign market must lead to still scyerer
distress, to impoverishment, to ruin We must
then change somewhat our course. We IDust
give a new direction to some portion of our in
dustry. We must speedily adopt genuine A
merlcan policy. Sill cherishiDg foreign mar
kct, let us create also home market, TO give
further scope to the CONSUMPTION OF the produce
oil American industry. Let us cOunteract the
policy of foreigners, and withdraw the support
which we now give to their industry, and stmu-
late that OF our own country. Il should be a
prominent object with wise legislators, to null
tiply the vocations and extend the business OF
society, as far as it can be done, by the protec.
ton of our interests athomc, against the injuri-
Gus effects of foreign legislation. Suppose we
were a nation of fishermen, or of shippers, TO
the exclusion of every other occupation, and
the legislature had the power TO introduce tho
pursuits of agriculture and manufactures, would
not our happiness he promoted by an exertioD
of its authority? All the existing employments
Of society, the learned professions, commerce.
agriculture, are now oyc-Aowing. We stand
IN each others way. Hence, the want of en-
poymcnt. Hence, the eager pursuit aflcr pub
lie stations, which have before glanced at /
have been again and again shocked, during
this session, by instances of solicitation for pla.
ces, before tlie vacancies existed. The pulse of
incumbents, who happen to be taken III, is not
marked with more anxiety by the attending
physicians. than by those who desire to succeed
them, though with very opposite feelings. Our
old friend the faithful sentinel, who has stood So
long at our door, and the gallantry of whose pa