Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1829-08-24

we KNOW the ERECT OF short crop OF tobacco on
The price OF that commodity, aud withdrawal of |
part of the labour expended in it's culture would
nave the same effect on tho price. We might then |
not make more Indian than could tiiri good
market for IN such OF the West lndes as will re
ccve II, and IN Madeira; and perhaps not more -four
than would supply, without giutting the markets of
Cuba, Spanish America, and the Yves, Indies
Should the states south of be able to enpagc in
manufactures to the limited extent we have been con-
sidering, then the same salutary check would take
place in the cultivation of cotton; and the same bene
fetal result IN the advancement of its price: some
persons looking only to the number of operatives en-
poyed III the manufactures, cannot conceive tina,
the amount ut agricultural products could be matcri
al diminished by the manufacturing policy. Blu,
those who are immediately employed in the tabrica
ION OF the commodity constitute but q small part o.
the number to whom nuactures rive employmen,
II coniprehcnds also those who erect the buildings:
VINO make the machinery and tools; who transport
ilrst the raw material to the manusaciory and then
the manufactured commodity TO its various points o.
destinations and lastly, those who furnish these sever
al classes with provisions. In this way COMMODITY
employing hundred persons in a manulactorv may
employ live hundred, or even thousand out OF il.
NOR can We estimate the amount fabour with
drawn from the cultivation of our staple products nv
merely reckoning the number of abonrcrs transferred
To manufacturing occupations since these formerly fur
nshed themselves with provisions md they must now
oG furnished By tho remainder agricultural class
lhus, suppose the number transferred To be ton
thousand, and that, besides raising their own proy,
SONS they produced for market five thousand hogs
heads OF tobacco: these ten Thousand labourcrs
must now be supplied with provisions bv o,hcrs
there mus. be VT farther withdrawal of tho l,borr
previously assigned to the cultivation OF tobacco in
addition to that employed in producing the five hous.
! and hogsheads
BesldeS, the difference between the quantity of an
article which is sufficient glut market and tina,
which wall afford it adequate supply is far les.
than might al first be supposed. a reduction of the
supply by one tenth, would sometimes be- sufficient
for that purpose. reduction, by one fifth, would
commonly, be so and we have seen that any given
reduction in the supply of our staple products re-
qulres yet smaller reduction i'll tho number OF Ia
ploymcnis.
?. Atter the attention or orr peop, was once rlir
~ turned to manufactures, our skill in the nechan
cal arts would be progressive, and would he extend.
cd to many other operations which are now little
thought OF. or are regarded beyond our roach
There are parts Of the United States in which s,iper
hue 5roadcloth is now made, in which. twenty wears
ago, the various processes BY which TINT beouifrl
fabric IA perfected were considered almost as imurac
tcabIc to us as conluration IL is imposihG TO fore.
see what degree OF skill, what cxem. OF IMPROVEMENT
what useful discovery, what activity and enterprisc
the I'M reduction of manufactures anonu n; may |
evolve; but be they what they nav every addition
TO any one Of these Is much added to our wealth
ana resources Without referring 10 the inventions
OF htney and Fulton, the effects of which on the
wealth oi the nation arc beyond all calculation we !
may venture 70 asset that hundred si;il worknon
IN Sheffield or birmingham, even in Manchester
or Leeds, earn for their country more than many
lno!sdIlu Oh our labOurerS employed tIllInn the
earth, and that we pay every year TO Great Brit
ain more Tor the one, than can obtain for the
other.
3. AS soon as we have ascertained by actual OK
pertinent what manufactures we can carry on To adj
vantage, competition at home will produce the mai |
ural cteSt of reducing the price ny which the con
s"ncrS, that Is the whole community, will eventual
~ DC oenehted. who can doubt that coarse cot |
TONS are now selling cheaper, consequence of do.
nestle competition being superaddcd TO the forcrn?
a. Manufactures are peculiarly fitted to furnish |
employment to some of the idle classes in the slave
holding states In such countries personal lebour s
apt to be regarded degrading and it is seldom cv
erted except by those whom necessity impels to
Even those who may not yield to this PREJUDICE from
beng less Injured to labor, less capable of endu
rIDg continuance OF it. Our citizens will then fool
ess> repugnance to be employed in manufactures
partly because the labour in them is light and part
y because they will assimate to that exercised in
nechamcaI trade which IS far more respectable in
their eyes than agricultural lnbour. Perhaps, too
we might add, that the superintendent Of rnonufac
turing establishments would afford lucrative and res
pectabe employment for some ofthosc who now over
stock the professions Of law and phv.ic nj home or
are roaming III quest of better situations in the Yves
tern country.
S. We may add to this lst OF benefits, from mann. |
features, several of a more general naturc "a that
they secure nation against the Inconvenience of de-
pending for its essential comforts on foreign com
mcrce, which, Is liable to be suspended in war and
shacked by the regulations Of other nations in pence
They provide home market which is beyond tho
policy.
g. And last. Manufactures are Indispensable TO
the continue, Improvement Of a nation in wealth
strength and responsibility. Where a country is !
confined chiefly to agriculture, if II is fertile argc
portion of the people be employed either in ma
nsiactuIcs, or be idle. lfthe hitter, they will be com
p1Fatively poor Ignorant and uncivilizcd Bn, TO al
tain the former character. every way 50 much moe
desirable, they had better acquire the requisite habit,
OF skill and industry, which only be gradually SUI
perinduced before they are impslled by want and
necessity lfthcy wait for these to make item ma
nutacturers, they may never become such. Sicily
and Egypt produce rs much will support an i'm
meGsc population beyond those who IRE cnploved IN
hnsbandrY, and the excess are INDECENT and poor-
Had they once been iamllIariled TO industrious ha-
bits they wond, IN al probability have pcrs,yered in
them, and been proportional gamers in wealth.
strength and numbers.
In conclusion, we would remark that there is no |
douD that the public encouragement for which with
single view to the interests Of Virginia, we have
been pleading, may be carried far; and that il il