The Woodstock age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1844-1845, 1844-10-03

would, therefore, now sell all our ioot
and lay up physic.
There was, however, Mr. W. observed.
one part of our national defence, which
the advocates of the new measures appear.
ed to have quite overlooked or forgotten.
He meant the Navy. If the commerce
of the country should cease, the Navy mus,
cease with 1t. This he though, too plain
to be questioned. A country with a pow.
eriul Navy and little or no commerce,
would be an anomaly in history. The
great object aimed at. seemed to he, either
4" annlhllate or greatly diminish our for.
e'gn trade. Where. then, are our seamen
10 come from, for the Navy? By reference
to The amount of American tonnage in
1911, the year when its amount was great.
esl, it will be seen that there were employ
ed in the foreign trade ,9s4 600 tons; in ii e
coasling trade, 7l.C00. The pr, portion
OF seamen to tonnage, is, Of couse,
greater in .he larger vessels; so tina, prob
ably lhree-iourlhs of The seamen Of the
United States were employed in the for
elgn trade. The coasting trade itself
would be Immediately diminished by The
cnrailment of the foreign trade-and if
It should aileward revive and be even in.
creased, and extended, there was 10 rea.
son to suppose that it would supply seamen.
IN sufficient numbers, for the Navy. Be.
sides, the seamen ordinarily engaged + in
the coasting trade, are no, class OF sci men
the most fit for naval service. In this
trade, the voyages are shor,;,he nunl el Of
hands slnall-not always exclusively sea.
men. There are not The habits of subor.
dination, the attention to sei.prservaiion,
the exposure to danger and hardship, which
form the value of Tie character of COED
seamen. No part of national deleuce is
so impossible to be suddenly procured as
good seanen. Yet, without them, Ill at
lempis toward establishing a commanding
naval power are entirely vain; as tie history
of morelhan one modern nation has shown.
Let those, then, who would abridge
commerce, on the ground Of more in-
dependent provision for national defence,
declare whether they esteem a nary to
be among our means of defence. If they
do not. their argument may be consis-
tent; ifthey do, 1t is fallacy. Mr. w.
said he would add few observations up-
on more general view of the subject.
We must regard the proposed measures
either as Intended to be temporary, or as
intended to be permanent. If they were
to be but temporary the manufacturers
would be ruined by their repeal. We
must look upon the proposed duties there
lore, as intended to be permanent: if not
permanent at the same rates, yet perma-
nent at such rates as shall preserve the
system of manufacturing for ourselves.
we are bound, therefore, to regard future
consequences and the state of things
which may ultimately arise, ifthis system
should be adopted and established. 1t
was the part OF tue wisdom to look to the
end.
For his part, he did not consider
great manufacturing population hem
eft TO be purchased with 50 much cost
he thought there were great evils in it.
When 1t shall come, naturally, and in
the progress of things, We must meet it.
But, why hasten it What we see of
elsewhere did not recommend it TO US.
The great object Of goud Governments
was individual happiness, and this, to te
general, required SOMETHING like uh G.
quality in condition.
He was not advancing any agrarian
notions, but he considered that those
employ ments which tendcdt to make tho
poor both more numerous and more poor;
and the rich less IN number, but perhaps
more rich, were not employments, fit for US
10 encourage by taxing other enpIoymenls.
And thus he believed would be the tenden-
cy"f the manufacturing system, pushed to
excess. AT present it was probably true
that the manufacturing capitals being,
generally corporate property, were holden
in many hands. But il the capital now
employed in commerce, we're also to be
put into manufactures, it would, in the
end, he should think, get the ascendancy,
because it would be individual cal ital,
and, according to our experience, wonld
be, therefore, better managed.
Manufacturing capital comes, in the end,
to be owned but by few. 1t does not
therefore, encourage industry. like capital
employed in some other pursuits. The
case Of the establishment mentioned in
The Report was in point to this argument
Half a million of dollars give. employment
to 2G5 persons, and those principal, ", men
and children. Now, what employ meni Of
that sum, in almost any other pursuit,
could fail to demand and require mnre hu.
man labor1 Invested in agriculture, tie
sum would command good aud productive
land sufficient to employ, he might sIrtst
say, all the splnners in the United States.
Aud how would it he in commerce, sup.
pose il we're in the freighling business A
commercial friend had furnished him tn
II statement which would show the result:
A ship fit fnr that seryc e may COS, SIS.
00O-she will require IN her immediate
service on board 10 hands. I hen, full
occupation for one man is found here on
y capital of $1,000. But in The manufac-
turing establishment, two thousand are re-
qulred. In the first case however, i, 10
no, the immediate employment, ui the
uayiyatnrs that is demanded and uaib -