The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-04-17

cent of the amount of foreign goods was con-
sumed.
Sir, if you would foster commerce, you
must diversity the pursuits of labor, give il j
reward in all its walks, sufficient, not merely
for subsistence, hat 10 leave a surplus TO be
expended upon the comforts or the luxurieS
OF lite. This done, ycur commerce viii pros
| per and your revenue will be abundant. Your
own experience teaches this. While your
protective policy WI, IN operation commerce
flourished, but when you departed from it,
commerce was destroyed and revenue failed.
One of the rules adopted by fnancers 10
estimating the sources Of revenue, is, that the
amount OF your expectation determines the
amount of your imports-the greater the a.
mount OF yOur exports the greater will be-
your importation. This is a correct rule, be-
cause in healthy state of foreign trade, it is
but an exchange Of commodities. What we
desire is to bring that trade back to its prop
er iooting-to prune its excesSes-to bring
up your means to your importation, CT what
is the same thing, to bring down your mpor-
tatlon to your means. Do not gentlemen sec
the inevitable consequence of the protective
system! The more YOU diversity labor, and
the greater variety you produce of articles
demanded or saleabe in foreign mari ct, the
more you Increase your ability to expert and
consequently your ability to import. And
what constitutes commerce but expectation
and importation!
| sir, ii your foreign trade has taken a wrong
direction, and has become Improbable, d.
minlsh II; the less you have the better; but
when you have made it profitable, extend it
as much as you please.
| The Senator from South Carolina COM
plains that ne have reduced our imports TO
the extent OK forty millions. Well sir, if we
have imported mere than we can pay flT.why
should they not be fedueed' ii a foreign
debt has been contracted which has piostra-
ted the banks destroyed the currency, depre-
ciaiej property, and threatens general bank
ruptey, Is it not the par, of true economy to
retrenchl If YOU have reduced your impor-
tati5ns forty millions, You have reduced the
tax upon your protective industry to hat a
mount. Bat this is not all. You have ceas-
| ed TO import because you supply your wants
at home by your own labor, and have thus
added forty millions TO your Cwn wealth. from
the true and legitimate source Of wealth.
your own labor. la one case you tax the la
Dor Of this country TO the amount Of forty
millions TO pay for foreign commodities, in
the other you not only avoid the tax, but you
Increase It's production at home to the same
extent. The difference is Eighty millions.
1 Aud TO produce this result, you have taken
nothing from the value of labor in agricultur-
al employment, branch Of industry already
oyerstocked but you have diverted the sur
plus aud useless labor into useful and prof
liable channel
Sir, il we were purely agricultural peo-
pie, the world would not furnish mar ct for
our productions. We have exceeded the de-
mand already; and What will be the state Of
things for the future, with an increasing pro-
ductiOn which no mortal can estimate, leave
senators TO conjecture.
Mr.. President, let W. first look At the effect
Of our policy upon the great articles of pro-
dGction and expectation. The Senator from
New hampshire Looks TO the agricultural in
terest, strictly speakine.-the production of
/ bread stuff and other articles of human sus-
tenancc-and the Senate: from South Caro-
/ liua TO the planting interest, or the growing
of cotton and tobacco. The Senator from
/ New Hampshire asks, will you exchange the
| great foreign market for agricultural produce
| for the paitry and insignificant market crea-
! ted BY feg manufactured No sir, we de-
| sigu 10 such thing; bat we intend to create
an additional market at home in aid Of the
foreign market Tor the consumption of our
agricultural production. The assumption
that the creation OF this domestic market will
destroy the foreign, is one of those erroneous
| assumptions which have misled the Senator
and given to his array Of facts wrong direc-
ton. As general rule, each nation produ-
ces within itself enough OF agricultural pro-
I ductiOu for its own subsistence;-most ma
tons have a surplus, and those who have not
all supply themselves 10 a veFy great extent.
| ! he demand for foreign commodities is even
with them confined to the deficiency. II Is
! limited to their necessities. Beyond that
point they will not gO.--fall short of it they
cannot. The market then IS one which can
not be enlarged by any addition Of ours, nor
can it easily be diminished BY any economic
al regulation on their part. The great error
OF the Senator consists in suppOsing that the
/ foreign market for bread stuiis depends up'
our importation of foreign fabrics instead of
the necessities Of other nations. Experience
has taught us something on this head. Du-
ring the period when the whole country was
PROSTATE under the pressure of our immense
debt to England the produce Of the north
western farmers-the class of men TO whom
the Senator appeals and to whom his arsu-
ment was addressed, was rotting on their
| hands-unsaleable at any price, because II
would not bear transportation to markef--
| If there were ever a state of things favorable
| to the operation OF the Senator'S theory IL
was this. Our importa.ious had been extern
ded enormously. We had incurred vast
debt which we could not pay except in our
produce.-and thar they would not take; yet
they could get nothing else. If the irnporta-
ton Of manufactured articles from England
would create corresponding market for our
produce, then surely, the importation in ad-
vance and upon credit would have that eff
| feet. Our Indebtedness to them would have
a powerful tendency TO reduce TO them the
price Of our productions, while the impossi-
| billy OF satisfying the debt in money would
furnish strong inducement to receive those
| productions. Yet their necessities did not
call for it. and their policy forbade it.
| Does the Senator imagine that if the eI-
pertinent were repeated, the result would be
different! Does he suppose that even if we
imported the very hats and shoes which we
wear from England, she would take from us
| an article which she does not want.and which
she will not suffer TO be imported except M
der the pressure of necessity Sir, the the
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