Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1844-09-12
THE TARIFF AND THE FARMING INTEREST

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Great pains are taken by some of the opponents
OF the protective policy TO show that the Tariff is
oppressive to the farmers by depressing the price
oil grain and by raising the prices of merchandise,
and such articles as the farmer consumes. Now
IT these charges be true the truth ough, to be
known.
AS to the prices Of grain--how they affect
cd by the Tariff Every one knows that when
tue crops are abundant prices are likely to iail.-
This Is IA familiar thing, and such would be The
case whether there was Tariff or not. The pro-
duciive capacity Of the West is every year be-
coming greater. The statistics of the last two
years would show vast Increase in the quanti-
ties Of wheat and raised in the Western
States, the surplus of which must seek market
1t requires, however, no special array OF facts
and statistics 10 show this. Our farmers i'm this
State and along the Atlantic seaboard are very
well aware oil the great and growing productive
ness OF the Western country and they are aware
too Of the fact that the means of transportation
are now SO ample and convenient that the surplus
OF the wheat, Hour, bacon aud hard of the great
West are easily and cheaply conveyed to market
IL VIII be admitted, we presume, that there are
agricultural producers enough-enough not only
to supply every demand which existing markets
afford, but enough also to keep the prices OF agr
cultural produce sufficiently low.
But how is the Tariff concerned in all this 3
1t Is concerned to this cXtent-that if it were
prostrated and the manufacturing and mechanical
interests were Frustrated along with it, the num-
Der of agricultural producers would be increased;
while, at the same time, those manufacturing
communities, towns and establishments, which
are now SO many markets for the farmers pro-
ducts, would cease to be so. For they Guild be
Obliged TO supply their own wants DIS well as they
could by cultivating the ground themselves. In
the State OF Massachusetts, which is so good
market for the flour, wheat and corn of other
States, a law was passed some years ago laying
bounty on the growth of wheat in the State
The Tariff was then threatened with overthrow,
aud IL was deemed a measure of good policy to-
encourage the production of grain i'm the Com
monweath, since the people might be deprived
OF the ability to purchase it of their neighbors in
the agricultural States. A large emigration from
Massachusetts would have been another conse-
1nence OF the destruction Of the Tariff if tina,
destruction had been consummated; and these
cmlgrants going Westward would have become
cuiuvators OF the soil, and thus added TO the mass
OF that Western produce which is now crowding
the markets.
What is ii that the farmer wants in order that
he may have good prices for his grain! He
wants consumers of grain. The greater the num-
Der OF consumers the greater the demand for his
products. If the number of producers were d-
mlnished; II there were fewer growers of grain,
the same result would follow. But the number
OF agricultural producers must increase. The
fertile lands of the West invite settlers, and they
will CO. The only resource of the farmer, then,
In this part OF the country, is in the increase of
consumers and non-pToducers Of grain. How
can this increase take place unless other branches
OF business besides agriculture are in hourishng
existence! In proportion as the manufacturing
and mechanical arts are prosperous, in such pro-
portion will population grow up for the farmer
to feed.
There is another thing which the farmer wants
besides a population OF consumers. He must
have them near him-the nearer the better If
he is Obliged TO send his produce long distance
before 1t can reach the consumer, the cost of
transportation will take away a great dea, Of his
Prohts. ne nearer he is TO market the better it
Is Tor him his lands become valuable in cores
ponding proportion. Now the direct tendency of
the protective system is TO create markets in the
immediate neighborhood Of the farmer. Every
factory establishment, with its hundred or two or
three hundred operatives and their families, re-
CURES annually large quantities of -four, meal
and provisions. When several establishments
are collected together--when the facilities of wa
Yer power on hne stream Invite 10 the formation
OF town, with numerous factories, furnaces and
shops-when the neighborhood of coal and iron
mines, In addition to other facilities, causes the
town TO grow into city with its hum of indus
try, Its busy population, its trade and commerce,
the lands all ar0Nnd 1t for miles improved in
value, and II becomes great market for the pro-
duce Of the farmer--for his fruits, vegetables,
milk, butter and various things which would not
be valuable to him ii the market were distant.
In a general view, let our farmers in this State
look to the great towns and cities which have
grown up in the West, and in the interior, on the
OASIS oil manufacturing and mechanical industry
at Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, the large towns in
the interior oil Ohio, Pennsy vania and N. York
such as Rochester, with its twenty or thirty
thousand MISUNDERSTANDING, Paterson, and
innumerable other places, which are now increas-
ing every year in population--let them recollect
what vast quantities Of the agricultural produce
OF the Yves! these places consume, and then re-
member that If these home markets, thus created
by manufacturing and mechanical industry, enter
prise and capital, were swept away or stricken
down, the whole avalanche of Western produce
would be poured upou the Atlantic markets TO the
utter ruin of the Eastern farmer.
VIII 1t be said that this is a fanciful view Of
the subject! Nay, 1t is fair statement Of an ar
gumeDt In Its extreme results. The great nte-
ror towns mainly sustained by manuracturino
and mechanical industry, and if that industry is
TO be Frustrated or denied fair protection and en-
couragement, we are warranted In looking to the
full operation of such destructive principle.
But our farmers in Maryland have a more di.
rect relation to the home markets which MANN
features generate. Here in their own neighbour
MOOD, manufacturing towns may arise and grow
to an extent little conceived of at present. There
are already many furnishing establishments in
our State, and IT Permanence and security are
given TO the protective policy, no one need doubt
but that many more would spring up
1t is in this view of the protective system, and
us results, that the farmer may perceive how i'm
portant the success of that system is TO him and
his interests. Ii is through the prosperity Of the
manufacturing and mechanical and commercial
interests mat the farmer is benefited; because as
the manufacturing and mechanical and CONNER
cial population increases and houishes. the con-
sumption of agricultural producefs the greater.
the farmers prices better, and his pay surer
The operation of the Tariff, as it relates to the
prices OF manufactured articles, will be referred