Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1846-07-09

did before cur Manufactures, in defiance Of
their resistance, were iosiered intostreEgth and
lihyift by the Nation. The workmen and wo-
men in factories may suffer BY the change
may find Employment failing or Wages tall
llng--but The man Of millions viii take care Of
thimseifin any event We have not a doubt
That the recent large dividends CT certain man
ufactories, SO generally cited as evidence tnat
Protection enhances Prices. would never have
been realized had il been settled ID 1912 that
the Tariff as II Is should be maintained for
ten years, or even had MIR. Clay been cho-
sen President in 1874. Bat we have been NV
ing on from year to year. in uneasy apprehep-
sion OF a speedy subversion OF the Iaiiif, and
this alone has prevented the extension OF our
Manufactures IN a ratio commensurate WIN
the wants of the Country. A few have taken
the risk and invested feariessly, but the mass
of ,iuid capitalists have stood aloof, dreading
! TO lock up their means where the turn OF card
/ at Washington might render them compare
tivelv worthless. Bat had MIR. CLAY been
chosen in IA, thousands of factories. FORCES,
| &c. would have been thrown mp as ifby mag
! ic. not merely in New England bot all over
1 the Country; creating a boundless demand Tor
mechanical and general labor. and calling thou
sands from Agriculture TO other branches OF
Industry. How this would have affected the
prices of Agricultural Produce need hardly be
shown. Vanly will our Farmers hope for
steady and remunerating markets so long as
the Great West must pay IN Grain and Meat
sold at distance for nearly every thing else it
consumes and the farmer is forced to watch
the New York Price Current from week TO
week TO determine whether his Wheat IS worth
threshing or may as well be left to the rats
Never, so long as the product of whole Coun-
ties, in the bulky form OF Wheat OF Flour, must
be set off a thousand or more miles to a sea-
board market, can the West nationally hope for
that enduring Prosperity which is based on
steady and fair remuneration for Labor. The
cost OF transportation devours the better part of
the product, leaving but a meagre recompense
to the farmer. He must have nearer markets.
or he must export his products in the shape Of
Wool, Silk, Flax, or something less bulky in
proportion to its value than Grain. Have we
not all winter been huzzaing at the successive
steps taken in England toward Free Trade in
Grain 2-have we not assurance that the duties
are to come on?-have we not shipped ihither
an Unprecedented quantity 2-and yet has not
Flour steadily and rapidly sunk during the
whole time that this change has been IN pro-
gress through Parliament? OF course, the Brit
ISL change has not produced the fall in Grain,
but how much has it done to retardit? Have
we not evidence here that the reliance on For
eign Markets for the sale of an article so bull
| ky and perishable as Wheat or Flour must
prove unsafe and delusive2 Surely the Coun-
try will yet see this-see that the West must
change the character Of its exports or diminish
the necessity for exporting them so enormous
| ly. One thriving manufacturing village in
each County of Illinois would consume more
Agricultural products. and pay the producer
better prices for them, than England ever can
to the end of time. Is not this truth deeply
grounded in the nature of things?