The daily union., 1846-09-24
THE HOME MARKET.

earth, They are throwing dust INTO the eyes OF he
farmers, by idly attempting TO persuade them that
they can, by the protective system, raise up as
many manufacturers as will eat up all the and
wheat which the farmers can produce m
their fields and that they spin all the cotton which
is grown in the productive south No scheme was
ridiculous not even the project OF Swifts
philosopher in the island of Laputa, who was
seeking to extract sunbeams from cueumbers
No vision in the romantic brain Of Don Quix-
Otte was more extraVagant Let nature alone
Let her raise such productions as are fitted to
the soil and climate, without forcing their fac.
ttous growth by Of artificial hot-beds
Let our enterprisng and ingenious eountrymen,
inventive beyond all other nations in the dis
eovery Of labor-saying machines, devote them
selves to manufactures as fast as the accumulation
of labor and of capital will invite their employment
But we have too much legislation when Congress
undertakes to say how many yards Of cloth the peo-
pie shall manufacture for themselves, and how many
manufacturers we shall have, and how many farm
ers, and how home market shall be created to
take the place of more extensive foreign market.
If they even to succeed in this romantic pro.
eet-f they were even TO raise up an army Of man.
ufacurers sufficient to consume all the productions
Of the earth-then a new difficulty would occur in
finding marke, for the immense quantity OF manu-.
factures which this crowded manufacturing popu-
Iation would produce.
This wise scheme Of the wings to raise manu-.
faeturers enough TO consume all the products Of the
earth, is almost ridiculous that of the madman
in Rasseas, who asPred to the power Of dispensing
sunbeams and showers over all the regions Of the
earth. One would scarcely believe, in this enlight.
ened age, that any man would egregiously mis-
take the functions Of the government as to make il
better judge Of the private interests Of the people
than each individual himself The creation Of a
home market is now, however, the desperate scheme
Of the wings to deceive the farmers, and reconcile
them to their protective system for the benefit Of the
rich manufacturers. 1t is exposed in the following
editorial article from the Saratoga Sentinel of Tues
day last. ..'.
THE AGRICULTURAL INTEREST AND THE rARIFy.
1t singular fact, that of the numerous columns
daily devoted by the whlg press 10 laudations Of
the benign influence Of the tariff Of 42 upon the poek
cts OF wealthy manufacturers, scarcely single syl-
liable is offered in extenuaton of its evil effects upon
our agroulturlss. This class, by far the most nu-
merous Of the population of the United States, is
entirely overlooked in their jealous endeavors TO
| benefit a few wealthy corporations. The in
mates Of the humble cottage are oppressed
to enable the atiuent To amass colossal for
| tunes, and when the onerous system of legal
| robbery is about being modified an universal shout
Of indignation is raised by them against the ruin
| ous' work. Leave the tariff alone il works ad-
mirably-our manufacturers connot live without
it, &c, &c, 10 the end of the chapter of lamenta
| tions. Such is the language Of the wings when
their avorites threatened with reduction of their
| enormous profits; but when do we hear them con-
dole with the abopr who has to pay thirty dollars
on every hundred he expends upon his family in
the shape ofclothing and other necessaries though
he has TO earn II with the scythe under the scorch
| ing rays Of summers SUM- or with the axe amid
the chilling SHOWS and biting blasts of winter Con
dole with hlm' that would be ridiculous; thew know
better than to add insult to injury; they may en-
deaVor TO deceive his better judgment by entangling
plain and simple questions of sefevident facts with
abstruse intrcacies; hut they dare not go beyond
this; they did, the people would crush their darling
system at once, instead Of divestng it Of its most
gross abuses. ..
"Tho great hobby ofthe whigs is home market,
but we have never yet seen them back it by a good
Argument. IL is certainly a beautiful theme for
superficial fancy to dwell upon; but how quickly its
| falacy becomes apparent when divest il Of it's
external attractions, and look at the naked princ-
pie OF the thing. When the American system,
with the pleasing associations OF Independence in
which whigery has clothed it, is forgotten, and
| nothing but Its actual worth considered we cannot
but wonder that 80 many still follow the delusive
phantom. ...s..t
Sand now we will attempt a refutation of the
much-talked-of home market that the wings tell us
will be the fruits of the protective policy Il is es-
tlmaed that fourteen times many persons are ei,-
gagged in agricultural in all other pursuits In the
| four principal manufactures, (iron, hardware and
cutlery, wooens, and cottons, there were engaged
IN 1883, l2s,Ooo persons; suPposing this number to
consume, per head six bushels of wheat and six Of
corn and rye, which is than actually used and
| they would consume, in the aggregate 54S 600
bushels. In the same year, 48I, ,005, ,8l4 bushels
were raised in the middle States alone. This would
| leave a surplus of over four hundred and sxtvsev
| en- millions OF bushels of the above three staples
And now we would ask protectionists how thew are
| to procure home market for the CONSUMPTION of
this vast surplus' Why, the idea is preposterous
But suppose, for the sake of carrying the prnc;-
pie, we could establish one would our laboring pop
| ulaion be the gainers' Would they become more
Independent by the change' They would gain mas
| ters and become siares This is the sum and sub
| stance Of what the result would be- We have ex-
| amples, even now, in the New England States of
this fact Manufacturers are not content with the
control OF the body, but must also control the mind
Let an operative in New England, where men
are compelled to vote open ballots dare cast
his suffrage for the of his choice f that choice
conflicts with the views Of the master and he is dis
charged for the act. Thrown out of employment
because he saw fit to discharge his duty to his
country in preference to obeying the mandates of
selfish employer. This is no idle fancy or vision
ary deluson; but reality which every one can
witness with his own eyes at every election that
takes place in Massachusetts or Vermont Thus
we see that a home market is out of the question
ana II 1t was practicable, labor would be the loser
by the unnatural change. .... 4 Z
'oBe more point to be considered and we have
done. What would become of our large surplus of
manufacturers One quarter of them could not he
consumed in the United States. They would have
to be taken to foreign markets. And would we be
any more independent then than we are now, or
Certainly not Then why endeavor to change the
natural channel Of labor, when we would be the
losers IN every view we take of III Why, merely to
advance the interest and power of wealthy corpora
uons whose souls have long since been absorbed in
the pursuit efgain.
"Such is, we think, correct view of a home
market though our meagre limits are scarcely suf
hclent to present the outlines even of subject the
details OF which are naturally extensive"