Arkansas intelligencer., 1846-04-04

no, r;d of he would most cheerfuIly have in'
creased il so far as to have supplied every larme,
in the country with q copy that desired III anu
still believed he would have expended Inc puon'
money TO promote the true interests OF the country
II would be recollected, that the United o'aseS
were most peculiarly an agricultural ha''on-la'
more 10 than our great rival England, ana prop
ably as much so as any nation on the glooe' ny
the returns Of the last census, il was found 'hu'
more than four fifths Of our whole population a!
least SO per cent, were engaged 10 agr'cu'uia'
pursuits leaving II per cent only for the mefcan'
lille, manufacturing, and other emPloyments, n esu'
mating our present population at ~, ,ooV'ooo,
would give ID, ,66O 900 engaged in agriculture ana
urobaby about 4,OOO,OOO male operatives de-
voted TO agricultural pursuits: and he would ASK
what supply would the $4,000 copies proposed
give to the agricultural poPulatlon--one copy 10
every 660 agrculturists, or one I" every ioo
males.
Honorable senator's could easily perceive how
INADEQUATE would be the suppIy--infnitely less
than the proportion Of the public printing applied
10 the benefit of other classes Of the community.
Nearly the whole of the public printing for years
mast. had been for the-beneft Of the small section
the II per cent. Immense. volumlnous, and
expensiye reporis had been made for the heneh
of The commercial interests and the manufactures;
and some reports had been made and printed at
no inconsiderabe expense for what purpose 1t
woud be indeed difficult to tell. 1t had been said
that these doc umenls were drug on the hands oflhe
government and were sold at two cents pound
10 the procers. He had no hesitation in saying
that whutever might be the fact with regard to-
other documents, it was not true with regard to
,Lo of Pa If
was drug in the hands of the government. 1t
was sought for with the utmost avidlty by The
agricultural community, and indeed by the whole
community, for it confirmed mAter of interest," not
only to The agricullursts, but to all engaged in the
mechan ic arts. 1t was more important and val.
liable to the great mass Of the people, than al
the rost Of the documents printed by order Of
Congress. But the honorable senator from Con.
nectcut [Mr. NILES, asserted that the matter OF
the report could be obtained from other sources
insnuatng. probably, that the scissors had been
chiefly employed in its preparation. He (Mr.
A. supposed that the senator had not taken the
pains Of examining the document. If he had done
so, he would have found that nine.tenths Of the
contents Of the report were original, and issued
from the patent Office exclusively, being gathered
in response to inquiries made by themselves vi
the matter relating 10 the improvement and pro.
motion of ofagricultural science had been obtaned in
response to Inquiries instituted by The pa,ent oiice
He was ready 10 admit that some of the matter
might have been condensed into smaller space.
But as it was, it was the mos! important document
that could be circulated amongst the agricultural
classes. Some genlIeman-he did not recoect
exactly who it was-seemed to doubt the conslI.
lie ihat lie cons66GHr 6GrF 9 rex R
the number Of copies should be limited to tina, re.
quste TO aid the legislation Of Congress. If this
were so, oil he could say was, that they had uni.
formIy been in the habit of departing widely from
the provisions Of the constitution in that particular.
He did not concur with those: He had no con.
stitu.ional scruples on the subject-if it com.
potent for the government to receive and print
such report for their own use, it was doubtless
equally competent TO disseminate it through the
country for the information ai he one in when!
is vested the ultimate sovereignty Of this country,
and for the benefit of the great interests which
Congress are called upon to IesisIale about.
He had no objection to establish an agricultural
department, as one gentleman had suggested. II
there were no constitutional provision 10 the way,
he had no objection TO appropriate literally for
an agricultural department that should take the
special supervision Of the agricultural interests of
the whole country--just as they now did of the
commerce and manufactures. He apprehended
that legislation for the benefit of the SO per cent,
would be quite as legitimate and proper as the
legislation for the II per cent.
Let US go back for few years past, and see
the expenditures for The public printing, for the
several years from 1884 10 1910. each inclusive
The public printing cost Sl,l6S ,G6l large
share OF which was appropriated for the printing
OF extra documents, for the information of the
citizens generally. The precise proportion he
had not the means of ascertaining; but the extra
printing was, he believed, almost exclusively in
relation TO the Commerce and Manufactures of
the country, and of fsmal value 10 the agricuurst,
and this amount has been in no wise. diminished, ,
but annually increased and increased, and almost
exclusively for the benefit of the sma classes in
cIuded in tho II per cent He would not go into
the examination Of the intervening years, but
conhne himself to the Senate printing OF the ses.
sion of ls43-4-the aggregate was S56,354 60.
100; Sl2.675 for printing the local documents,
and Si5,GaG ior printing the Relrenchmenl Re.
port, forming prominent items Of that amount:
lie would ask for whose benefit those publications
were madel For the Agricuturiss? Certainly
not: The local documents was principally for
the use of the Manufactu rers, and the other "f r
those who make a trade of politics." And vet,