The daily crescent., 1848-09-16
Trade and coumsrCe.

| rived at in the lectures of our nelghbUrs. They
are again mistaken when they suppose that We claim
any extraordinary sagacity for ourselves; indeed.
| has! we ever pretended to such thing, we would
modssty retire our claim in presence of the writer
Of the Times, who can discover ones political
| aifinIties' from demonstration of truth IN alb
~ract economical science, and who could, no
| doubt readily ascertain ones religious belief
| from a solution Of problem in Algebra. There is
| no surer test of the conviction of error than an
effort turn aside the thong hts from The matter IN
controversy by the Introduction OF innendoes similar
| TO the one referred to-. We were not aware before
that political affnries, used IN the sense OF the
! Times had any connection with scientific demon
| .'ratonc If such be the case, however, the Times
and Crescent both independent papers, are arrayed
on opposite sides the Crescent having the advan
;are of being associated with such eminent phoso-
! pliers as Adam Smith, J. B. Say, Sismondi, Ri
| c,r,lo. Macculioch &c. The Times, to be sure
claims Col. Benton as belonging to its side of tie
question: and We have no objection to its enjoying
all the benefit of the association; for however
great the Colonel may be upon some subjects.
have never heard that he particularly ceebra-
ted as economist
But what is the point in controversy, The
than export the country was growing poor.
We showed the allacy of the conclusion by reason
ing-we might sustain that reasoning by mass of
authority from the most eminent writer's who have
treated of the subject, and we may do so hereafter
We shall now show its absurdity by all example
Corn is in great demand for food in France A mer-
chant in Newlork sends to Ifavre cargo of wheat,
which cost him at New York $4,000 this is the
amount exported from the country. The corn after
laying freight, insurance, commissions &c, Is sold
in Havre for 100000: but bread being in
France, wines cheaper than ordinary, he in
vests his $50 600 in wines ~ hich he ships to Lon
don. and nets $4,000 profit on the operation. With
his $4,000 he purchases English goods suited to
The India market, ships them to Calcutta, and clears
$50 0O0 more. He has in Calcutta $50 900 capital
with this he buys opium, which he exchanges in
Canton for silks and teas of the value of Sl5OOOO,
and imports them into New York. Here is an
port of property to the value of $50 900, and an
import of the value of Sl50,OOO. Has the country
grown hundred thousand dollars poorer by the
operation Has it not, on the contrary, acquired
one hundred thousand dollars of value which it did
not possess before. and to that extent become
richer 1t is true, silks and teas are consumed, and
so is bread and butter; but we nevertheless had
them to corisil,ne, and if We had not imported them
in exchange for the corn, We mi ght have acquired
them by the process which the Times thinks most
advantageous. that is to bring home money for the
corn and send back the money for the silks
and teas-losing the interest on the money and
freight and insurance both ways.
We hope this example will be satisfactory 10 our
worthy friends, and will induce them canddly to
acln. lad, hat he of m
ports for long series of years, is evidence thai
for that period the country has been going to decay
Indeed we are somewhat surprised that the worthy
editors did not use their senses in opposition to
their theory, and while they We're discoursing of
the bad consequences attending the general opera
tions of our commerce from the beginning of the
Government, they diu not look around them for The
permanent evidences Of the disasters which foated
through their naginaions, and present their read
arS with some of the striking instances of CONNER
cial retrograda.ion: why not, for instance, point
to the furnishing condition of Charleston, which
exports NOR than it imports, and TO the rapid d.
laphlation of New York, which imports more than
it exports.
Bu if we wanted any further evidence of the
error OF The whole doctrine of the balance of
,rad - it would be furnished by the figures of the
Times itfelf. The whole theory is, that country
thai imports more goods thai. it exports must grow
poorer from the necessity of paying the balance in
gold and silver. Now, the United States, accord
ing to the financial statistics furnished, has i'm
ported goods of the value of 1923 900 900 than
hey exported as necessary consequence, If the
rheory be true, there mist have been constant
drain of the precious metals from this country tc
meet the difference. Is this true So far from il,
hat tile same g financial satisfies SHOW that
rave actually imported sSl 900 in coin more
han we have exported. The conclusion is lrressti-
bic that the theory must be false.
But not attempting to defend its theory by argi
ment, the Times calls upon us to demonstrate that
''perishable merchandise is solid wealth, and thai
coin is valueless in financial estimate - we mu-,
he excused from attempting the demonstration O
every allacy that the Times may put forth; we think
tmuch easier to show that they are fallaces merely
Merchandise and coin are equally nreaith, we would
inform the editors, and are wealth simply on ac-
count of their excllangeabe value; if it were not
SO, the worthy editor of the Times when he pays
iis solid com for pe-ishable beef-seak in The
morning, would be placing wealth in the hands of
the butcher for which he would receive value
in retIrn-a an operation thai could not suppose
him capable OF, Notwithstanding his theory.
Again, worthy contemporary declares that
are bound to prove by our doctrine '' that the
mere exchange of goods for money at home, 10 a
million of dollars, adds one cent to the capital of
the country And he alleges that +" the operation
is mere exchange of equivalent value, and
creates nothing Now, what authority the
Times asserts such to be our doctrine, is not very
apparent, for we certainly said such thing in the
article to which it was intended to reply. But al
though we did not advance it, it is nevertheless
true, and our contemporary, with its usual good
luck, by mstaking the meaning OF the words 'ex-
change of equivalents" as used in works politi-
cal economy, has fallen into another error. 1t is
true, that man who buys plough for ten dollars
in cash, and the merchant who sells it to him, have
as between them, exchanged equivalents Or, as the
Times calls it, equivalent value But is the pUr-
chaser of the plough not richer by its possession
than though he had the money in his pocket and
no DIOuoh with which to Open his land Has he