Litchfield enquirer., 1849-06-14
COTTON LORDS,'

vor to excite the prejudices of the ignor- ant by railing at manufacturers, nor for the idle and vicious to malign those who by their industry and enterprise have ac- quired, what they have not respectabil- ity and property. But when a periodical l like the Democratic Review, protesting to represent the principles and intelii- gence of the democratic party, inflicts on a respectable portion of our community an epithet of approbium, it is strangely inconsistent. When the Review classes ! the manufacturers of this country in. the same category with the creatures of priv ilege and entail in foreign countries, and seeks to enlist the feelings of the masses against worthy citizens and their vocation,
 by styling them Cotton Lords" it is departure from the honesty and fairness
 which should characterize periodical
 of its standing and importance. It is
 connection of things by name, which have no connection in nature-an attempt to
 cast reproach upon useful class of citi-
 zens by fixing upon them title given to
 a naughty and aristoc, atic class in Great
 Britain. It is low attempt to excite
 vulgar prejudice against the business of
 those whose prosperity is intimately con-
 nectcd with that of the community in
 which they are located.
 Within fifteen miles of this place, is a neighborhood of from fifty to an hundred houses. It is situated along the banks of stream whose waters turn the wheels
 of three factories. The houses of the
 village all have the appearance of neat ], ness and comfort without, while the in-
 mates bear the aspect of virtue and res
 probability. Astranger might visit every ; house in that community without detect
 ine the marks of vice or intemperance. g Should he be there on the Sabbath, he would meet a majority of its members at
 the house of worship. Most of the fam J flies in the village are industriously em- q ployed with the spindle and the loom l. and their industry meets with such re- '' ward that they are all able to rear com Is fortable houses for themselves, to supply l. -.-.---.-,--- -V-vro use unu Iuxu ?. ry, to dress themselves neatly and com G fortably, and still leave portion to bt
 applied to providing food for the mind
 and for public and charitable purposes. n Had not individual enterprise turned to useful account the water power in this vicinity, two or three farms would occu- py the ground now covered by many a thriving village. and the owners of those farms would have found distant market for their produce in N. Haven or Bridge port. In these cities they would be obliged to compete with the proprietors of the virgin soil of the western prairie, whose crops yield in such profuse abun- dance and are borne eastward by the. agency of steam with such rapidity-a competition which would prove ruinous to the Connecticut farmer. Nature her. self, in the inexhaustible fertility of west ern soil, has given monopoly in the market to its cultivators, over those who reap their harvests with more sparing hand from the granite hills of New Eng land. But in every manufacturing will lage in our State, the farmer finds mar ket brought as it were to his own door, which he may supply with most agricul- tural products to the exclusion of all com petition. His neighbor, once a producer, has become consumer, and while his hands are busy with the loom and spin dle, another must raise his supply of food 1 and receive from him the reward of hic labor. While the operativeis busy in the factory, the artizan must construct his house, his furniture and his clothing, while both look to the neighboring farm CT for food.
 This division of labor, so productive of mutual benefit, is distinguishing feature of the American System. Nature seems to point it out as peculiarly the system for New Englaud. While Providence has withheld from us the fertile plains of the west, it has given streams rushing from the mountains and hills to the ocean. It has scattered over our hills and along our vallies, an industrious population, who have already begun to appreciate the tal- ant kkorl A,A |. |