Lewisburg chronicle, and the West Branch farmer. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1849-1849, 1849-12-05
By HORACE GREELEY.

An great chang"s proceed slowly. and il
spy seem TO be sudden.-u - because III,
real change had long been going on unno-
tieed. and that which is mistaken for il is
only the disclosure or discovery. You will
.Illv hear from the vulgar or the shallow
that repeated attempts II, rennva,ion have
failed or brplsn down. until at last The ig
hnrani and credulcus are asioundei by the
admission iha, VITA, they have 20 often
been tod had exploded has actually tri-
umphed Even DOW they will moi com
prehend Ina, wha, they have tern iaugh, te
consider faiiures was but the necessary
foundation Of what they mus, now admit
10 success-lha, the latter is bu, the CON-
! rlemenl and fr4iiion OF the former. They
nt.n; The particular fact, bu, shut their
Eyes to the general principle. and the very
rex, reform that IS commenced finds them
~ blind snd ,hai,ow as ever.
There s 20 be, there mus, be, a grea,
,efnrm in III. mode and means OF effecting
exchanges o. products between producers
aud consumers generally. The average
cost Of such exchanges is dbsurdly higher
than il need be and will be. There are
rertsin marked exceptions 10 this general
statement one Of them in the case cotton.
The manufacturer. whether in Cd or New
England. in France or Pi,l.bnrg. regularly
buys his stock Of cotton for seldom more
aud olIen less than the growers price with
he usual charges for brokerage and trans
t.or's,ion. The same is the case with a
'ss other great staples which are mainly
bough, and sold in large quantities. and
which suffer liule injury from time or
changes OF climate. Bu' With regard to
ihe grea, majority Of vendibles the fact Is
s'oomly oiher Use. There are very
many articles ~hic. cost large classes of
consumers three 10 Six times wha, the pro-
ducers receive for Them, While on more
tAsn half the goods sold IN The world there
!. an advance Of twenty five TO 6dy per
cent. above what they need cost the con.
sumcr. This advance ,s a tax on produc'
i've labor which can no, long abide the
ncighborhood Of commoa schools, cheap
newspapers. and electric .elegraphs. !,
must come down.
: Do you ask uhy the ra,e of mercantile
prof, is so high, Coun, the number Of
stores in any county. and you have rea-
yaasxer. There are FIVE to ten times 40
many persons employed in and suosis,ing
by trade as there need or should be. As
The taxes OF a nation mus, be in proportion
10 The number and salaries Of those quar-
ier'd on it's treasury, so the profits OF trade
must be graduated BY the number they are
required to support. litwemy mercantile
Establishments nre kept up whers three
would be abundant, the average advance
on the cos, of goods mus, be three or four
Iimes aha, il should be. or course, we do
no. forge, the use Of competition in coun-
,erac,ing selfish raraci,y, but there are
ways OF attaining the good here contempla-
led far more cheaply than BY employing
twenty mea 10 do !he work which three
would do better.
We shall nave an end of this. The di
,er.iica,ion Of industrial pursusls will do
much 10 promote it, As general rule.
the rro6, charged on any article to the
cousom-r is proPo,,ion-d to the distance
'rom the point e production. A sbric
"hich The .snufac,ursr will gladly sell to