The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1850-08-22

have received, and we therefore award the
prize TO the writer Of that Essay" The
committee knew not tho names Of the au.
.hors Of any Of the Essays, but who was the
author Of the one to which they awarded
the prize, our readers will ascertain be-
low:-
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ADVERTISING.
by HORACE GREELEY.
Man, they say, is trading animal-the
only one. The wants Of each individual
are more numerous and varied than his
faculties and capacities devoted 10 supply
ing them. Each producer Of necessares
or comforts naturally produces supera-
bundance OF whatever he grows or fabri-
Gates, and exchanges it for a competence
Of other wares or staples adapted TO bis
wants. The grain grower has large sur
plus Of grain, but requires nearly every
thing else; the pin-maker consumes, per-
haps, dollars worth per year of his own
products, and four hundred and ninety nine
dollars worth OF other peoples, obtained
by the sale Of his own. And as man rises
in the scale Of civilization, his wants are
increased and diversified. lie labors more,
produces more; exchanges far more. The
lowest savage may produce or gather a
hundred dollars worth per annum, and ex-
change ten dollars; worth Of it for other
necessaries or comforts; while the popula-
ton Of the United States or Great Britain
produce at least five hundred dollars
worth to each able-bodied man, whereof
two-thirds at least is exchanged by the pro-
ducers with each other, and with tho pro-
ducers Of foreign lands. Aud, as man shall
continue to rise in the scale Of intelligence,
industry, efficiency and comfort, no, mere.
y the amount but the proportion of each
mans products exchanged for those Of
others must continue to increase. The ag-
grega'e Of exchanges Of property i proba-
bly, now expanding thro Ighout the world at
the rate Of ten per cent. per anuum, though
the annual increase Of population is less
than three per cent.
But while the aggregate Of exchanges is
rapidly increasing, the profits Of the ex-
changers tend steadily TO diminish. 1t is
the interest Of the producers Of all classes
and climes to effect their exchanges with
each other as directly and smply--at all
events, ss cheaply-as possible. |, mat
ters little TO the producers az a whole
whether prices be low or high, if they be
Justly propor,ioned. lfA, being farmer
in 1915, received dollar per bushel for
his corn. aud bought the brosdclo,h for his
coat at S. per yard, and now can get just
such broadcloth for two dollars pnd half,
while his corn will bring but fifty cents per
bushel, he is neither better nor worse for
the change, all other things being equal
But ifin 1915, he paid five bushels of corn
for ward Of broadc!oth, while the maker
Of the cloth received but four bushels, aud
now he gives the like FIVE bushels per yard,
but the maker receives four bushels and
three pecks Of corn, or their full equivalent,
for every yard OF cloth he turns of, then
there has been real improvement in the
condition Of the producers Of cloth, il not Of
corn also. And, as intelligence is diffased
and knowledge is brought to bear upon tha
most intimate and homely relations Of life,
the cost of making exchanges-i other
words, tile charges and profits Of non-pro-
ducng traders-must aud do decrease con
tnualIy.
But this by no means proves that trade
is poarer or that traders, as class, do
worse than formerly. It only proves that
the number Of traders cannot and does not
increase in proportion with the increase o'
trade, without suhjecting them TO the ne
cessity Of taking smaller and still smaller
profits. Every year the number Of pro-
ducers and ofconsumers OF others products
increases, as also the aggregate ofproducis
exchanged. Every year the construction
Of canals, railroads, harbors, steamships,
and other facilities Of transportation and
traffic, impels greater and still greater
production, with still larger extension Of
commercial exchanges. The neighborhood
in the Ohio valley which was clad in home
spun, and did not pay ten dollars to each
person for allits purchases from others half
a century since, now wears the fabrics Of
Old and New England, and is a liberal
patron Of the spicc-growers Of both the
Indies, the tea Of China, the coffee Of Bra
zil, and the fish Of Newfoundland d-proba-
bly, paying thirty dollars per hend for the
products Of other industry than its own, al
though the average range Of prices is a
A Il /. N. l. l~,