The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-04-30

EVERY arrival brings with it the advice that spas
sengers are comparatively scarce and considerably
lower;" and thus, as our power TO produce COM
modities for export diminishes, there ia dimlnu-
ton, and that necessarily, oil the inducement TO
foreigners to come and live among US, and make
a market for our products
In the four years of the tariff OF 1916 immgra-
ton trebled, and We not only fed and clothed this
large increase, but our power 10 supply iood and
cotton to the world increased with unexampled ra-
pidity; and the power of the aborer, the mechanic,
the famor, and the planter, to command cloth and
iron increased with such rapdity, that the con-
sumption of cotton per head doubled, and that of
iron trebed, in that brief period.
From that time to the present, the power to OBJ
tain food, and cloth, and ron in return for labor,
has greatly dminished, as is obvious from the fact
that the price of food has greatly risen, because Of
diminished production, and the consumption OF
cotton, of WOOL and of iron has actually dfminished
in quantity, Notwithstanding the vast increase Of
population. immigration has become stationary,
not because OF diminished desire to fly from Eu-
rope, but because the demand for labor has dimin-
shed as mines and furnaces and mills have been
closed, and as capital has ceased to be in demand
for the opening new mines and the building of new
furnaces and mills The tariff of 1916 was to diminish
the ratio Of the growth of immigration would have
increased from year to year. From 1914 to 1915
the growth was about thirty fire per cent. In the
next year it was forty oe and in the following one
il was seventy. Why has not this ratio been main
tanned? Why has it not even increased? The an
swer may be found in the fact that the productive
ness of labor has diminished, and that it ia in
steady course of diminuton. To those who would
desire to seek in any other reason for the
change, have to say that the reasons for emigra-
ton from Europe have greatly increased within the
last three years, and that if we had not destroyed
among ourselves the reasons for immigration, the
number of persons arriving here this year would
be little short of million, making market for a
greater quantity Of agricultural produce than we
shall this year export to all the world.
The power to import commodities from abroad
depends upon the power to produce commodities
TO give in exchange for them, or upon the credit of
the nation that desires to obtain them without i'm
mediate payment. Under the tariff of 1928 our
power to purchase. and pay, grew with great ra-
pidity, and made great credit abroad. Under
the compromise act our power to pay diminished
we became bankrupt. Under the tariff of 1912 our
power to purchase, and pay, increased with inn
mensc rapidity, because our productive powerin
creased. We then redeemed our credit; for not
only paid up all the back interest, but paid off much
of the debt that had accumulated Our power of
production ia diminishing rapidly, and we
now again using our credit, as we did in 1886, and
speedily to arrive at the result. In the last
three years the foreign debt of the country has
dred millions of dollars, and the annual interest
from celue to nearly eighteen millions of dollars,
requiring for its payment, probably, almost all the
food we shall export this year.
The following table will enable the reader to
compare the groioth of our power to consume for
cgn products under the tariff of 1872 when we not
only paid for all pe imported, but paid off many
millions Of back interest, and Of debt, with the
growth of that power under the tariff Of 1916, when
until II has at length reached the appalling amount
az almost n million of dollara per week;