Washington telegraph., 1851-11-12

WHAT is THE GREAT STAPLE OF THE
CouNTRY:-We take from the New York
Express the following interesting article
upon the question:
"Ihe Cincinnati Gazette in a recen,
article objects to a remark made by
Senator Douglas, in his speech delivered
at the late Agricultural Fair in this State,
to the effect that cotton was "the leadamg
staple Of the United States" The Ga.
zette questions the claim of cotton to be
called the leading staple, because there
are several articles of agricultural pro.
dpce exceeding it in gross value and
amount. Articles Of food. exceed those
which are used for manufacturing articles
of wear; therefore. it is agreed, Cotton
ranks very much below Corn in its aggre-
gate value as domestic product So
far we suppose there could be no differ
ence of opinion, and in that we like ewise
agree. But the Gazette goes still further.
1t says:
ut is fashionable to consider Cotton as
the great medium of exchange. But,
this idea again is false. It is based upon
that most servile and mischievous of all
ideas-thas foreign trade is the standard
of exchange. But what is the amount
of Foreign trade compared with Dones-
tic2 Not, probably, more than cne-tenth.
Is Cotton the great article Of merchandise
on the quays of New Orleans? Go to
the North River side of the city of New
York, and you will see ship loads of baIed
hay-a continually rolling stream of bar
rels of four-countless tons of every
article, which the fertile fields of the
West produce. Is there no basis of ex.
change in all this surplus of mark etable
articles, flowing through every channel
of commerce, Foreign and Domestic?"
We presume no one will gainsay the
fact that Domestic produce transported
from the interior to the seaboard, and
from the seaboard TO the interior, does
not furnish a medium of Exchange. 1t
is undeniable that it furnishes exchange
for domestic purposes far exceeding in
amount all our foreign trade, taking the
imports and exports combined. The in
ternal trade of all countries is in great
excess of the foreign trade. The foreign
VI QUO 10 OAlv SuPpl1CO lIOlu VIC SURPLUS
products of the country. and the surplus
product of articles of food is but mini
mum of the total product. But the sur
plus product Of cotton over that used for
domestic purposes is four -ffths of the
whole product, anG for that reason it is
the leading staple of the country for the
produce of foreign exchange. There is
no one staple of the country that foreign
efs take SO much of, but the aggregate
Of all the other shipments equal or per-
haps exceed that of cotton. There are
many other articles producing exchange
in large masses, and this year, there have
been considerable over thirty millions of
gold, another product of the country,
which has furnished medium of ex-
change nearly. if not quite equal to the
value of one-half of the cotton that was
shipped abroad. We question very much
if the other products of the country, in
cluding Iudian corn. -four, ETC., furnished
medium of exchange equal in amount
to either of these two products.
We annex hereto the following table
made up from the official returns, show
ing the value of the exports from the
United States to Foreign countries of
vegetable food OF all kinds. during the
fiscal year, ending the 30th June. 1850.
Wheat 5 643.745
Flour 7,O96,57O
Indian Corn 1892, 1913
Indian Meal 76O,611
Rye Meal 2l6,076
Rye, Oats and other
small grains and pulse 121.191
Biscuit or ship bread 334, 1923
Potatoes 80 333
Apples 24,974
Other Agricultural products 175,402
Rice 1851, ,557
Total $l5,997,775
Other products of Agriculture, consist
ing of Beef, Butter. Cheese. Pork, Horses
aud Mules, Sheep and Wool, amounted
to $10,549, ,363-against which the value
of
Cotton, exported was $71,9S4.616
. TobaccO 9051 O23