New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-10-13

Total--.--.-le,@6 43F ,9A-------l6,8O2 4.23i,2O3
We have here steady decline in the num-
Der and funndge ofreSSels learIns this cOun-
try, and the total falling off is almost FIVE per
cent. in period in which the population has
increased about seven per cent.
We pray our readers now to call to mind
the prediction of Mr.. Walker, some three
years since, as to the regular and rapid in-
crease of trade and navigation that was to
follow the adoption of his admirable system.
Before this time our exports were to exceed
those of any other nation, and the growth
of our shipping, then 3,l4S,OOO tuns, was
to be so rapid that by the close of the last
fiscal year it was to be 4,2Sl $50 tuns, and
in six wears from that date it was to be al
most eight millions-and here we are at the
close of the year lS5O-5l with a declining
navigation. ruinous freights, and ship-yards
that would be almost abandoned but for the
substitution of steam for sails.
Ships are Improbable, and likely to be
more so. There is no demand in Europe,
and the cotton planters are prosperous only
because of short crops and consequent low
freights. The demand for the raw mate
rials of manufacture diminishes from day
to day, and as our mills and furnaces are
closed, there is heavy diminution in the
power to consume tea. and coffee, and
sugar, and all other of the necessaries and
comforts Of life. Such being the case, we
ask as favor that our neghbors would ex-
plain to their ship-owning readers the causes
of the present exceedingly disadvantageous
state of things. Free trade makes, as they
say, large trade, and vet our Navigation
diminishes with British free trade, which
means the securing to Great Britain a mo-
nepoly of the power of supplying the world
with cloth and iron. Under such circum-
stances, may we not hope that they will
speedily awake to the fact that perfect pro-
lection to the American labOrer is the true
road to perfect freedom of trade, and unite
with us in the effort to secure to the Amer
lean ship-owner the power to maintain direct
trade with all the powers of the earth,
instead Of being compelled to employ the
people of Great Britain as mddlemen, living
at the cost of the producers and consumers
ofthe earth, and impoverlshing both.
Should they desire 60 understand how
protection tends to produce this effect, they
cannot, we think, do better than study the
following passage which we furnish them
from the highest free trade authority, Adam
Smith.
An inland country. naturally fertile and easily cub
tvated produces great surplus provisions beyond
what Is necessary for maintaining the cultlvatOrs
and account OF the expense of land carriage, and
inconvenlency of rIyer navigation, 1t may frequently
be difficult 10 send this surplus abroad. Abundance,
therefore, renders provisions cheap and encourages
great number of workmen 10 settle IN the neighbour
hood, Who find that fheH industry there procure
them more Of the necsSsdrles and c0HrenlsRces Of hfe
than m ofhtr places. They lr0rk up the materials If
manufacture rhlch the land produces, and exchange
eir finished rors. or Whdt IS the same tang, the prce
Of II, for more materials and pr0rlSi0ns They give a
new value to the surplus part Of the rude produce,
by saving the expense OF carry ing 10 the water side.
or to some distant market end they furnish the cult
vators wiih something exchange for It, that is either
useful agreeable TO them, upon easier terms than
they could have obtained Il before.
The CutyaiOTS get better price for their surplus
pIocuce and can purchase cheaper other convent
ences which they have occasion for. They are thus
both encouraged and enabled 10 their surplus
produce ~ further improvement and bsttsr cultivation
Of the land and the fertility Of the land has srsn
birth ne DiGnufdctrf the pro Of the
frcurs reacts ne iad and DlcrsGses still further
IT'S reTfllfv The manufacturers first supply the
ueighborhoOd. and aiiergard as Their work i'm
proves aid rehnes, more distant markets. For
though neiiher the rude produce, nor even me
coarse manufacture could, without the greatest off
fcuiy support the expense Of a considerable land
carriage, the refined and improved manufacture
easily may. IL small bulkt frequently contains the
yrlcs Or great quantity or ne raic produce Pece
Of fne clOfh, FER example, rhcA utgts only eighty
rounds, contains u The DrIce not only Or slglty
pstn6S cf Tc0l, buf sometimes Of seuerIl thousand
ueish \ corn, the mGlafsnance u tae different uors
ins peop'e. and Of thar immediate emPi9yers. Inc
corn which could with difficulty have been carried
abroad rs shape, is IN this manner virtually
exported IN that OF The complete manufacture and
may BE- s,f g. fae regCesf ccr7srs Of me vTd
The tariff of 1876 compels US to export
every thing in the most bulky and expensive
form, and the consequence is that little is
lett 10 the producer The object OF the tariff
of l,l2 was that of enabling the farmers and
planters Of the Union to draw to their side
the artisans who would ca. their food, while
COMPRISING their wool into the forms fitting
it for cheap transportation to distant cOun-
tries and therefore twas that the planters and
fairness grew rich. and were enabled to
consume largely OF coal and iron, and Of
cotton ard wooden cloth. Under that sys-