The republic., 1851-03-14
The Prospect
agricultural, Manufacturing, Commercial and r.
nanciai: -dt the opening Of the year 1851.
HENRY c.. CAREY.
oHAPTBR III.

With 1885 we enter upon another order OF things
one in which the production of commoditfsJor prs
ent use diminished, and almost the whole attention
Of the nation was given to the creation oI
modities or for their transportation-new iarms,
new plantations. new States and new roads, .ning'
that could be neither eaten, drunken, nor worn,
while those employed In their creation TeQui'eo W
be fed, clothed, and housed ~
The Compromise bill was now, to acertain extent.
becoming operative in stopping the building OF
mills But few years were to elapse before protec-
tion would cease and all duties would fall to twen-
ty per cent The effect of this may be seen In the
fact that the domestic consumption OF cotton, which
had increased rapidly from 1880 to 1885, and
had reached in that year. .2l6 .0OO bales,
was in 1856 only. .2S6,OOO
In lo3b-I. ..ZZZ,uU
and in 1878. ............,.... .A6OOO
the average of the last two years exceeding the
first by only eight per cent, and thus doing little
more than keep pace with the growth Of population.
The growth of the woollen manufacture was In
like manner arrested. Machinery ceased to be In
demand, and the demand for iron for that purpose
was at an end, while the free importation Of rail.
road iron precluded the existence of any demand
for the construction of furnaces or rolling mills.
The mining of coal grew slowly until IT reached
about 500 600 tons and there it stopped In this Pc
rod the population had grown about ten per cent,
and yet the quantity of labor applied to the produc-
ton Of COAL iron and CLOTH not greater than il
had been three years before; whereas, in the pre-
vious year, it had grown with immense rapidity.
There being no longer any demand for capital
for the building of mills, the extension OF the do
mesc trade in cloth, the building of furnaces, OF
rolling mills, the opening OF coal mines, or the
making of roads to those mills, or furnaces, OF
Mines it accumulated in bank, unproductive to iti
| owners awaiting the discovery OF some new mode
! of employment. Soon there arose desire for the
making of roads. England would furnish iron on
credit and all that needed was to feed and cloths
the people employed in clearing and grading the
land making the Bridges cars, and locomotives. The
extension of roads brought largc quantities OF new
lands within the reach Of settlers, and this too at
moment when there existed demand for labor
| in the older States. Thenceforward, the people o
| Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia
were seen flying in masses to the land of promise
Mississippi; Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. ant
those of the northern States to Indiana, Illinois
and Missouri. The demand for land thus pro
duced filled the treasury, which pext disgorged it
States, and by them applied to the making of NOR
roads. The whole nation presented to view bod,
Of people utterly neglecting present production
and applying themselves to the construction ofnev
farms and plantations, new roads and canals ma
chimes that could not yield single bushel of whea
i or a single pound of cotton to those employed il
their creation and that would not do so under one
two, or three years, and some OF which have scarce
| ly done SO to the present hour. II was uachina
making on the largest scale that had yet been see
in any country Of the world; but, nevertheless, o.
much smaller one than that with which we nov
are menaced
Owing to the immigration of foreigners it is dii
fcult to ascertain the extent to which the popula
ton of the older States north of Mason and Dixon
line was affected by this wholesale emigration, bu
no such difficulties exist in relation to the State
| south of that line; and now present tho following
table, which proves that, from the time of the com
followed SO closely the passage Of the Compromis
| bill, the older Atlantic States OF the South mus
| have remained perfectly stationary. The popula
| ton is here given in thousands: