The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-06-27
Importations.

lor THIS ROAD, Itno MANASSAS UapJ are now on the
way from Wales, and may be expected here by
monthly by others, to the extent of $3.50 tons
in all.''
The above is from the Alexandria Gazette,
and is one Of those little items which speak
volumes. The iron which has been brought
by the British barques will probably pass over,
or be laid upon or near, the very materials Of
which and by which it was formed, namely
iron ore, limestone, and coal. But the labor Of
gathering these together, and of making the
iron, the breadstuffs, clothing, houses, &c..
&c., of the laborers employed in manufacture
ing the iron, the merchants who purchase,
store, and ship it, and the ship which brings it
from England to this country, are all British,
and must be paid for by American gold. How
much better would it be for Virginia if, in
stead of sending to England for her railroad
iron, she were to encourage its manufac-
ture within her own borders. In that case,
instead of her coal, limestone, and ore lying
worthless in her own mountains, they would be
turned into mines more valuable than her gold
mines; her farmers, besides finding market for
these materials which now possess no value,
would find employment for their negroes, mules,
horses, and wagons, in digging them from the
earth and hauling them to furnaces. They
would also be furnished with market at their
own doors, not only for their -four, corn, corn
meal, oats, rye &c., but for their potatoes, cab
bages, beets, carrots, peas, beans, chickens
turkeys, geese, eggs, butter, cheese, milk, beef,
pork, horses, and mules-in short, for every
thing they could raise on their farms or die
out of them; every thing which laboring men
and their families need to make them comfort
able.
The demand for the products of the farm
would at once stimulate the industry of the
farmer, and he would cultivate two hundred
acres where he now cultivates but one hundred
and In very short time raise four times as
much from each acre as he now does. Then
the commissions of the merchants, the storage
wharfage, and freight of the iron would be
saved; or, at any rate, whatever transportation
was necessary to take the iron to the place
where 1t was to be used, would be done by oul
own people and our teams, which must be fed
and supported by the products of our own farms
and thus all the money employed would pass
| from hand to hand among ourselves; and each
one who contributed labor in any shape, whe-
ther in the form of manual labor, horse or mule
labor, flour, corn, beef, pork, &c.-for all these
things are the product of labor-would receive
his due proportion.
Instead of this, however, Virginia thinks il
the best policy TO buy every thing, and let her
own resources go to waste, her own farms
grow up with pines and scrub oaks, and the
whole face of her country to wear the appear
ance of shiftlessness, Incidence, and decay.
We must make some exceptions, however, for
here and there her farmers are beginning to
wake up and introduce improved cultivation, in
Imitation OF their neighbors in Maryland and
Delaware, and of some who have gone in
among them.
SO long, however, as this country pursues
the policy of buying that which we can Just as
well produce, Of employing foreign labor instead
Of our own, SO long shall we fail to reach that
state of general prosperity, thrift, and enterprise
of which we are abundantly capable.
But we are told that the country is now en-
joying an unprecedented degree of prosperity
and the. very large receipts of customs are
pointed to as an evidence of it. We have noted
these large receipts, and we have observed too
the constant stream of gold that is passing
from the United States to England and France,
to enrich those countries, whose labor is thus
draining us, while ours is left uncared for, and
our laborers are often driven out of employment
by foreign competition, and compelled to seek a
livelihood by ways and means to which they
are wholly unaccustomed, and in which what
ever of skill and experience they have &C
quired are of no avail.
We have observed, too, that notwithstanding
the constant stream of gold that is flowing from
this country to Europe, we are accumuIating
an enormous foreign debt for articles of conve-
nience and luxury, most of which we could just
as well manufacture at home, and thus keep
our money to enrich our own farmers, mechanics,
and artisans. If our country is prosperous in
spite of this constant drain Of its gold and sill
yer, what would be its prosperity if that drain
were cut off, and the currents which now flow
from the United States and fertilize all Europe
were turned back upon our own soil, and made
to fill the pockets of our own citizens!
We have no very accurate means Of ascer-
| tanning the amount of Indebtedness which
| stands upon the books of Europe against us,
but we suppose it to be not less, and it may be
| considerably more, than three hundred millions
ofdollars! AT least we have heard it estimat-
ed at that by those whose interests sharpen
their attention to these matters. Now, if this
is not an over-estimate, we are paying an an
nual tribute to Europe, in the shape of interest,
of not less than from 81 100000 to 81 800, 600,
and this is constantly on the increase.
similar state Of things existed in 1886
T-'S, except that we had then no California
mines to supply the means to pay for our enor-
nous importations, and the consequence was a
general bankruptcy and break down, as it must
always be TO those who buy more than their