The republic., 1851-01-29

quits that farm to engage in the work Of producing
new one, he becomes a consumer only and be is
fortunate IL at the close Of the second year. he has
succeeded in producing enough to feed and clothe
himself. For the fret year, and often for the
second, the general amount OF production il d-
minished by the whole quantity that he would
himself have produced, with the addition of what
would have been produced by the people whom he
is obliged 70 call to aid him in the work of removal
and in that Of preparing his new machine. Com.
nodities become more scarce as new farms and
plantations become more numerous, and the
consequence is. that the former rise in price the
latter fall. The man who works in furnace is
producing iron, commodity in exchange for
which he obtain food. Close the furnace and
set him to road making, he continues to consume
food, but he 10 producing only machine to be
used by others, and as machines become more
abundant, iron Becomes more scarce The coal
miner produces coal aud the weaver produces
cloth. Close the mines and the mill and set them
to clearing land, and they will cease To produce
any thing that can be worn or uscd--thelr labor
being expended upon the creation OF q machine for
future production Farms will, in time, become
more plenty; but, in the mean time, food and
clothing will become more scarce, and more diff
cult TO be obtained, and the prosperity" Of the
community will be diminished. The capitalist
will obtain less interest, and the laborer less food
and clothing
To those who will take the trouble to reflect upon
this subject, il will be obvious that when this
work Of machine making, in "thc extension Of the
area of freedom" by the creation Of new farms, is
carried to excess, IT must be attended with dimi-
mutton in the general power OF production, and
consequently in the power Of consumption. the true
test Of of"prosperity."
tension of the of cultivation, the greater il the
necessity for roads, and the greater will be the di
version of labor from the work of producing things
to that of making machines upon which things
TO be carried. A road produces nothing. That
roads are desirable, is not to be doubted. So
fcncea; but If the farmer spends his whole time in
making fences, and If he allows fence making to
do more than occupy his leisure time, he will be
ruined. So is it with nations When they permit
road making TO become the great pursuit, they are
on the road to ruin. Roaos, like new farms, are
mere machines. Those who make them must be
fed, and clothed, and lodged. The roads them
selves cannot be eaten, drunken, nor worn; and
the ''prospcrity' Of nation. like that of an indi-
vidual, is dependent upon the relation that exists
between the amount of commodities that can be
eaten, drunken, or worn, and the number OF per-
that require to be fed and clothed. The more
rapid the increase in the unnatural extension of
roads, the more rapid must be the decrease in the
quantity things to be carried upon them, and the
greater the depreciation in the value of such pro-
perty. Neither the farms. the plantations nor the
roads, can be exported in payment for the cloth
and iron consumed by those who make them.
To oarrive at clear understanding of any poltico-
economical question: ii is essential that the student
should satisfy himself that nothing that is true in
regard to individual, and that individual him
self, be untrue of an asscmbage of individuals,
whether that small assembage constituting town,
that large constituting city, or the still larger
one styled nation; and the real cause Of most of
the difficulties that exist in relation tosuch questions
IL, that men, and enlightened men too, are perpe-
tualiy teaching that which they feel and know
to be untrue regards themselves individually, ID
true as regards themselves and their fellow cii
collectively. Every man who reads this knows
that if he apply the chief part of his income to the
enlargement of his house, bis mil, his farm his
furnace, while starving his business, and going in
debt from year to year, thus piling interest in
terest, he must be ruined; and yet, with large
portion OF them it is matter Of rejoicing, to the
nation deyoting large portion OF its time to the
increase OF it's machinery oil transportation and ex
change, at the cost of the present production OF
things TO be exchanged; and the more rapid the
increase Of this tendency to machine. making, the
more rapid, il is supposed must bo the growth of
"prosperity.'' 10 ali who entertain such views,
would suggest that they would endeavor TO judge
the movement Of nation MS they would judge OF
their own, of that of q neighbor; and when they
shall do SO, they will be prepared to arrive at the
conclusion to which they must, think, be led by
an examination Of the movement of this country
during the past twenty years. to wit, that the in
dividual or the community, that neglects the pre-
sent production Of things to be used or exchanged,
to apply itself to the production Of machinery for
future produconor exchange, is In the direct road
towards bankruptcy, and that, with every days
persistence in that direction, the course must be-
come more rapid, and the tendency to arrive at
At the present moment, England is driving
her people from the production of food to the crea-
ton Of machines to be used in bringing food from
distant countries; and with every new machine the
prosperity of the nation is supposed to increase.
She pulls down the houses of her people, and raises
money for the purpose OF sending them abroad.
that they may employ themselves in the building
of other houses, and the creation Of other farms In
lieu of those that they have abandoned; and the
houses pulled down, anI the more farms
abandoned, the more she grows in prosperity"
yet, with each such operation, her difficulties in
crease. Her whole energies are no = devoted to
getting up show, and thus is the nation converted
into gigantic Barn,rn. with gigantic museum,
new description Of machine, invented for tho pur,
pose of attracting visitors, whose shiings paid for
admission, and the sovereigns paid for the use of
steamboats,, railroads. hotels, and other machines,
expenses. Il is an cxpedient to which she has been
driven by the difficulties in which she finds herself
involved of all the occurrences of the time, this
one may be regarded as affordng the most striking
evidence that has yet been afforded to the world OF
the impoverishing and degrading effect OF the de-
votion of the labor of nation to the creation of
machines-fleets and armies, ships and steamers,
palaces and roads-at the cost of production. With
each step she approaches nearer TO bankruptcy,
and the day cannot be distant when it must arrive
as has been but recently predicted by one OF her
own most intelligent bankers, a indisposed to
exaggerate the difficulties of the position Of his
country, yet equally ndsposed TO close his eyes to
the fact that these difficulties exist, and must in
crease, as, from day to day, her labor becomes less
productive.
Let the reader now fancy himscfowncr Of an ex-
tcnsive property; and that, from year to year, he
diminishcs the number OF persons productivity
employed upon il, increasing the number unpro-
ductvely employed in building himself a castlc and
making pleasure grounds, filling his castle with
pictures, his stables with horses, and his carriage
houses with carragcs; and he will see that will
require but the lapse of sufficient time to place him
in position be glad to be permitted to remain as
Snowman of his own buildings and its pictures
the positon in which England has already 90 near
ly placed herself with daily increasing tendency
to having the state Of affairs grow worse, until
bankruptcy shall render it impossible for the pre-
managers to continue their residence therein
on that condition. That country has, for CEN
turics, been ged in the work Of making "great
bargains," without "pausing" TO count the real
cost. India such an one; but its acquisition
tended largely to increase the number OF persons
unproductiveiy employed at home, and to diinin-
ish production. So has il been with all her colo
nies. With each, the proportion borne by the pro-
ducing classes at home to the unproductivc ones,
has diminished; for, with each, the castles required
TO be enlarged, the pleasure grounds extended,
the horses, and carriages, and servants, I'd sol
ders, and aaiIors, and ships OF war, and steamers