The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1852-10-07

ever Nature is as propitlous TO the produc-
ton on our own soil as any other, we main
tain that se!fiDterest, and the interest o.
Labor universally, demand the encourage
ment and fostering Of Home Production.
up to that point where such production
shall be found TO equal the Home Consump-
tion In other words, we hold il the inter
est of Labor universally, that producer and
consumer should everywhere be placed in
as simple and direct relations as possible,
80 as TO relieve them from the necessity Of
paying transportation and three or four
profits upon the interchange of their mutu
al products in different hemispheres, when
those products might with as little labor
have been produced in the same neighbor.
hood We contend that in this great work
ofbrngipg consumer and producer near
er each other, and thus diminishing the
cost Of a Fictitious commerce, Government
has an important and benefcent function
assigned it, which it cannot abjnre without
gross dereliction and serious detrimeut 10
the public veal.
Now that Protection, wisely directed,
has greatly benefited and enriched our own
and other countries, can no more doubt
than | can my own existence. defy any
Of its adversaries topoint out an instance
wherein branch of industry, required for
the supply of our own legitimate wants,
has been naturalzod among us by means
of Protection, where such transfer has not
decidedly conduced to the general welfare
Of our people. The reason of this is too
plain to escape the discernment of any
who with unprejndiced eyes will attemptto
see. That cur Cotton, Corn, Wheat, Beef,
Pork, &c, come cheaper TO their consum
ers in this country than they would if we
imported them, is not more selfeviden'
than that the Cloths, Silks, Wares, Crock
cry, &c, which we now import, woatd
cost us less. if made on our own soil than
,hey do while imported from Europe. For
to make them, whether in Earope or Amer
ica, requires substantially the same amount
of labor, which, in either case, must be
Ipaid for by our farmers, &c. with he fruits
of their labor; but, SO long as they are made
in and imported from Europe, another
large amount Of labor will be required from
one class or both classes Of producers, 10
pay the heavy cost Of transportation from
producer to consumer, and to carry back
our heavy staples, in which the payment
must mainly be made. 1t may easily be.
that the nominal or money price OF our
wares and fabrics shall be lower, while
they are mainIy produced abroad, and yet
their real cost be far higher. We say, the
farmer pays so many dollars for his Cloths,
his Wares, his Tea and Coffee; but practi-
caly he does not pay money, but grain or
meat, even though he sell the latter lor
cash, and hands that over for his goods
The vital question with him is, Under
which policy can buy what lnesd, not
for the least money, bat for the least aggre
gate of my own labor, as applied TO the i'm
proving and ,il!ing OF my land! and this
question the money lest does not concla-
sively answer. Suppose an Illinois or WIS.
consin farmer could supply his annual
needs OF Cloths, Wares, and Groceries, for
eighty dollars while We buy them mainly
abroad, while it would COS, him one hun.
dred 10 buy them if produced (under strin-
gent Pro,ection) at home-what then!
.rhen he saves twenty dollars by sticking
to Free Trade says an advocate of that
policy. Ah no, sir! You have answered
quite too hastily. For the change from
| Free Trade to Protection inevitably brings
markets for his own products nearer and
nearer to his farm, increasing their cash
value, and extending his range of profita
BILE production. With Free Trade and 'our
| workshops in Europe,' he had no choice bu,
to grow wheat and cattle for expectation,
and to take such prices for them as the
competition of all the world in the open
markets of Great Britain would allow, less
the cost Of transportation from his farm TO
Liverpool; but let Protection supplant Free
Trade, and now he bsgius to feel the slim,
ulus of near and nearer markets urging
him to produce other articles far more pro.
fi,able than wheat-growing for the Eogllsh
market. Should mandatory OF any
kind be established within few miles oil
him, he finds there market for Wood,
Vegetables, Poultry, Veal, Fresh Butter.
Hay, &c, at prices much better than he
could have obtained while we were buying
our goods in Europe; his labor produces
more annual value; his farmis worth more
then il was or could be while we were de.
pendent on Europe for market. Many
things are now turned of from his farm at
good prices, which had no money value
while an ocean rolled between him and his
market; he becomes thrifty, and buys
more, far more, than formerly, because he
is able to buy far more. Instead OF one or
two hundred dollars worth OF Wheat or
Pork to sell at one particular season, be is
turning of hundred dollars worth Of Milk,
Fruit, Timber, Vegetables, &c., each
month, keeping out Of debt at the store and
elsewhere, and laying up money. lie i'm
proves his buildings, and thus gives job
to his neighbor, the carpenter; he fills up
his house with furniture, to the satisfaction
his neighbor, the cabine, maker; he sends
his children to seminary, and thus in
ere asos the income Of the teacher. Ga
every side, the farmers prosperity over
flows, and conduces to the prosperity oil
his townsmen. Aud the basis OF all this is
the fact that, by a benignant policy, ade-
Equate markets have been brought nearer
Ibis doors, whereby he receives eighty or
ninety instead Of forty or fifty per cent. of
what the consumer Of his products pay for
| ~ II l.. ana oil n