New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-10-02

Raef eo3 pa Indian Corn. $40, GEO
Butter and Cose'e.. :, rs Rye %e.l LOO 100
Wheat. -......-. 81 IN Potatoes. .......-. 20
Flour 39V25 Apples ............ 1913
Total sls7,S73
Recollect, | beg Of you, that these are the total
exports Of food to France, which supplies US with
millions upon millions of dollars worth Of silks
and other articles that could be made at home by
people who would consume home-g grown food
that they include those to Belgium and Germany,
who inundate US with foreign wool and food in the
form Of cloth-those to Russia, in whose favor we
have almost destroyed the growth of hemp in the
West-and those to Spain in whose favor we have
so far reduced the production Of lead that the TO-
tai exports of the West cia New Orleans have
fallen from SOC, 900 pigs in 1916, to less than 3OO-
600 in the year just closed and then answer for
yourself what are the causes Of the decline Of
wheat Of which you now complain. lsit not clear,
that if we raised our own wool, and made our own
cloth, and grew our own hemp, and mined our own
lead, that our cloth-makers, and hemp growers,
and lead. miners would be consumers Of food, in
stead of being producers Of it 7 Ii our policy
ten ed now to make them 30, instead Of tending,
az il does. to drive our whole population into the
raising of food, should we not thereby be carrying
ont the views YOU once go much admired when
they came from the pen Of General Jacksonl
Compare this table, pray you, with the magnif-
icent promises of Mr.. Walkey-and then recollect
that this is the demand upon US for the supply Of
the whole continent of Europe at period Of posi-
tive famine-after which determine for yourself
what are the prospects Of the farmer for future
years, when crops shall be abundant. The truth
is, that there 10 really no foreign market for our
food worthy OF notice, except that natural one
which consists in supplying countries whose cl-
mate units them for growing wheat or corn.
Russia and Germany, Spain and Portugal, France
and Italy have food to sell and it would be as Ju
dcious to look to Pittsburgh or Mauch Chunk for
market for coal as to any country in Continen-
tol Europe for market for our food and yet it is
there that we find :" the starving millions" that
Mr.. Walker was to IL ed with our vast surplus"
England is the only Ood.importing country Of Eu-
rope to which we have any exports that can in the
smallest degree affect prices; and you have seen
how steadily and regularly the amount is deolin-
ing, that of l850-5l having been only eight mil
lions of dollars, whereas that Of 1SiS-49, long
subsequent to the Irish famine, was about twenty
four millions. The first thres quarters Of the last
fiscal year give about $s,7OOOOO, as the e1portsto
her at a period of famine in some of the most i'm
portant countries from which she has been accus-
toned to obtain supplies of food and even this
small amount Of trade we should not have had but
for the very low prices of wheat and Of -four among
ourselves during the past year.
The former is now selling in New York at about
90 cents bushel, and the latter at about 81
barrel, and yet there is no export demand, nor can
there be while America flour sells in England at
from ISs. to 2Os. (si 80 to 81 So barrel and
there is far more chance for a fall than for any
permanent rise in European prices. What the
manufacturers of Birmingham and Manchester
desire is cheap food, and to obtain it they have
opened the markets OF England to all the world
at all times, the effect Of which has been to reduce
the price of wheat to 36s. or 4Os. quarter, or
from 90 cents TO 81 per bushel Of GO lbs. and
the landholders are everywhere exerting them
selves to meet the reduction Of prices by ncreas-
ing the production, while the population is dimn-
ishipg in actual quantity. Examine The Times,
The Economist, The Manchester Guardian, or
almost any Of the free trade papers, and you will
find accounts of extraordinary Improvements in
the modes of cultivation, by means Of thorough
drainage and the application of the most ftrtili-
zing manures. What is sought to be accom-
plishsd is reduction in the price Of food and
The Times newspaper now assures its readers
that so great have been the improvements in the
past FIVE years, there need in future be but little
anxiety felt in regard to the character Of the
seasons, the farmers Of Epgland having almost
placed themselves out Of the reach OF danger
from apy such changes and if this be the case,
il is clear that you have but little to hope for in
the future. The population Of England has GER
tainly ceased to increase, and certainly she is
rapidly improving her agriculture, SO as to supply
herself with food. Our population is increasing
at the rate of million year, and we driving
the whole increase into agriculture, with a view
to supply the great food market Of the world"
and if this course OF operation do not lead to
general and great reduction in the price Of food,
il will be one of the most remarkable facts Of
modern times.
One of the reasons for adopting the Manchester
system of free trade was found in the fact that
En- gland had repealed her corn laws, and yet that
was precisely the reason why We should more per-
tinaciously have insisted on pursuing policy
tending to make market on the land for the pro.
ducts Of the land. So long as the admission OF
grain into England was only occasional. and prices
varied greatly from one year to another, our farm
ers were in the posiion of the Spectator who
has control of the telegraph. We had fast s.
on the ocean, and railroads at home, and were
Away ready to avail ourselves Of the changes
that might take place while the people Of the
Continent, always slow in their movements, were
not. Now, however, the market 10 always open,
and there is steady stream of food pouring into
England, and the fast 'hp or nation and the slow
one are on dead level with each other-Russia