New-York daily tribune., 1854-08-24
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"OsrERs AyD sunAc.-The political economy Of The
TRIBUsE newspaper sppears be summed up IN the
mexim that nation ,hord produce c,Eia itse ererytiag
for Uhied II has occasion. lLVening fOst
1t very hard that we shoul have been discussing
this and kindred topics with The Post for the twelve
or fifteen years. without having succeeded in making
our views understood by that journal on the most vital
point We certainly never urged nor imagined that
nation even so vast this aud possessing so wide
range of soils and climates, shoua produce every
thing for which it has OCCASION" On the contrary,
we have at least one thousand times explained, in
reference to former misconceptions, any desire to
rear reindeer grow pineappes within the limits of
our Ststes, or catch seals in the ad accent waters We
are weary Of repelliDg the absurd presumption that
we favor the growth of cocoanuts ivory in the tenn
perate zone, because demand for thess articles ex-
lists there. We believe in Trade-in International
Trade-in the importation under low duties or no du-
ties Of such needfu staples as other lands produce
and ours do not Yet The Post persists in its original
misconceptions as if we had done nothing to remove
them!
Our radical idea is that each Nstiona. leas every
one possessing large variety of soils and eli mates
as ours-shouM produce for itself ereryhiag ,rlieh
lnay as tasy thit is with as little labor be produced
there as ese,chere. We would buy logwoOd and caout
cbcuc dates and spices pepper aud arrOwroot sui
phur and tin, from countries which produce them
with facility, and pay for them with whatever re
produce with Ike fsciIity and they with difficulty
not at sl We suggested the gathering and curing Of
our own Sumac (or it grows here spontaneously and
abuneantly) in preference to buying of Europe be-
cause it is manifest that il must be cheaper 10 an
indigenous product which now runs to waste than to
send four thousand miles to buy it, So we know that
tie Osier will grow here as well as anywhere else
for the experiment has been tred-and think il every
way preferable to pay our peope for growing it
than to run in debt for il to the merchants aud bro
kerr of Western Europe. But let us hear the Tie
Post on ths point:
"For our part we cannot zee how the times would be
mended if the people Of This country leave the
occupations which they now find more profitable, and
npply themselves the cultivation of Oser, the liking
OF baskets and the gathering of sumac. We should
merely exchange set of emplOyments for another 10
which lees inclined, for which we have fewer
facilities, and those who get living in Europe by supply
ing us with baskets and would be left to sarve
The case stands very well as il is Instead Of tending
plantations Of osier and weaving the twiss into basket
work plant and reap and instead OF gathering sumac
raise pigs
Here is quiet assu nptOn that our peOple grow
corn and pgs rather than raise osiers and gather
mac because they hare fond the former pursuits
profitable han the tacr; when in fact they
in position to make the comparison, aud not in
hundred of them ever thought of growing osers or
gathering sumac at all. They have gone on doing
what their fathers did before them, often without
considering whether partial change of productions
were DE- srable or not SO far from having decided
the economic problem suggested by TIE Post, they
| have not even heard it argued.
But We should starye the sumac gatherers and
bssketmakers Of Europe by supplying our own wants
in their lire, urges The Post. On the contrary, we
would attract thousands of them here to teach US the
arts they understand 70 we'll AMI we go poorly-to
plant osiers, gather and peel the twgs and make the
baskets aso to instruct us in gather ng curing, aud
putting up TIE Post intimates that our sumac
is inferior; which, if So is probably owing to our lack
of experience and skill in the curing. And nobody
pretends that tie osier will no gro here to as great
perfection as in Europe-so we may grow AGt, even
though il were advisable to leave our own sunlae to
rot ard send to Sicily for substitute.
But hear The Post again:
Ifsumsc could be gathered here cheaply a. in Sicily
and if the Kind produced forests were equal to the
ScilGn in quality which think il is not there Is no
doubt that 1t would become gular occupation 70 coll
lect H. We occupy ourselves with ernpoyments which
reward Us more ADeraly, ana purchase sumac with T.l
in that manner. We get more sunlac with the
labor than If to gather il ourselves The
poor people IN Sicily fed and the American prospers
by the exchange of what each supply the oh the
greatest advantage. II ceDnot be said that the rural
population Of country have little employment that
i Necessary 10 ret them TO gathering for the tan
ntrs. On the contrary the complaint is the. our ayr
culture and husbandry require more bands than we
can find ready for these empoyments. Tie moment our
people learn that there money TO be made by the gather
ing Of sumsc, they viii be certain to engage in it"
That "the American prosper." by the present
course of industry and trade is not evident to u.
as to The Post and may not pass so current few
months hence as now. That the sicilian sumac is
gathered and bought and the American sumac left to
decay where it grew, does not prove that the former
s cheaper or better but simply that the lines of CON-
municstion on which sumac ia drawn to the dyers or
morocco dresser's vat run to the growers in Sicily
snd not to those Of our own country. Who amone
the hundred thousand American farmers who have
tuns Of sumac growing up around their fences and in