New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-07-13
LAST WORD TO THE NATIONAL Err

The fourth question we put to The National
Era was as follows:
ola it not then for the interest of our farmers that
oil nations should adopt looking to the de-
cTeafe of the quantity lof food sent to that 1.-THE En-
glishl market?
Here Is the answer of our contemporary;
"No tits for the interest of our farmers and of all
farmers that the demand for food should be constantly
Increasing and that supply should Keep pace With The
demand, 80 that Labor may be sustained and develop
itself uncer all forms Of Industry. We know of no
why England should be isolated and pro-
scnbed."
The reader will now see why it was deemed
so inexpedient to answer our early questions.
Had it been admitted that the price of the crop
was dependent on the prices in Eogland, there
could have been no hesitation in making the
further admission that whatever tended to the
maintenance Of prices in that country tended to
raise the compensation of farming labor in this
country-end that all peaceful measures tend
ing to the diminution of the quantity sent there
must be beneficial to the farmers not only of
this country but of the world at large. Like
the criminal in the dock, however, our cotempo-
rary regards all questions, innocent as they may
at first appear, as dangerous, and when called
upon to answer any, offers us generalties-mere
words, that, as he must excuse us for saying,
mean nothing but that may yet appear to some
of his readers to be an answer All his writing
on this subject tends to exaggerate the
dependence Of our farmers on the En- glish mar
ket, and of course to prove to them how
great must be their advantage derived
from wars, pestilences or famnes by help
Of which English prices are sustained
yet be dare not ADMIT that they are to be bens-
flied by any other measures tending to produce
the same results 1t is time, as We think, that he
should endeavor to make the several parts
ofhis rgument-ifargumen it can be called-it
together. Inconsistency is rarely the companion
of truth.
Next in our series of questions comes the fol-
lowing:
" Docs not the protection afforded By Russia and
Germany tend 10 create domestic market for food
to lower the quantity exported and to raise its
price i'
And here is the answer to il:
Official statistics show no tendencyin either couu
Try to dminuiIon in the quantity Of food exported
ara no such tendency 10 high prices in the English
market: and as for domestic market, the establish
ment o. free institutions-Free Schools and q Free
nSis'oH-uIoughOut DOtn would DO INFINITELY more 10
build itup than all the empirical legislation in tho
world"
1t was said Of old that "you could not eat
I" your cake and have it STILL" but according to
our cotemporary, nous dcons change tout celia, and
IN proof that such is the case he calls statistics
to his aid. There is, however, common sense
that is better than statistics, and which teaches
that when the Germans have passed in a
few short years from being exporters of wool, to
the amount of twenty five millions Of pounds a
year, to being importers Of wool and exporters
of cloth-snd when the trade OF the Elbe has, in
twenty years, passed from being very bulky