New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-30
TO TIE PRESIDENT OF TIE UNITED
STATES.
LETTER XIV,

the same laws that govern wool and cloth, coal ana
iron. Why, them should our Legislators trouble
Themselves about It's movements, any more than
about those Of turnips or potatoes II we need y,
and are ready TO pay for il, j: will come. we 90
not need it, or have nothing with which to pay ior ~
"t will Dot come and we nall perbs2s, be better on
w,ht Mt than with it." Such Dir. President, Is the
sort Of argument that year after year. used oy gen.
temen who hold 10 the idea that countries are TO DC
enriched by Increasing trade with distant people, anu
sacrificing that commerce among ourselves when, az
you have 80 clearly seen, is the sor OF free 'rsHe
we really need by fnanciers who tell VI, that go'd
being one Of products, its export IS a. natural ana
necessary that Of cotton, and who look, Wild perfect
calmpess at an outward current Of the precious metals
greatly exceeding the inward one by Secretaries OF
The Treasury who close their eyes 10 the CLOUDS tna'
are patbel g round and then, when overaken by the
storm, grsvely tell the suffering millions that II was
Impossible 10 foresee the present revusion IN trade
" and commerce." and generally, by all ina, clas7 Oh
niddlem.n. now 20 rapidly increasing among our
selves which lives by uponthe useiu Por'loh7
Of society and seeks a. iar as possible 10 Wiuen inc
distance between the men who labor TO produce ana
depend upon the sae Of their labor and Its products
for the ability to feed their wives. their Children and
themselves
Such persons, Mr.. President, have, as it would
SEEM yet to learn that, in addition to the quaNues
common TO themselves and other commodities, tae
recious possess that other most important one
Of being the great instruments provided by the creator
for facilitating those exchange Of society when con-
stitute that commerce between man and ms le!loW-
man, by the growth Of which we are furnished WIN
the big hest of all the evidences OF advancing clvza-
ton BY their help is that the farmer, the miller,
the cloiher, ard all other members OF society, are
enabled 10 purchas for single cent portion Of the
labors of thousands and tens of thousands OF men
employed in making railroads. engines and cars, ana
transporting upon them annually hundreds OF mlohS
of letters or for another cent, Their share oil me
labor Of the hundreds If not thousands, OF men VINO
have contributed to the production Of penny news;
paper The mass Of email coin is thus sdctng Juhd
Tor labor because it facilitates association and comb-
naton--gving utility to billions OF millions OF minutes
TINT would be wasted did not demand exist for them
at the moment the power TO labor had been produced
Labor being the first price given TO everything we
value and being the commodity that all can offer ID
exchange, the progress OF communities III wealth anu
influence is in the direct ratio Of the presence or ab.
sence of an instant demand for the forces, physical
and mental of each and every man In the community,
resulting from the existence Of power On the part OF
each and every other man TO offer something valua-
bic in exchange for it, II is the only commodity that
perhes at the instant Of production, and that II not
then put to use, is lost for ever
We are oil, Mr.. President, momently producing
labor-power and daily taking in the fuel by whose
consumption it is produced; aud that fuel IS wasted,
unless It's product be the instant usefuy employed
The most delicate fruits flowers, may be kept for
hours or Cays; but the force resulting from the con-
sumption Of food, cannot be kept for second.
That the instant power Of profitable consumption may
be coincident with the instant production of this uni
versal commodity there must be incessant comblna-
ton followed by incessant division and subdivision;
and that in turn followed by as incessant recompos-
top. This is seen in the case above referred TO- where
miners furnace-mep, machine makers, rag-gatherers
carters bleachers, paper-makers railroad and canal
men, type-makeIf, cOmpositors, pressmen, suthOrs,
editors publishers, Dewsboys, and hosts OF Others,
combine their Efforts for the production in market of
he of that has, Mt the instant OF produc
ton TO be divided of into portions suited TO the wants
of hundreds Of thousands OF consumers Each OF these
latter pays single cent-then perhaps subdividing II
among half dozen others, SO that the cost perhaps
no more than cent per week; and yet each obtains
his share Of the labors of all the persons by whom 1t
had been produced.
OF all the phenomena of society, this process of
division subdivision composition and decomposition,
is the most remark able; and yet Mr. President-be-
ing thing of such common occunence-it scarcely
attracts the slightest notice. Were the newspaper
above referred parttoned of into squares eachrep
resenng s portion of the labor of one OF the persons
who had contributed to the work would be found 10
be resolved into six eight, perhaps even ten thou
sand pieces, of various sizes, small ana greai-tns
former representing the men who had mined ana
smelted the ores OF which the types and presses had
been composed ard the latter the men and boys by
whom the distribution had been made. Numerous
as are these little scraps Of human effort, they are
member OF the community rnay-foI the trivial sum
of fifty cents per annun-eIjoy the advantage OF the
information therein contained and fully az he could
do had il been collected for himself alone.
improvements in the modes of transportation are
advantageous TO man. but the service thereby render
ed when compared with the cost, is very small.
shin worth $50 600 cannot effect exchanges between
men at opposite sides Of the Atlantic to an extent e1
ceedng FIVE six thousand tuns per annum whereas
furnace of similar cost Will effect the transnutatoh
OF thirty thousand tuDs weight of COAL ore, limestone
food and clothing, Tito iron Compared with either OF
these however, tn, commerce Effected by the help OF
$50 600 worth Of lts white pieces, representing labor
TO the extent Of three or five cents-a6oT which, oy
their help is gathered into ahesp, and then divided
and suboivided day after day throughout the year
and will be found that the service rendered to socie
ty, in economiZDg force, by each dollars worth OF
money is greater than is rendered by hundreds II not
thousands, employed in manufactures, or tens OF
thousands in ships railroads. and yet there are able
writers Mr. President, who tell us that money 40
much dead capital being an important portion
of the capital of country that produces nothing tor
" the county,
Money, as money" says an eminent economist
" satsfes no want, answers no purpose. The
difference between country with money and coun.
try altogether without it, would, as he thinks be
only one of convenience like grinding by water in
stead of by hand" ship as ship, road a
road, coton-mill as a cotton-ml, IN like manner
however satisfies no want, answers no purpose
They can be neither eaten, drunk nor worn. ALL
however are instruments for facilitating the work of
association, and the growth of man In wealth and
power is in the direct ratio Of the facility of combina
ton with his fellow men, To what extent they do 80
when compared with money we may now inquire. To
that end le suppose, Mr.. President, that by
sudden ConvusiOn OF nature all the ships of the world
were NJ once animated, ana remark the erect pro-
duced. The ship owners would lose heavily; the
sailors and the poters would have less employment
and the price of wheat would temporarily fall while
that Of cloth would for the moment RISE AT the close
of sill gle year by far the larger portion OF the opera
tons OF society would be found moving precisely a.
they had done betore-commerce at home having
taken the place Of that abroad. Cotton and tropical
fruits would be less easily obtained in Northern cmes
and ice would be in Southern ones but in
regard to the chief exchanges of society like our
own there would be suspension, even f,r a single
instant. So far indeed, would it be to the contrary