Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-02-23

employer had been doing very u"P'
business, as he could buy all he consumed IOr
H.. money than II cost him TO make il; he en-
ters into a calculation and finds that whist IL
costs him fifty cents bushel for all the corn ne
can make some neghbors, whose lands are more
Droductive and whose labor Is cheaper than MS
own, can sell it for forty five centsi that ms po
tatoes cost him forty cents, whilst his nelShoor
can sell for thirty-fve; the pork he raises COSTS
him six dollars per hundred weight, when ne
can buy for five and-a-halE his cotton eioth
costs tan cents a yard when he can buy II ior
nine: his shoes cost eighty cents pair, ana nc
can buy for seyenty-ive; and so on with wheat
barley, beans, hay and rye, and throughout Tue
whole catalogue of articles he could PTOoIce
for himself, and he were to conclude, this
thing of working my own farm, and giving
employment TO my own labor, is all humoug,
and each years operation brings the estate
nearer and nearer TO ruin. VIII stop
1T, and try Mr.. Adam Smiths plan, oil
free trade for a while, and buy where can guy
cheapest except a few articles, such rs cotton
and tobacco. which the climate and soil of my
neighbOr will not enable him TO raise; and as
cannot find market for all the cotton and to-
bacco the estate could make, will employ one
half my force and leave the rest in idieness I"
take care of themselves. So he says to his
people, nv good women, you may burn your
spinning wheels and your looms, for shall
have no more spinning and weaving done on
this farm. My good men, Tou can lay aside
your p!oughs and your wagons and carts ana
shovels and hoes, for shall raise no more corn,
nor potatoes, nor hogs, nor wheat, nor oats, nor
hay, nor barley, nor beans: and one-halt oil you
may go about your business, as shall have no
use for you during the year. The laborers ask,
well master, what are we to dol how are we TO
live il you wont cultivate your fields and give
US employment? All says he, that is your
business; the plantation is large enough to hold
you all, and you must shit for yourselves as
ID,
for me. Rut, master, we cannot live without
food and clothing, and you wont let US stay on
the farm and starye or go naked! No, of course
not but had rather buy than make your food
and clothing, for can get it cheaper elsewhere
than eau produce it. So he turns one-half OF
his lands ont of cultivation, and one-half OF his
force out Of employment.
At the end of the year, instead of having
we'll regulated discipline on his farm, everything
is in confusiOn-a geneneral INSTRUMENTATION
prevails, the unemployed hands have been in
dugng in all sorts Of dissipation and vice, drink
ing and stealing, fighting and hhbustering, and
whatever else is likely to accompany state OF
ideness; and instead OF having handsome sur
plus money to hand over to his employer, the
cotton and tobacco he has made, have not paid
for much more than half he has had to buy; and
he has consequently, gone largely IN debt. But
still enamnred with his free trade theory, he
continues the system until the estate becomes
what would be called domestic economy, or the
economy of an individual, on the free trade plan.
The employer can now find it necessary to
change his manager, and he selects one OF
good, practical common sense, who relies moro
upon facts than theories and more upon expert
ence than books. lie goes to work and brings
order out OF confusion; he sets all the hands on
the farm to work, brings all the land he can in
TO cultivation, diversifies the employment Of his
labor, produces not only enough for the con-
sumption Of the whole estate, bat to exchange
for the articles of tea and coffee, brandy and
wines silks, laces, satins, velvets and such arti
cles as are used in the family, and cannot be
made at home, and then hands over, from the
surplus of production, handsome sum of mo-
ney to his employer to be added to his general
stock. And this is what is called domestic
economy or the economy of an individual. on
labor. Contrast the difference between the two
and say under which system you would prefer
to live, and which manager you would prefer Is
employ to manage your own estates.
Now, if the domestic economy, practised by
the buying farmer, leads him to ruin, and the
domestic economy practiced by the selling far
mer leads him to wealth, why will not the same
policy lead to the same results when the exam
pie of either is followed by neighbor after neigh
Dor, and farmer after farmer, until 1t has extend
cd itself throughout the whole State and thus
become what is termed the political economy Of
OF these two farmers,lyou have illustrated, in a
simple and ineligible FORM the whole difference
between the policy, or economy, recommended
by our best and wisest men. from Washington to
Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, on the one
hand, to Adam Smith and John C. Calhoun on
the other.
Go with me one step further, and imagine that
this great national farm, called the United States
with its millions Of laborers, all of whom are to
be clothed and fed, whether in employment or
otherwise, should be under the direction Of a
national steward overseer, such as Polk,
Pierce, OF Buchanan, who should have a fancy
for the free trade, or buying abroad system, and
that Great Britain, France, &c, are the neigh
bors who raise and sell cheap, and the whole
problem Of free trade aud protection is solved,
so that it can be comprehended by the most
common understanding
But, it is maintained that our government
has nothing to do with the labor Of its citizens,
and that it is violation of its duty to protect
its industry. Was greater faIlacy, or to use
stronger term. was a grosser absurdity ever be-
fore, or elsewhere, uttered, by men who claimed
to be practical statesmen, and who assumed the
high responsibility Of administering a govern
mcntl
What were the original objects in the forma-
ton Of government? Was il not in great part
to protect the lives and the property of the
weaker from the stronger members of society