Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-04-30
ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE AND VIRGINIA ADVERTISER. April 80 1850
Tacts 70 hs Looked az.


The New York Courier and Enquirer, IN
referring to certain stubborn facts, remarks
upon them as follows:
THE inquiry naturally il, how can the
free trade theory BE- ii true one, when III "p-
position to facts, and when not upheld III
practice? Ii is not questioned but that this
country and Great Britain have superior na,
tural element, Of wealth over france and
Prussia. Whence. then. the anomaly 81 the
greater prosperity in the poorer countries!
There can be uo other answer than by allow
ing the superior political economy OF the
successful countries. Why. then. DO we not
profit by the example? Simply because, as
a people, we are too busy in acquiring wealth
To be willing to waste tine in studying pro-
per economy i'll expenditure and saving.
Hence our present situation. We IT." not
care to compiirate the question By bringing
in Great Britain, which Is at best only hall
Il free trader, and that half YEARLY chosen,
after the experience and discussion ot hve
centuries. The pertinent question TO our
selves is, why are We. with II country the
richest in resources in the world. III the pre-
sent condition? Just out of bankruptcy.
and with u foreign debt cj .hrr h"mtred nat
lions oJ doA,us.' We have sold our cotton
and tobacco crops, and have already realized
in imported fabrics the full amount. We
shall have nothing more to export until next
fall Of material amount, unless i'll case ot an
Eurouean war. We have imported into this
port already this year, goods, amounting To
nearly seventy millions of dollars, and are
importing at the rate of six millions Of dol
lar, IL week. iiow and when shall we OBJ
tain means Of payment, unless we draw
against future crops? This course L. the
universal one of producers. both individuals
and nations. and until We ce,-" 10 b" de-
pendent on Europe. We shall continue III the
same course. The fact is forgotten IN the
theories Of free trade, that. other things be-
ing equal, nations are rich and prosperous
in the order of their manufacturing lndepen-
denre or, in other words, that III the list y!
the countries in the order of their wealth.
the lowest would be the producers ot raw
material. and the highest the manufacturers.
See the countries Of Europe, for example.
The statement is u suggestive one, that
Great Britain makes ~ much out of arr
coHon crap, after clothing her people, as We
DO: and it is not ~exaggeratlon to say that
the total profits on our cotton crop do not
equal the profits of the mills in Great Brl-
tain i'm q radius of twenty-five miles. Let
u examine the statistics Of the subject. The
I total value Of manufactured cotton impor-
ted into Great Britain last year, and the eX-
ports If manufactured cotton goods from the
same period, are given in the following est
mates: Unmanutartured cotton imported.
$l2O.O 0O. 900: manufactured cotton goods
exported. 2lj,OOo,OUO; difference, S9j,oW,-
900 From this we see that, added 10 the
home consumption. which is estimated at
over two hundred millions If dollars, the nett
profits were ninrty-fiyc millions Of dollars.
The total value Of our cotton crop is only
one hundred and eighty millions Of dollars.
We see, then. that Great Britain, from her
cotton manufacturers, has Il home consump-
ton of cotton goods for thirty millions Of
people, and Il profit equal to half the gross
value OF our cotton crop. Which makes tn"
most. the producer or the manufacturer