Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-10-21
DIRECT TRADE.
s--I come not s!nE!r.hauisd.

.'-I come NO, single handed,
e.; Ia bat;aons
The subject Of direct trade between the
waters OF Virginia and the several foreign
ports to which the productions Of this State
ultimately find their way, and from which her
imports in return are procured, is ut length
flirly before the public, and it is proper that
the Richmond Enquirer" should utter its
scn,iments in regard 10 it. This important
question has engaged the attention OF tie Le'
eslature on more than one occasion. but Tor
reasons not necessary at this time to examine,
it was laid by to sleep i'll oblivion. Nor
is it necessary 10 recapitulatc the several
schemes that from time to time have been
acitat.d for initiating that great REFORM
They have all miscarried having, 10y their
miscarriage, tended rather to damage than to
benefit the cause they were designed to sub
serve Direct Trade has become, in conse-
oaeucc rather a subject Of ridicule, as one
constituting evidence Of the visionary nature
OF the ,niai that iniulges in rcverics about It,
I, i; believed, from its own claims TO attention,
tina, !: would be impossible to induce the
Legislature OF Virginia to listen to serious
debate On any proposition looking III that d.
rcction
But, fortunately for the grandeur OF this
Commonwealth, the members Of the Legislature
ore 5ut shadows, passing over and darkening
the face OF the mirror The substance that re-
fects those shadows is in the country, the peo-
ple. the great court Of appeals, before whom
all causes OF moment may be carried
The friends and faithful advocates Of the
commercial independence Of Virginia, having
failed to rouse the lUrpor Of the Legislature
have at length carried the question before the
august tribunal Of the people, have appealed
from the steward to his lord, from the careless
ana ina,,entive servant, to his master. The
game is up, the hunters are III the field, and
those who refuse to take part i'll the hunt, will
not be admitted TO the public tables. If need
be, 4 new set OF public agents will be ushered
on the stage Of politics, and 1t may be wisely 4;
for, it NAV not be i good thing to put the new
wine into the old bottles.
Direct trade is now a farmers movement. -
The immediate connection between commerce
and agriculture is being pointed out to the
farmer. The apparent truth that the agricul-
tural community furnishes the exports for COM
merce and consumes the great mass Of the i'm
ports for which those exports are exchanged, Is
held up before them in petitions scattered
broadcast over the State, in harangues from
the hustingS, in newspapers, published not OH
" here in the metropolis, but in the counties,
sovn like dragons teeth through the State.
Agriculture is commerce, and commerce is
asricutue-all the weights with which the
one IS barthened operate in greater or less
degree to paralyse the other. Possessed OF
this fundamental truth, the farmer compares
the scale Of prices at the shipping points in
Virginia With the scale Of prizes IN New York,
from which his produce begins the voyage for
Europe lie institutes similar comparison
when he goes to lay IN his supplies. lie dis
covers that the losses which he SustainS in his
sales and these which lie sustains in his pur-
c,ascs amount to about u third Ut fourth CT
he husiness, so expensive does lac find the
co,stwise transportation from the Virginia port
70 New York or Boston-the entire cost Of
which is thrown upon his shoulders, and the
whole advantage Of which finds It's way into
the nochels of the Northern merchant and
shipper.
Here is commercial tribute, which, when
AGGREGATED amounts TO many millions Of dollars
annually abducted from the wealth OF the state
and poured in swelling stream into the laps
OF New York. Boston and Philadelphia, greatly
to the impovcrishnent Of the one and the en-
richment Of The other.
If the tribute paid by our trade he looked
upon in the light Of debt, Of which the cost
of the coaStwisc transportation and the deposit
at New York is the yearly interest it will
amount to a mortgage upon the farms and plan.
;at;ons of Virginia amounting to nothing less
than \ hundred millions of dollars. Ithas been
estimated from data derived nom official
sources, tina, in large circle OF the. State the
commercial tribute yearly paid to New York
runs up to a sun more than double m amount
to that paid by that circle OF counties annual
~ into the State Treasury. So great Is the
load under which the taxpayers OF virginia
s,arrer. a load additional to that which the
Legislature imposes in its tax bill.
But it would be doing great wrong to the
question if we were to compare the tribute 10
mighty public debt i'll its disastrous conse-
quences upon the people, without saying that
whilst it has all the bad it has none OF the good
characteristics of debt. A debt is generally
contracted for value received, and it generally
increases the assets of the debtor in about an