New-York daily tribune., 1861-03-05
FRHE.TRADE INPATUATION.

FRRE.TRADE gNPATUATION.
The cornerstone of Southern Free-trade states
manshp is the dogma that national wealth con-
sists of what country exports, that productions
are of no national value unes, there is foreign
market for them, and that all that is exported Is
so much surplus or profit. These extraordinary
heresies obtain credenee all over the South.
They form the staple of every harangue against
Northern cupidity and progress. New England IS
denounced as nation of peddlers, who manutac.
tlre Qoose.yckes and wooden nutmegs, which no
foreign country will buy and the vast hsy-crop
of the North worth as many millions as all The
cotton, rice, tobacco, and sugar Of the South, IS
counted as Of no value because not wanted az
Manchester. The stump, the press, aud the forum
are rife with there absurdties. Congress Las
been amazed to hear them gravely promulgated
a. axioms Of political economy by which Tie
country should be governed. These Statesmen
assert that nothing deserves to be considered
staple unless it can be exported. Senator Ham
mond said in the Senate that the North produces
" 10 great staples that the South does not pro.
I" duce, while we produce two or three, and those
" the very greatest which she never can pro-
"duce." Cotton is staple according to this det.
intion, because Europe buys it for money. BY
the same rule of definition, hay. is not Northern
staple, because no foreign nation wants it. But
is it not notorious that both the Carolinas feed
their cattle on Northern hay; that it loads
the deck of every coasting vessel bound to
Southern ports; that il is seen on every steam
boat descending the Mississippi aud that all these
States that purchase pay money for it Now,
is got Southern money as good to the Northern
haymaker as British gold is to the Southern cot
ton. grower Why is not the Southern market
as rich q one 10 us az that of England TO them
The hay staple brings US money; aud what moro
can be said in favor of the cotton staple
BY the same definition, the number OF our staples
must be- very limited. Cotton cloths and lumber
may be conceded to be such, because foreign
countries consume them in large quantities. But
the millions in value of shoes, paper, clothing, aud
hardware, which we manufacture and sell to the
South, are not 10 be- counted as such, because
they do not 20 abroad, though they produce u
more money thnn if they did The mere clothes
pins. painted pals and hobby horses, the product
of little manufactures planted in obscure locations
upon mountain streams in the bosom of our tim
her regions and sold for Southern money IN
quantities largo enough To make their producers
rich, sre ~ much staples as cotton, rice or
tobacco. All Of these We send away arc the
surplus over our own wants. II matters nos
where We sell them, go that they produce-a proht.
The South has voluntarily decided that we should
do her manufacturing, and, her consumption beng
large our staple has become manufactures, whe
agriculture remains hers. II she loss grouho
by this arrangement, the fault is her own.
sbs chose il herself and We are content
with it. The fact that the articles We tuus
sell within the Union are essentially staples
even 81 defined by her statesmen, is proved ~
her continual complaint that We are growing feo
at her expense. She buys from us as she would
from any foreign country, to the neglect ana run
q, her own industry, and Ike all other commune
tie, which adopt similar policy of rejecting
manufactures aud making agriculture tue eAciu'
siye interest, she must necessarily remain poor
Mr. Hammond further says our "trashy census.
| I, hooksr are full of talsehood and nonsense, ahd
:. II "a No martsr how much is made, If 1t is all
consumed" His theory Is that al tne co''on
which goes to Europe is proht, and' py cop'e.
oueuce that that which goes to Waltham ana
Loweu il not, because it is consumed at bone.
For he asks, in strange nonsense, If man
" 4, worth millions Of dollars, aud consumes hls
/" income, is he rich :" In other words' su
Northern manufacturers can never become rien'
because their productions are consumed "'D|
the Union! Why, South Carolina hstseli 20"
&, 900 900 worth Of slaves annually; ana 'ne u
cayed gentrty Of Virginia would secoule pas s,
pers outright if deprived Of the si2'cV'UvY
which they annually receive for sheir care.
breeding of field hands and fancy sif''
more Southern markets. Yet the prOn'
this manufacture Of slaves must ee A'ss,
though tho product bs consumed wilain ,,s.. -
Uuion. Strike it from the income o' ~.
states. and see where they would DO. ny ~
extraordinary theory, if the South consemsa 1 -.
,,sn cotton, she would have no surplus "a
clsntpr who sell. his crop at Aanches'es "''