Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-04-12
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policy to risk ones entire stock upon . sin
gle venture. The profits may be enOsmops
If the venture succeeds, but the chances Of
failure arefally a enOrmous and entirely Of
set the possibilities Of success.
Even If one or two such ventures succeed,
hilure comes sooner or later, and the original
capital and the accumulated gains are swept
away at once,
Il Is much the same with nations That
nation whose entire industrial and financial
resources are directed to bat Ona channel
though it may be successful and prosperous
for E time, ia doomed to inevitable rsTerse-
The time viii come when the demand for the
staple ,hs nation raises the manuhcture in
which It is engaged or the cOmmeree in which
It Il embarked, ceases in part or in whole
and then come with a logical necessity,
smbsrraSsments and disasters.
It is but a few years since the charity Of
this country was taxed to avert from M ma
ton the consequences Of the folly which We
have pointed out A majority Of the people
ef Ireland, 50 large that e might elnost be
called the whole nation, relied upon the pO-
tato foF their subsistence. The eDoPswas e.
tackedby the erof' and ireland was cursed by.
ahmine ofextent and severity unprecedented
in modern history. Yet while the potato.
crop was thus cut OF the ether root and
cereals crops were unaffected. But the amount
Of these was utterly insufficient to make up
The deficiency in the other. Had bat one
half the people relied upon the potato for
their food, while the others moiety depended
upon rye snd wheat and had these crops
been raised in the proportions stated, when
the blight destroyed the potatoes, the 'half-
loGfn which the cereals would have afforded,
would have been far preferable to the "no
bread" that was the result.
While we write the English people are
suffering from an anticipated reduction Of
the demand for their manufactures. Having,
% such an extent As was possible, bean the
manufacturers and carriers of the entire civil
lied world, and having relied upon manu-
hchrss and commerce, they have looked to
other countries for their supply Of bread
stuHs. Any action, therefore, on the part Of
other nations By which the market for Eng
nhsh goods is diminished, tends to take the
bread from the English people. The general
aluggishness Of manufactures in England, in
one department at least has reached utter
stagnatiOn. And every English mail brings
us narrowing details Of the terrible SUI
fsring among ribbon makers.
With rs, happily, when mechanics and
operatives are thrown out Of employment
the broad acres Of the West stand ready to
roesivs them, and the fat earth yields to
them Of her abundance.
Still, when the mills and furnaces stop,
ana building ceases in onr cities and manu-
featuring towns, we hear Of terrible cases Of
destitution. As England has no "West3
how much more terrible the consequences Of
any check to her manufactures and COM
merce must be, our readers ~imaginatiOns may
depict if they can.
Men and women in rags and filth, seeking
ia brutal drunkenness to drown the con-
-sciOusness Of their misfortunes and thepsngB
Of hunger, while their children lie dying in
the miserable dens which they call their
homes, or wander in the streets to get q few
pence by begging, theft or PrOstitution-thess
are the outlines Of the pictures the EngEsh
press is continually drawing Of the manufac-
turing districts wherever any derangement Of
trade throws the operatives out Of work.
Yet England is the weahbisst and most
prosperous country in the WorldaoSisso=es=
tSemed. But can that state be in any true
sense called wealthy OF prosperous ia
which are continually enacted such tragedies
Of living death as those one sees reported in
the English prins2 Such prosperity is
speciOus and has no stability. 1t is a gilded
tissue Of pretence not hetrue gold Of real
ity.
Not only those accidents which diminish.
the demand for English manufacture produce
distress among her operatives, bat the same
effect is caused BY any accidents which al
minish the production Of bEeadstufs By 9TH
sr countries. For if the supply Of the lat
ter, from the United States, the Danabian
Provinces and the other wheatfslds on which.
England depends be eut of English opera
dTes have no sufficient reserve Of home crops
to hlbaek upon.
So this Wanted prosperity Of the British.
nstionis at the mercy Of 6 protective tariff IN
the United States or the wheat nudge in the
Danubian Provinces. Il has not root in il
sell, and Eithers under influences which, were
matters as they should be, would not affect
it. bat would spend their force outside Of it.
This radical mistake in political economy,
the Southern Conf deracy, over which JEFF.
Davis pFesides proposes to adopt as the mod
el upon which they will construct their
mighty nationality.
Il has been for years the claim Of the
Ted-hot southerners that the South was moth
ing but an Agricultural community. They
have landed agriculture pure and simple as
they said they found it in the sIavsboldine
States and have dsCried that amized SYSTEM
Of Agriculture, Msnuaeture and Commerce,
which has been the policy Of ths Northern On
non-lavsholding States.
And here we msy remark, in passing that
there seems to be good philosophical reasons
why free labsrn and the "mixed system .
80 together. For free labor deyelopes per-
sOnkl Individuality, and in proportion as this
is stimulated are new channels for labor and
capital opened and occupied. Just in pro-
portion too, as the "mixed system " prevails,
Is labor made free, and the laborer digni6ed.
And just in proportion as tie exclusive sts-
tam whether Of manuactures, commerce or
agriculture prevails, does labor become en-.