The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-07-23


chiefly or entirely in carrying the products Of
other nations. In that case II Is obvious that
the profits of commerce are merely those Of
transportation. The real source Of national
wealth is productive labor and a mercantile
marine Is only valuable in proportion as It is
employed In conveying to the markets Of
the world what the industry of people hal
created. Nor Is there any advantage in ex-
porting what we produce, so long as there Is
ready demand for IL at home. Wherever
that is done, a community is not merely forced
TO tuprly it, necessities by importation, but II
Loses all that money which Is expended in the
act oil transporting to one side of the globe
q huge mass Of things which are quite as
much needed on the side from which they arc
shipped.
Hence the commercial exchanges Of difTorcL
independent States, which should, on the prin-
ciples of sound political economy, consist In
bartering what our people can produce and
do not want, Is, In fact, made a very different
sort Of business 1t has become the means of
laying one country under contribution 10
another, without the slightest possible benefit
to either party, except in 50 far as the mer1
intercourse and relations Of trade bind remote
nations together in the bonds of amity, aud
PR serve the peace of the world. This is no
small matter, certainly. But we think II
might be secured, sufficiently for all practical
purposes, if commerce were confined to sup
plying the actual wants of every people out Of
the surplus resources Of others.
This, however, is not enough for the ship
owners, the men who live by carrying Goals
10 New Castle" If they had no more 10 do
than to transport that which is not needed in
one region to another where it is not other
wise attainable, they would flnd their Occupa-
tion quite gone comparatively One-half or
two-thirds of the commercial navy of the
world would rot In ideness. Hence, this
class, which has grown to be most formjda-
BILE one In wealth and influence, has endsav-
Ored to make commerce a principal, instead
a subsidiary and dependent, interest.
The Idea that there Is n positive advantage
In shipping merchandise over the ocean, and
shipping it back again, has become 80 uni
versal and established, that mankind have got
to estimate their prosperity by their imports
and exports, without considering the onOr-
nous loss they sustain in this silly process Of
selling and buying in distant and dear instead
Of cheap and near markets, while at the same
time they restrict their respective productive
powers in order to keep up what they call
commercial reciprocity. In other words, We
are told that England will not consume our
breadstuffs unless we take in return her cali
Goes and cutlery, and so on; and that, there
fore, we must not develop manufacturing art
in the United States, because 1t would close
the foreign market for our raw materials
Accordingly, commerce, which is, in truth,
the mere servant of industry, has literally
subordinated 1t, so that the interests and ener-
gies of the latter are sacrificed TO tho very
agency which could not exist an hour with
out them.
1t is strange that an intelligent people should
be so deceived. No nation, however, has been
so bambOozled and betoOled in this matter as
the United States. We present the ridiculous
spectacle Of a people who, with more of the
elements Of Independence than any other, are
more reliant on foreign communities for the
necessities and luXuries Of life.
With eXhaustles5 quantities Of the essentials
for manufacturing purposes, we import an-
nually millions of dollars worth Of fabrics
which our own labor, if properly fostered and
applied, could easily produce out of our own
abundant resources. Foreign States are thus
making that wealth Of of our own crude
staples which our own labOring population
ought to realize, aud we are at once robbed OF
our property and made to pay tribute after
wards to the spoliator.
IL 1t not obvious that the actual wealth OF
the United States in specie would be aug
mented by millions of dollars, if the profits
now made by foreign skill and labor bestowed
on American raw products were made by our
own artisansP We should have the home
market which England, France, and Germany
now possess, for the fabrics produced in our
factories and shops, besides the markets of the
world; while tho farming and planting interest
would have steadler demand here for their
products, which lose no small part OF theil
value In the act Of shipping and transhippiuq
them over half the globe.