Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-07-01
Greeley ON Tea.

Mr.. Horace Greeley is now engaged in
teaching political economy.
In his second chapter he asserts that
three to four million of the people OF the
United States "are employed as mer-
chants, factors, shippers, navigators,
cana. boatmen, brokers, etc., etc, ETC.,
in transmitting tea from the grower to
the consumer, exchanging his product
for the gold and silver wherewith the
Chinese are mainly paid, and forward
ing the gold and silver, or some equiva'
lent, to the tea-grower."
The occupations distinctly named are
those usually filled by men, and, as we
have but 2S,0O0,0O0 of people, all told,
in the United States, of whom not over
5000, 900 are adult males, it would ap.
pear that one-half of our men are engaged
in the tea-trade.
This must be q very profitable trade,
as the total value of all the tea entered
at our custom-house in the year ending
December 81, 1868, was only $40, 400, 600.
II we take Mr.. Greeley's lowest esti-
mate of 5000, 900, it gives about three
dollars and fifty cents or lat twenty-five
cents per pound cost fourteen pounds of
tea to each man, out Of the profits OF
which he got his living last year.
Mr.. Greeley proposes to stop this by
raising the tariff on tea and compelling
all those nefarious and idle importers and
dealers and middlemen TO go 10 work; he
says we have one million now at work in
Nevada, getting out gold and silver to
pay for the tea (Mr. Greeley must have
taken the census lately, as we have no
authority for this large population in
Nevadas these he adds to the 4000, 600
tea dealers, and proposes to set them at
work as follows: two millions IN South
Carolina and Tennessee, raising tea; tive
millions more producing the various
staples and fabrics that our tea growers
would require in exchange for it, and to
reduce the number Of exchangefs to one
million.
Suppose these five million like their
present occupations better and resist Mr..
Greeley's law, then he will require about
5000, 600 custcm-house officers, marshals,
sheriffs and constables to enforce IT, aud
all the rest of the men can stay at home
and attend to their business.
II Mr.. Greeley goes on as he has begun,
we shall have no need Of census com
mittee. OF course it must be as profit.
able to import and distribute foreign cof-
fee and foreign sugar; and, as we know
how much OF these we impaired, we can
easily apply Mr.. Greeley's figures Of
three dollars and City cents per man.
Mr.. Greeley afiirms that there Is a natu-
raj tendency in profits to equalize, aud,
of course, the four million tea dealers
would quit the trade and compete on
coffee and sugar if they paid better, or il
one man could get hold of any more to
distribute.
We imported SIS, 900, 900 worth of cot
fee and sugar in 1868, which At three dol.
lars and fifty cents per man, employed
about 100000 factors, shippers, navi-
gators, canal -bsatmen, brokers, etc.
We have thus accounted for 2S,00O,O 900
of our population in the tea, coffee and
sugar business, and, suppose the rest Of
our people being children, are at school
engaged in the study of Greeley's arith-
metic and political economy, the work of
the census committee is therefore use
less.- Boston Reform League, 23d ult.