The Portland daily press., 1869-10-19

To the Editor of the Press.

Switzerland, with an area Of Is 900 souare
miles, of which one half is uncultivable, and
the rest only moderately fertile, sustains O.
population of 100000, against 65O,OOO popula-
tion upon $1,000 square miles in Maine.
Switzerland diuersifes her industry. Manu-
factures of silk, cotton, linen, watches, Jewell
ry, cutlery, hardware in large variety, writing
and stained paper, leather and skins. lace.
straw goods, musical boxes, etc., give employ-
ment to 25O,0OO operatives. and support to
three or four times that number of general
population. These avocations can be prose-
cuted at all times of the year, in winter as we'll
as summer, in storm az we'll as in sunshine.
Not an hour need run to waste. Not an iota
OF that human labor power, which unless used
at the instant of its production is lost, need be
squandered.
With us, on the contrary, whose leading en-
pigments, agriculture, numbering, shipbuild-
lug, cto' r1eho--aoar iIvavy r~s~;e;eivns ape.
mere brute force, multitudes of women and
children and of the less robust men can find
comparatively little to do, of profit, within the
range of their strength. The active and pro-
ductive labors of these industries, moreover,
intermit for days, weeks, or months together,
being dependent upon the climate and upon
the season OF the year; and then there is next
to nothing for anybody to do. Millions upon
millions OF hours are thus annually wasted by
our farming population In the winter season !;
millions by our young women who can find
but little occupation at any season excent
abroad, and by our young men likewise, who
for months look almost in vain for paying en-
ployment within our limits. In word, mill
ions upon millions of feeting moments and
units OF labor power are yearly lost to us. that
might be, it our industries permitted, put into
permanent and salable form, and be placed
to our credit, to the amount of tens of millions
of dollars, in the markets of the country and
the world
Yet further the Switzer finding so little pro-
ductive soil upon his domain, so few minerals
OF economical value within it, essays to turn to
account the acaters that run upon it. Numer-
Gus cascades that shower from the mountains
in mere mist Of spray, caught midway their
1ail, and conducted in tubes, are made to turn
water-wheels in the hamlets below, and per-
form the labor of scores of men. These mi
mute streams which, being thus profit tably used.
are bought and sold at enormous prices. are di
vided and subdivided, so as sometimes to oner.
ate turbines not larger than watch, and per-
form the drudgery ofgrinding and polishing
Iewelry and watch-work, turning wood into
toys, driving lace and silk machinery, etc.
Now mark the results. The Switzer sauds
MS time and strength, which otherwise would
nave oeen his but for moment, wrought into
merchandise, sends his water-power, which he
could hardly transport a rod, and his potatoes.
spelt, hay, barley straw, turnips beets, cab
bages, which he could not afford to transport
a dozen miles-sends all these, condensed into
silks, laces, watches, bosom pins shirt buttons
psn-knive,s razors, fancy leather work. to the
ends of the EARTH A single peddler will carry
upon his back, in this form, months of time
thousands of tons of falling water, and scores
OF cwts' OF coarse food which it would not nav
to transport league, to Timbuctoo or the Sas
katchawan, and bring back to his native coun-
try almost their weight in African gold or
Arctic fur more precious than gold. Thu, this
people by diversfying its industries and
tnroush them economizing its labor, and by
improving the modicum of mechanical power
Voucbsated them by nature, though living in
wnat we SHOULD call desert, support popu.
laton eight time denser than ours.
BY this system of transmutation the coarse
agricultural products of remote mountain val
ieys, and almost inaccessible hamlets, the tur-
nips, mlllet, coarse peas potatoes, the pastur-
age nay and straw, reach the great cities of
the world, London, New York, Paris, etc., in
the concentrated form specified, and bring the
full market rates prevalent there, whereas at
nome they would have no value, because there
would be no market. Hence the value of
land and OF ali its products and of labor in
switzerland becomes augmented, and the far
mer enriched
herein IS a lesson to us. We send off our
hay our potatoes, our cattle, our wool in their
native condition. and therefore at an enormous
cost for transportation, andby the act inpoyer-
ism our land and destroy our capitol Large
amounts OF our products in thu interior dis
tricts have next to no money value, because
there are DO local markets, and ACCORDINGLY
land itself has next to no value, and the labor
er no money Our rivers might create a hun
dred dollars-of value where they now do one,
ana TO a large extent pass as good for nothing
because they are made to do nothing,
DiVerslhcation of industry once established
wiz remedy all this. Our raw products will
'nen ma home market, and freed from the
Vi transportation they, and with them
anu iaDor, will rise in value. Vast ouap-
''.ies oi manure now sent beyond our borders
Will De retained to the enrichment ot orr
farms. In the act of consumption our raw
combined with our labor. time. and
will be concentrated into biob.
priced products that can go to the most dis.
tant markets at low cost. Thus our land, la
Dor, time and water-power would be increased |
IN value together, and the scandalous waste OF
al be stopped EER
lilo secure these good results, as alone they |
'an be secured, by the aid of manufactures,
we need chiefly experience and capital What
aver is done, the endeavor should be foremost |
~ prihg these in from beyond our limits. -