HISTORY OF VERMONT. 367 



hoped the prejudices of the assembly against 

 such establishments, will soon decrease and 

 subside. 



In any of these employments, the laborer has 

 the prospect of acquiring not only a very com- 

 fortable living, but sufficient property to main- 

 tain a family. The price of labor will always 

 bear a proportion to the profits it will produce, 

 and to the demand which there is for it. In a 

 new country every one that can perform a day's 

 work, will find employment in any part of the 

 country. In agriculture, the laborer can pro- 

 cure seventy dollars a year for his work ; equal 

 in value to one hundred and twenty bushels of 

 wheat. In the busy seasons of the year, the 

 common price of a day's labor is half a dollar ; 

 in the winter not more than half this sum. All 

 kinds of labor are in the usual proportion to that 

 of agriculture. Of these wages it will take 

 twenty dollars, to procure comfortable clothing; 

 the remainder the laborer is able to reserve for 

 other purposes. Thus by laboring for another 

 for two or three years, the laborer becomes in- 

 dependent, and works afterwards upon his own 

 land or stock. 



The writers upon political economy in Eu- 

 rope, are constantly mentioning the great ad- 

 vantages which accrue to trade and commerce, 

 from an extreme cheapness of labor. The bene- 

 ficial effects that would arise from it in Ameri- 

 ca, would be no compensation for the disadvan- 

 tages that would attend it. It would not be any 

 advantage to the country, to carry on any branch 

 of business, which would not support itself, and 

 pay well for the labor. Least of all would it be 



