STAPLES OF AND FOR AMERICA. 19 



of people, thinly scattered over the mighty area of 4,375,- 

 000 miles, to turn spinners and weavers, and machine- 

 makers, &c. ? What would support them ? The legiti- 

 mate field for American industry is the American soil. 



It is said Texas has the best soil in the Union. Let 

 the population of the eight States named, having to day 

 4,373,000 souls, increase at the rate of 20 per cent., (I 

 put it down at'20 per cent., because, without other staples 

 for cultivation, the Southern States cannot progress ; 

 they have run their tether's length in cotton and rice, 

 and labor will yearly become of less value), in every 10 

 years, their population would be, in 2010, or 160 years 

 hence, 81,856,000 souls. Therefore, if 4,373,000 are 

 obliged to share among them that property in its dimi- 

 nished state, which 2,466,000 enjoyed some 10 to 15 

 years ago, what will be done with the population when 

 doubled, which, instead of 40 years, may be in 20 years 

 more ? While the population of all the States is in- 

 creasing without parallel in its rapidity, the exports 

 of America are far behind all moderate expectation, 

 and all the promises of antecedents. Is there a super- 

 abundant population in America, that an opening must 

 be made for employment by entering into a hard struggle 

 with all the world, and that world's cheap labor? In 

 160 years hence, the eight States named may have a 

 population of 81,000,000, and, at that distant period, the 

 whole population of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas, 

 would but sufficiently populate Texas alone, leaving not 

 a soul in the other seven States ' 



Cotton has done wonders for America ; but everything 

 will get old. The cotton States themselves complain that 



