OUR MARKETS, THE HOME AND THE FOREIGN. 



seventy-two years, amounted to $7,487,067,366 ; during the last 

 fourteen years, to $5,812,057,531, or to 77.628 per cent, of the 

 former value, exhibiting an immense increase of import power. 

 These marvelous facts and figures possess the attributes, not of re 

 striction or obstruction, but of expansion. What an abundance 

 must have remained to be consumed at home, when we could spare 

 so much to be sent abroad ! What a remarkable capacity to buy 

 and consume foreign goods is made manifest by the stupendous 

 value of imports retained for our own use ! 



The explanation of this extraordinary growth of both export 

 and import trade is to be found in the activity, enterprise, and 

 prosperity of the home market, through the beneficial operation of 

 the Protective policy upon domestic industry. That policy en- 

 cquraged manufactures on our own soil ; diversified employments ; 

 created a demand for labor; advanced the rate of wages, and 

 conferred purchasing power upon the masses of the people. It is 

 the expenditure of earnings that energizes commerce and trade. 

 A population that is steadily employed and well paid can buy and 

 consume; but not otherwise. The sum of social misery among a 

 people can be measured by their inability to obtain wages. Regu 

 lar employment and labor fully compensated are the fruitful parents 

 of general prosperity, content, and cheerfulness. Where there is 

 work for the hands of men, there is work for their teeth, clothes 

 for their bodies, shelter for their heads, fuel for their warmth, 

 instruction for their minds, and progress for their condition. The 

 Protective policy, by conferring purchasing power, caused an in 

 creasing demand for all these things; and, by stimulating, the 

 productive forces, satisfied that demand. Services easily found 

 employment, and the circulation of commodities from hand to 

 hand became rapid. The home market, formerly sluggish, was 

 converted into a scene of enterprise and thrift ; abundance became 

 the order of the day ; and both exports and imports expanded to 

 unprecedented values. A prosperous foreign trade is inseparably 

 connected with a prosperous home market. There must be a large 

 development of internal commerce before there can be a large 

 development of external commerce. No more than an individual 

 can a nation exert great strength outwardly unless such strength 

 exists inwardly. To neglect the home market, by reaching out 

 after the foreign, is to neglect the substance to pursue a phantom. 



