183S] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



655 



effect of making us feel more — as we siiould do — 

 like a t'miily ol brothers — hnuiid to [iromole the 

 family iiitere.«ts hy mutual conirihutious — "here a 

 liitle, and there a little;" — bound likewise, to 

 honor, lo sus'ain, and to perpetuate, by individ- 

 ual effort, the national imporiance of the great 

 cause to which our society is devoted. No man 

 who IS enirajTed in that cause has a right to wilh- 

 hold his aid merely because he chuses to think it 

 will be small. 01' this he should let others judge, 

 since to give somelhina', and to give cheerliilly, is 

 in the power of all. J\!y ini|)oriunilies, however, 

 have yet produced but little fruit. This, I admit, 

 may be chiefly owing to my own inability to per- 

 suade ; although I nmst say, that men who have 

 been so long and so amicably associated together 

 as we have been, and for a purpose too — so patri- 

 otic — so vital, siiould not require any persuasion 

 whatever, to exert their utmost eflbrlsinits behalf 

 I may truly call ours a iiital cause, for all who 

 think "of il at all, must feel it to he such, every 

 time they appease their appetite for food : yet like 

 the blessiui^s of air — of light and of heat, which 

 an all bounteous God has br^slowed upon us, his 

 ungrateful creatures, we treat it, and the numerous 

 enjoyments derived from it, with a degree of un- 

 concern and neglect that is almost Impious. In 

 by-gone times such neglect was little felt by the 

 nation at laro;e ; for so great was the excess of our 

 agricultural products beyond the wants of our peo- 

 ple, that nobody, then, even so much as dreamt 

 we should ever be indebted to foreign nations lijr 

 the staff of lile. Yet, wUhin the last two years, 

 and for one or two preceding, we have been com- 

 pellei! to buy a very large portion of our daily 

 breadi'rom otiier countries. Yes; from other coun- 

 tries ! over which it has been our silly vanity to 

 brag, on account of our imagined superiority in 

 the practice, as well as in the theory of good gov- 

 ernment ! Most truly may it be said of us. in this 

 respect — if in no other — '■^man that is in honor and 

 understandeth not — is like the beasts that perish.'''' 

 But let us examine a little, the proofs of this 

 superiority — the grounds of the senseless vapor- 

 ing. Our legislatures, both slate and federal, in- 

 stead of promoting our agriculture — that greatest, 

 most important, next to general education, of all 

 the elements of national prosperity — have been 

 devoting a very large portion of their precious 

 time, ever since the memorable contest for the 

 presidency, between the elder Adams, Jefferson, 

 and Burr, m determining who should reign over 

 us, (with what profit, let others decide ;) while 

 the legislatures of those despised foreign countries 

 have been most sedulously giving such legislative 

 aid to their agriculture, as to be now supplying us, 

 who boast of having one of the finest agricultu- 

 ral countries in the world, with a vast amount of 



the necessaries of life. ! Yet such is our ineffable 

 self-complacency — than which r.olhiiiir can well 

 be more ridiculous, that, in spile ot ihese alarm- 

 ing lacts, legislators have recently ajipeared, who 

 have publicly asserted, that ^^our agriculture can 

 take care of herself'.''' Aye, and so she might, if 

 slie would make iliose whom she calls her rejire- 

 sentatives do their duty by her. But has she e\er 

 done it? Will she ever do it? No — never — 

 never — until her sons shall learn to act less like 

 sheep, (lo which they have been so aptly com- 

 I ared,) always ready to be shorn of their wool lor 

 others' exclusive benefit; until they learn better lo 

 dislinijuish between the mere li])-service of those 

 who (litter to deceive — who cajole to betray — and 

 such men as sometimes risk the loss of their favor 

 by opposing their prejudices and ill-grounded par- 

 lialiiies, solely with a view to renSer them some 

 great, lasting, and most essential good. 



' Our agriculture can take care of herself — can 

 she? Now bear with me, my good iriends, while 

 I o-ive you some of the delectable proofs. 



Bv the report of the secretary of the treasury, 

 just published, there have been imported into the 

 United Stales, wiihin the last eleven years and 

 nine months of the pasi fiscal year, 73,610 cwt. of 

 flour— 3,394,884 bushels of wheat, and 195,627 

 bushels of oats, the aggn'gale value of which he 

 slates to be 4,767,543 dollars ; all of which, how- 

 ever, as appears by his statement, has been im- 

 ported wi'hiu the last two years and nine months, 

 except 20,825 dollars' worth. This 1 have taken 

 from his statement. No. 1; but nothing is said in it 

 of the quantities or value of the rye, corn, barley, 

 and meal contained in No. 2 and 3. These give 

 us, for the last two years auil nine months, an ag- 

 gregate of 244,981 bushels of grain ; and the ag- 

 CTreiiate of 162,549 dollars to be added to the 

 above. But there are still other important addi- 

 tions to be made to th'e preceding estimates, as it 

 appears from statements procured since the date 

 of' the secretary's letter, from the collectors them- 

 selves, of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and 

 Baltimore, through the politeness of certain mem- 

 bers of the United States Senate. These state- 

 ments supply the means of correcting all errors 

 and omissions in the secretary's report, which 

 when taken with when first mentioned, amount 

 to no lees than 1,818,141 bushels of grain, and 

 1,254,219 dollars. Without these additions, the 

 Secretary's Report will not show, by a very large 

 amount, the whole quantity and value of fiour 

 and gram imported during the last twelve fi&cal 

 years, which the resolution of congress required 

 that it should do. But when added lo his state- 

 ments, they exhibit the alarming total of 73,610 

 cwt. of flour— 6,017,949 bushels of grain, and 

 5,333,962 dollars !* The whole of this vast sum, 



*The following statement exhibits the relative quaniilies and value of grain imported within the 

 last two fiscal years into New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston ; and fiirnishes a tolerable 

 measure of the comparative wants of those portions of the United States, whose inhabitants pur- 

 chase their grain from the cities here named. 



