1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



671 



\'\on in anrriciiltMro, as a correct deduction from the 

 "let alone" policy, then it is no less necessary that 

 it should abniulon, as a matter of principle and 

 consistency, the giving of all or anj'^ aid to prima- 

 ry schools and to colleires, liir the purpose of 

 literary instruction and education in general. 



It would be iTioru diHicult within the narrow 

 bounds prescribed by propriety to this report, to 

 answer the iriends, than the enemies to the im- 

 provement of'atjriculture by legislative action. In 

 reply to their inquiry, ''what can the leirislaturedo 

 to improve agriculture?" your committee will 

 merely state, in general terms, that every means 

 will be useful and profitable, by which light and 

 knowledge will be diHused ; and that no other ac- 

 tion, no other aid, or boon, is desirable, or would 

 be beneficial. There are so many valuable modes 

 of diffusing agricultural knowledge, that the dif- 

 ficuily is not to find, but to choose among them. 

 Boards of agriculture, agricultural societies and 

 premiums upon a suitable and judicious plan, 

 agricultural schools and experimental farms, and 

 agricultural surveys and publications, each and 

 all, elsewhere have Worked admirably to forward 

 4he great end in view. But if no more were done 

 at first by legislative action, than the institution of 

 a board of agriculture, as merely an investigating, 

 consulting and advising body, incalculable bene- 

 fit might be expected to grow out of this one and 

 cheap mode. Such a board (if the system of fur- 

 nishing aid should go no li\rther,) micht be limited 

 in annual expense to i^lSOO — or barely more 

 than the General Assembly has spent, year after 

 year, merely in the time used for ejecting an in- 

 dividual lo execute the mechanical business of 

 printing their journal and documents — less than 

 ihe expense of tiaie and money, caused by each 

 single elaborate speech, delivered in that body 

 upon federal relations — not one-fourth part of the 

 annual expense of the geological survey — and 

 perhaps not one-hundredth part of the money 

 wasted in every session in useless or worse than 

 useless debate. 



With these views, and in the earnest hope that 

 the recommendation of this highly respectable 

 convention may have more influence on the legis- 

 lature than any previous expressions of opinion, or 

 petitions, of separate or private individuals, to in- 

 duce the commencement of the great work of dif- 

 fusing agricultural instruction and improvement, 

 your committee recommend for the adoption of 

 this convention, the following resolution : 



Resolved, as the opinion of this convention, 

 that the commercial and general interest of Vir- 

 ginia and North Carolina, as well as the peculiar 

 interests of the agricultural class, re(|uire that 

 legislative aid should be given, promptly and ef- 

 fectually, to the diffusion of agricultural instruction 

 and knowledge, and to the promotion of agricul- 

 tural improvement. 



The foregoing resolution was adopted unani- 

 mously ; and then the /(allowing was moved and 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That a committee of five be appoint- 

 ed to wait on the legislature of Virginia, m order 

 to obtain from that body such aid as the agricul- 

 tural interest of Virginia may require, and that a 

 committee of five be also appuinled to wail on the 

 iegirilature of North Carolina for the like purpose. 



Report of the Committee on Hanking Capital. 



The committee on banks submitted the followiBg 

 report : 



At an early period, when bank capital in any 

 part of the Union was small, ihe southern slates- 

 enjoyed a large and profitable import trade. They 

 made their exports directly to foreign markets, and 

 in return imported whatever they needed of fo- 

 reign fitbrics. Then, if southern striplesr! were 

 proposed to be purchased on foreign account, or 

 exportations to the states were made by foreign 

 capitalists, the operation was not, as it now is, al- 

 most exclusively through northern agency, but in 

 either case the intercourse was immediately and 

 directly vvith the south. The south did not need 

 any intermediate intercourse with foreign markets ; 

 possessing in the number and value of her agricul- 

 tural staples the elements of foreign trade, and ia 

 this respect enjoying advantages dver the north, 

 she was her own factor ; and her commercial pros- 

 perity, and as that involves almost every internal 

 interest, her domestic welfare, were not liable to 

 be affected by the vicissitudes which might occur 

 in the markets of the east or north. An extraor- 

 dinary change has occurred in the foreign com- 

 merce of the country — a change which exhibits 

 the south in the attitude of dependence on the 

 north for the supply of her demand of fbreiirn 

 goods, and what is alike remarkable, lor the sale, 

 to a mortifying extent, of her staples, intended for 

 foreign consumption. 



The change commenced about the time that the 

 north decided in favor of a policy, which she has 

 ever since steadily encouraged, to her manifest 

 and great benefit, but of which the south was re- 

 luctant to avail herself, and has not yet profited by, 

 as she should. That policy is the banking system, 

 and to its powerful agency, as the north has ap- 

 plied it, may be ascribed, in a great degree, her 

 commercial ascendency. 



The effect of this policy in concentrating at New 

 York, where it has been appealed to with equal 

 judgment and vigor, a large portion of the entire 

 business of the whole country is obvious. It gave 

 her capital, and capital was alone wanted to se- 

 cure commercial success. The effect of estab- 

 lishing banks was first to bring together, for com- 

 mercial purposes, the money of those who should 

 subscribe to its stock, and secondly, to render ca- 

 pital so raised, capable of performing the office ol 

 a far greater amount distributed among individu- 

 als. As then, an individual of large capital, is an 

 unequal competitor with one ol small, so a state 

 or city, which brings to any branch of commerce 

 the advantages of ample means and extended 

 credit, must obtain the superiority of one less fa- 

 vored in these particulars. 



By means of^ her banks, and their large capitals, 

 New York has presented a market m which every 

 commodity may be sold, and in which there is no 

 danger of an overstock by the accumulation - of 

 commodities. She has not been under the neces- 

 sity of restraining her dealings in the products of 

 our own, or of foreign commodities, to some small 

 advance on the actual private capital employed in 

 trade ; but has been encouraged to enter largely 

 into whatsoever attracted commercial enterprise, 

 by having it in her power to substitute credit for 

 capital. So far is she in advance of the south, in 

 all the facilities which are essential to commerciat 



