REDUCING THE QUANTITY OF COTTON. 



435 



cedeated drouth and consequent loss of crops, 

 wherewith it has pleased God to visit us, we 

 should, in the next year, have reached a point 

 of comparative safety and ease from the past 

 pressure. 



The extension of tlie production of Cotton is 

 met by a corresponding demand. Nearly one- 

 half of the population of Europe, e.specially 

 France and Germany, have not now the com- 

 fort of a cotton <hirt or cotton jacket It has, 

 therefore, this field as an untried market but 

 one which is ever}' day opening more and more 

 to our enterprise. To this mast be added, that 

 perseverance on our pait will drive all compet- 

 itors trom the field., and when they turn their at- 

 tention to some other branch of business, they 

 must become our customers. Oar American 

 Cotton, and very probably our American Manu- 

 factures, are in time, and that a very short one, 

 to be used by every civilized inhabitant, aud al- 

 so many a savage one, of the world. 



But if the production of Cotton in the North 

 American States was diminished one-half the 

 amount of miscrj- which it would cause can 

 hardly be realized. The cotton planter sup- 

 ports millions of human beings, and clothes hun- 

 dreds of millions more. Let him extend his 

 philantliropic labors : he will be benefited by 

 them: and countless thousands will call him 

 blessed. Af tliia fime. every ind^atiou points 

 to an increase of price, such as the opening of 

 the Chinese trade, the geuei-al soundness of the 

 Currency, abundance of poor in England, the 

 possible repeal of the duty on ra^v Cotton in 

 every countrj-, arising fi-om competition among 

 the manufactures, aud tlie unprecedented de- 

 mand for machinery" in Enslaud, on the Conti- 

 nent, and in this country. To tliese encourairing 

 circumstances it must be added, that probably 

 the TarilF which has been to us the source of so 

 many troubles, will, in a short time, come down 

 to the Revenue standard. The evils under 

 >A-hich we labor are not those of over-produc- 

 tion. They arise from two other causes : one is 

 that of over-legislation. Give us free trade — 

 abolish the unnatural burdens \^hich nations 

 have imposed upon one another ; in a word, let 

 tlie planter be free, aud bis comforts would soon 

 be duplicated. If the grower of Cotton could 

 Send his crop of Cotton to any part of the world, 

 and receive in exchange for it commodities sub- 

 ject to a moderate duty, your Committee believe 

 that the demand for American Cotton would be 

 increased to four millions in.«tead of two millions 

 of bales. This we would be unable to furnish, 

 fur tlie land adapted to its growth is irreater in 

 quantity than will ever be cultivated — /he num- 

 ber of laborers if limited. Unless the African 

 slave trade be airain opened, or the introduction 

 of slaves from the West Indies be permitted, lof 

 which no one dreams,) an increased cultivation 

 can only arise from the withdrawal of laborers 

 from the cultivation of rice, tobacco, and sasar, 

 (tliau which nothing is less probable, especially 

 in reference to the latter article.) an increa.sc in 

 population, and improved modes of cultivation. 

 These sources of an increase of production are 

 so limited that they never can meet the demand 

 which would ari.se from free trade. We agree 

 with a late writer, that ■' the American Tariff is 

 the origin of all the hostility of foreicm nations 

 to the institutions of the South." It is clear to 

 our minds that tliere can be no improvement in 

 the business of planting until tliis unnatural hos- 

 tility and its cause be removed. For every 

 Southern planter f«els his want of security ; and 



1 the efiect of this is increased upon him by the 

 ! belief, in the non-slaveholding States, that slavery 

 i is to soon perish by its oiati weight Let him 

 , and all others feel that he is secure in his proper- 

 i tj". and it will quadruple his energy and success. 

 I Anotlier cause of our distress is that in a large 

 I portion of the Southern counuy. Cotton is culti- 

 vated, when its production does not now, and 

 I never can, at all compensate the planter for the 

 labor bestowed. Then it is desirable for every 

 I one that other branches of industry should be 

 I pursued. In such sections, manufactures may- 

 be most profitably substituted ; and evciy man- 

 ' ulactory established will be not only additional 

 I wealth to the proprietors and the countrj-, but 

 will also materially aid tlie cotton planter by 

 ( increasing the consumption. 

 I ^Ve do not intend to encourage the cultivation 

 I of Cotton to the neglect of the other products 

 I necessary to support or comfort. E very planter 

 I slwuld promptly render himself independent in 

 I reference to tliose articles which could be pro- 

 duced on his plantation. In this way he would 

 '; profitably curtail the quantity of land devoted to 

 the cotton crop. An abandonment of the pres- 

 ent extremely defective mode of culture, and 

 the substitution of a better, would ensure a larger 

 quantity of Cotton than would be lost by diver- 

 sifying the products of industry. In other words, 

 his cotton crop would be larger : his com, 

 wheat, rice, oats, barley, horses, mules, hogs, 

 cattle, sheep, butter, and vegetables, would be 

 the produce of his farm. 



If however, the cotton crop is to be given up 

 one-half after all the reductions of it which we 

 have sanctioned, to what eL«e can the planter of 

 the South so profitably turn his attention ? To 

 grain ? He already, in ordinarii years, pro- 

 duces twice as much as the Middle States, and 

 about one-eighth more than the ^Vest. In In- 

 dian com alone, the produce of the South, by 

 her last censss, was 300 million bushels. If the 

 planter of Cotton is engaged in an unprofitable 

 business, much more is the grain raised. The 

 interest on capital invested in Agriculture at 

 the North is less than three per cent : here it is 

 about four per cent That the rice and tobacco 

 culture might be profitably extended in this 

 State, and will be in the South-\Vest and Texas, 

 is true. Millions of acres in South Carolina, in- 

 cluding the lower countrj, are admirably adapt- 

 ed to the raising of rich grasses. This might be 

 added as another branch of industiy". from which 

 reasonable profits could be realized, and miehc 

 very well be added to the cotton planters" in- 

 come. The business of tanning and the manu- 

 factures cf leather might be and ought to be en- 

 larged. In this State, all the means of a success- 

 ful pursuit of this branch of industry ore at hand 

 and witliin the reach of ever\- one. Hides, lime, 

 bark, and mechanics, (slaves.) are abundant — 

 A few years ago. the capital engaged in Uiis 

 branch of industry in Massachusetts was 814,- 

 000,000, while tlia't of Cotton was $1X000,000, 

 and wool less than 811,000,000. 



Another great inducement to South Carolina 

 to persevere in the cultivation of Cotton (where, 

 in reference to quantity, it can be advantain;- 

 ously growni is tJiat it is now highly pmbable 

 that very many planters in Mississippi, Lovisi- 

 ana, and Texas, will in future direct tlieir atten- 

 tion to tobacco aud sugar. Their lands are well 

 ' adapted to these productions, and the reduction 

 1 of the duty on American sugar in Great Britain 

 ' is one strong rea,son why the culture should be 

 I extended. 



