172 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Dec. IS, 1629. 



JUDGE PITMAN'S ADDRESS. 



O'The follott-ing ablo Aililrcss will well repay atlon- 

 Uvo perusal. Even those who may not coincide with 

 iho author in all his opinion:) relative to political econo- 

 my, will not fail to do honiaf;o to the talents, research, 

 and argumentative powers of their advocato. 



Annual .liUress delivered before the /ihorle hland 

 Societi) for the Eueouragenxnt of Dnmestic In- 

 dutlry, October 21, 1S28. lit) Joii.v I'itma.v. 

 " All ia the gift of Induxtry ; whate'er 

 Exalts, cnibellishes, and renders lifo 

 Delightful."— TAuHUwi. 

 To iiliitiact ourselves occaisioiially from things 

 oi private .concern, and cultivate tlio^u allVctions 

 wliicli lead us to promote the public good, is plea- 

 sant and profitahlc. Self-love requires no .stimulus ; 

 itisthe social principle which must he fostered and 

 encouraged. The poet has said, that self-love and 

 social arc the same ; Hnd when mev shall act upon 

 this princij>l(!, wc shall have less occasion for legal 

 rcstraint.s. Self love is the cen/npeJa/, and social 

 love the centrifugal forre, lioth arc necessary to 

 keep us in the orhit in which our Creatordcsigned 

 that we should move, for the production of the 

 greatest quantity of human happine.'is. We are 

 comniunded to lovo our neighbor as ourselves, 

 which presupposes that it is lawful for tis to love 

 ourselves, and that the same proportion of love 

 should be e.Mciidcd to 6ur neighbor. The man 

 who practically has no regard for himself or his 

 neighbor, who makes no effort to pronioic his own 

 happiness or his neighbor's, but jiursucs a career 

 destructive of both, is the object of detestation 

 and punishment. The social principle i.s promo- 

 ted by those associations wljo.se object i.s the pub- 

 lic good, which, drawing njen together for the in- 

 terchange of benevolent thoughts, and for devi- 

 sing the means to produce the greatest good, call 

 forth ilio best faculties and aflections of our na- 

 ture, and teach lis, by cx|)erioncc, how nnich hap- 

 ])ier wo are, in imit.uing his perfections, who 

 sendcth the blessings of his providence " upon the 

 evil and the good," than in devising and executing 

 Echcmcs to bcncflt only ourselves. 



The object of the Society I have now the ho- 

 nor to address, is, the encouragement of Domestic 

 Industry. That is the best kind of charity which 

 enables men to help themselves, it gives most in- 

 dividual happiness, and prevents those vices which 

 attend on indolence. To encourage industry, is, 

 to prepare men for tiie recejilion of those good 

 lirinciples which flourish best in n good soil, 

 whore they may produce n hundred and a thou- 

 sand fold. 



It Iiiispleasrd the beneficent author of our ex- 

 istence, to make our hajipincss in this lifo dc|icnd- 

 ent upon our indusiry. He has endowed us with 

 faculties and powers, and |)laccd within our reach 

 the means of sustenance, ofcompojence, and even 

 of luxury, and .sailh unto u.-i, in a langiuige not to 

 bo misinterpreted, — " Work out now t!iy temporal 

 happiness." Ilis goodjjrss, however, has not 

 stopjjed hero ; not oidy has ho iiirnished us with 

 the ]iow('r, and tlic means, and the motives to la- 

 bor, but he has given tis servants to labor for us 

 with an activity and power suri)assing, beyond all 

 compare, the activity and strength of man. I re- 

 fer not now to the beasts of the field whose labors 

 lire so essential to the operaliuii of agriculture, but 

 to ihogo agoiitB which tliu iugoutiity of lunn has 

 diacoyertid and reduced to his service in the olo- 

 mnnts of water and lire, by which the mnnufar- 

 turing industry of man is rendered so productive. 



the fucililieg of commerce increased, and the i und enables the farmer to ascertain v^ith 

 means afforded of scattering these products fur more certainty the fair value of agricultural iub 



I and wide to clothe the naked, whilst the hungry 

 I are fed, und " none are sent empty away." Who 

 I then can doubt as to the im])onancc of encoura- 

 I ging indu.stry ? 



Hut here a question occurs, which in our coun- 

 try has become of great political moment ; — Shall 

 we encourage domestic or foreign industry? Shall 

 we use the faculties, and jiowers, and means, and 



ministers of nature, which God has given us for tudu and importance 



and the rent of land. The homo market is n 

 and the foreign market is subject to the control 

 other nations, und affected by their want, th 

 commercial treaties, and all those contingenc 

 which affect the relations and commerce of dill 

 cnt countries with each other. To a nation, the 

 fore, that has maile considerable advances in mi 

 iiliictures, the home market is of the first uiag 



the [iromotion of our own comfort and hajipincss, 

 or .shall >vc neglect the most productive of these, 

 and though it seems agreed that wc may lawfully 

 feed ourselves, are we to look abroad for the co- 

 vering which must prevent " the winds of heaven 

 from visiting" us " too roughly," and for those ele- 

 gancies, which gratify the taste, and aflord more 

 substantial comfort to those whose labor and inge- 

 nuity have produced them .' 



Be not alarmed ! I am not now about to enter 

 into the mysteries of the tariff, with which I do 

 not profess myself to be sufficiently acquainted 

 I will not now meddle with that topic which has 

 been so fruitful in congressional controversy, and 

 has aroused a spirit in the South, which every 

 lover of union would rejoice to see laid, if not in 

 the Red Sea, at least in the Trans-Atlantic, by the 

 music of our looms and spindles. The present 

 occasion, however, requires of me, in an address 

 to a society whose cxpre.ss object is the promotion 

 of domestic industry, that I should not abandon 

 the subject without suggesting some truths, which 

 may be generally admitted, in vindication of the 

 right and duty of every nation to encourage its 

 own industry. 



By domestic industry I would understand the 

 whole industry of the nation ; its manufacturing, 

 commercial, navigating, and, though last, not least, 

 its agricultural industry. Agricultural industry 

 is so essential to the existence of the nation, that 

 it needs no other encouragement than will be 

 found in the encouragement of manufactures, and 

 Commerce. A home market is provided for the 

 liroducls of Agriculture by the increase of domes- 

 tic manufactures, and a foreign market by the aid 

 of navigation and commerce. The home market 

 is however of the greatest importance. Inasmuch 

 as every mechanic and manufacturer requires a 

 certain quantity of food daily, for which he is de- 

 pendent upon the fanner; this creates a constant 

 and steady demand, and the price will be regula- 

 ted by the quantity which the farmer produces : 

 but as the/orci'n-ii manufacturer will buy his pro- 

 vision of the farmer of liis own country, our far- 

 mers cannot expect to feed him except so far as 

 ho finds a deficiency nt home; and this is subject 

 to the regulation of the government under which 

 ho lives, and to the course of trade between that 

 country and other countries. The demand created 

 by the homo market is vastly greater than the de- 

 mand created by the foreign market. The demand 

 in any foreign country is generally for so much 

 only as may be necessary to supply the deficiency 

 occa.sioncd by the partial failure of its crops ; the 

 demand of the homo market is for all that is ne- 

 cessary to feed those who do not raise their own 

 provision. Every nation must first feed itself, ami 

 can only export its surplus ; there must therefore 

 he a deficiency ofagricultmul product abroad, and 

 a surplus at home, to unable the farmer to derive 

 any benrfii from the foreign market. The home 

 market is thereforo the most constant and certain. 



The foreign market, however, isof consequer 

 to the farmer in two ways: — Isl, by providing 

 salo for his surplus produce ; and 2d, by raisi 

 the price at home of all the rest, which woi 

 have been depressed below the lair market pri 

 if this suqilus produce had remained to glut t 

 hfime market. So that both the foreign and t 

 home market are necessary for the full prosper 

 of agriculture ; and commerce, navigation, a 

 manufactures arc not her rivals, but her hat 

 maids. It would be little better than suicide, 

 agriculture to destroy manufactures at the instij: 

 tion of commerce, and a most narrow minded a 

 short sighted policy, for commerce to demand eu 

 a sacrifice. 



We are now met by that raasim in politic 

 economy, that the citizens of every nation shoi 

 buy where they can the cheapest, und that no r 

 tion should encourage the manufacture of any i 

 tide at home, which can be bought cheaj>er abro; 

 We are easily deceived by words ; that which 

 nominally cheap, may be aclualli/ dear. 



The value of money is in piX)j)ortion to the d 

 ficulty of acquiring it, and to the ipiantity of i 

 necessaries of life which wc can purchase w 

 any given sum. To the rich, everything is die; 

 and to the poor, everything is dear. 



Rloney is valuable only as the medium of i 

 change. If we wish to buy cloth, and have i 

 thing but corn to buy it with, wc may cx'-han 

 our corn for the cloth, without the aid of inon< 

 if the person who has the cloth wishes for . 

 corn ; ifllio owner of the cloth does not want 

 corn, we must then sell our corn for money, : 

 with the money ])urchuse the cloth ; and thus < 

 have been able to exchange onr corn for clc 

 through the medium of money. In this exchun 

 he value of our corn to us, was the quanlit\ : 

 quality of the cloih we obtained for it, wiili 

 any reference to the quantity of money wo w 

 obliged to use for the purpose of making the ■ 

 change. If we should get more cloth for . 

 corn than we expected, we should consider i 

 cloth cheap, if less, dear, whether we bou. 

 cheap, therefore, would depend u|)ou how we ^' 

 If in one year, our corn should sell for :, 

 cents a bushel, and in the next year fur one duii 

 a bushel, yet if in tho first year, wc couM gi'i 

 much of everything that wo wanted for the lil I,. 

 cents, as in the next year for the one dollar, 

 corn, though nominally dearer the second ye 

 than the first, was in truth of the .same vulue. Tl 

 greater or less money price of any commoiliiy 

 what in generul estimation renders it dear 

 cheap, but this is fallacious ; we must compai 

 this price with the price of labor and other coi; 

 modilies al the same time, and if it bear." tl 

 the same relation to the price of labor and otlii 

 commodities as il did formerly, it is Doitln 

 more nor less cheap than it was (hen. 



The price, therefore, of what is offered lor sal 

 whether dear or cheap, will depend upoo tl 



