1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



417 



Britain a reciprocity treaty existed, 'it was con- 

 trary to law. An American ship pays the 

 same pilotage as a British vessel in the United 

 States — and vice versa : but the amount of the 

 chartre rests in the breast oftlie proper authorities 

 in both countries. The pilot charge in New Or- 

 leans, and in Calcutta, are, I suppose, greater than 

 in New York and the British channel. Those de- 

 pend on the local authorities, and these authoiities 

 do not look to the amount, but to the value of mo- 

 ney ; and it would be hard indeed if a Mississippi 

 or a Hoogly pilot should be compelled to labor tor 

 the same amount, as his brother in New York or 

 the channel. In short, equality in charging the 

 citizens of both countries, is the basis of the treaty; 

 and how, because Great Britain taxes a patentee 

 fr-om the United States £100 or 8-lSO, which is 

 just what she taxes her own, the United Slates, 

 can acquire a right to create an equality of princi- 

 ple, I am at a loss to discover. It would be hard, 

 if the government of the United Slates charged 

 SIOOO ior a patent to a citizen, that the Britisli 

 Minister should mereU^, on that account, increase 

 his $430 to -S 1000. 



G. L. C. 



From the New Vorlv Journal of Commerce. 

 PRICE OF BREAD-STUFFS. 



Wc would not needlessly interrupt the enjoy- 

 ments of those who look forward to the next wii - 

 teras a time of general starvation. But lest their 

 dreams should be too suddenly broken, we must 

 call their attention to the facts contained in the 

 last news (i-om Europe res|)ecting the prices of 

 bread-stuffs there. We happen to know of an 

 operation at Liverpool, by which fifty thousand 

 bushels of wheat are to be immediately forwarded 

 to this country, and by the prices which are pub- 

 lished, there is Utile doubt that much larger sup- 

 plies will be soon forthcoming; for the long con- 

 tinuance of high prices, the successful issue of the 

 recent importations, and the fact, well ascertained, 

 that our domestic supplies are inadequate to our 

 wants, will give new confidence in fliture ope- 

 rations. Let us see at what prices we can be sup- 

 plied. 



In Paris the price of bread is about 2 cents, and 

 in London 3 cents per lb. VVe found a shilling 

 Joaf in New York yesterday to weigh 2 lbs. 3 oz. 

 which is 6 cents per lb. The price of wheat in 

 Paris is 112 cents a bushel, and the price of flour 

 S5 a barrel. In London flour is ^8 per barrel. 

 In the ports of the Mediterranean and of the Bal- 

 tic, bread stufls are much cheaper than in either 

 London or Paris. The price of good wheat at 

 Naples is 2s. lOd. sterling a bushel, or 67 cents. 

 From any one of these places freight might be 

 obtained at 33 cents per barrel on flour, and r2i^- 

 cents per bushel on wheat, or about half the rate 

 charged on transportation of the same articles 

 from Rochester, and one fourth of what is charged 

 from Ohio by one house, at a freight of 49 cents. 

 The duty oa flour is one dollar a barrel, and on 

 wheat 25 cents a bushel. Wheat, therefore, can 

 be imported from Naples and laid down in New 

 York at 125 to 135 cents per bushel, all charges 

 paid, and a hundred other places at the same or a 

 less price. Corn and rye are not burdened with a 

 duty, and may be imported to great advantage. 



Vol. IV— 53 



The countries of Europe and Asia afford stores of 

 bread stuff's almost inexhaustible, so that the sup- 

 plies for this country, it they should run to the 

 highest possible quantity, could only affect prices 

 in a very slight decree. Free trade will supply 

 all our wants, and the cost, wilh a little mercantile 

 profit, will not carry prices above 150 cents for 

 wheat, 100 cents for rye and Indian corn, 50 cents 

 lor oats per bushel, and .^7 50 for flour per barrel. 

 So let the desponding cheer up, for no one who 

 is industrious and frui^al need starve in 1836 or 

 1837. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 PRICES OF GBAIPfj &C. &C. 



Sir — I had scarcely read, with a delight that I 

 am unable to describe, the observations of Taylor 

 of Caroline, on the effect of the funding system,, 

 when I encountered the "fi-ee trade" doctrine of 

 the Journal of Commerce. Its object was, (affer 

 showing that bread was 6 cents per lb. in New 

 York, 3 in London, and 2 in Paris, and that wheat 

 could be had for 67 cenis in Naples,) to prove, 

 that if "free trade" (and a long south-west wind, 

 I suppose) was to continue, there would be no 

 danger of starvation in the cities and rural dis- 

 tricts of the United States. What is to be done, 

 if owing to bad harvests, or any other cause, Eu- 

 rope should become its own consumer, and cease 

 to be able to export, the sage writer of the para- 

 graph has not deigned to say. But this language 

 more than ever convinces me of the utter futility of 

 the doctrines of political economy, and the doctrine 

 so often repeated, and I am almost tempted to say 

 as often refuted by practice, that things will find 

 their own level. Let war be undertaken, or fo- 

 reign dictation tarael}' submitted to, because you 

 are literally unable to sustain a contest — and per- 

 haps the corn laws of Britain, and the protection 

 of the agriculturist, will not appear so absurd. 

 But what is the cause of this state of things 1 

 The mania for stock jobbing, for banking, for 

 speculation — and much of this based, as is now 

 clearly proved, on fiaud and forgery. 



The "empire state" boasts of its progress. Vir- 

 ginia and the south, lament their relative decline. 

 Is it to be wondered at, when we see the hot bed 

 system of the one, and the simple cultivation of 

 the other? The southern stales are sinking, 

 when the others are rising. Is th^re no remedy? 

 There is. And it is to be found in the employ- 

 ment of such methods as the youthful state of 

 Georgia has used, in the creation of means, 

 to place within her borders the arsenal of the 

 south, and lav down a rail road from the At- 

 lantic to the Gulf For while the south has been 

 talking about a scheme, as visionary as its foun- 

 ders, and as impracticable as it is expensive — the 

 forcing the port of Charleston into the position of 

 the emporium of the south — Vvhile this has been 

 a subject of .^peculation, inquir^^, and declamatory 

 flummery, what has not Georgia done? She has 

 'employed a talented and patriotic member ofcon- 

 fjress to urge her suit — display the advantages of 

 her patriotism, and has succeeded, comparatively 

 at a blow, in procuring S2,500,000 from the city 

 of Boston, for the purposes I have mentioned. 

 Thus, the name of Thnmas Butler King will be 

 rendered celebrated, and well worthy of envy and 



