&l)c faxmtx's iHcmtljIn bisitor. 



61 



must increase the aggregate enormously. When 

 we take into consideration ili.it the immense ex- 

 tent of this country ia watered I > v the most ex- 

 tensive river:* on the lace of the earth — rivers 

 which are navigable thousands of miles, for ves- 

 sels of the largest size, giving an outlet to the 

 productions thousands of miles in the interior — 

 when we take into consideration the fact that 

 railroads connect and bind together everv part of 

 this vast territory; and that this territory i.s in- 

 habited bj the must enterprising, energetic, and 

 persevering class of people the sun ever shone 

 upon, enjoying every variety of climate, produc- 

 ing the must important staples in the greatest 

 abundance — when we lake into consideration 

 these things, in connection with the all impor- 

 tant Diet, that with all these blessings, we have 

 the most perfect form of government ever inven- 

 ted by mortal man, scum' idea can be formed of 

 our present position ami of our prospects fur fu- 

 ture. What is a debt of one hundred millions of 

 dollars to such a country and such a people ? It 

 is a mere bagatelle. The most unlavorable fea- 

 ture al i this ot tiny other debt the government 



of this country may create, is its ultimate pay- 

 ment, or rather payment at maturity. It is a 

 desirable thing to feel satisfied that our govern- 

 ment can pa) its debt ultimately ; hut the longer 

 a loan has to run the more valuable it is as an 

 investment. Holders of government stock are 

 like the Frenchman who was told one of his 

 debtors had failed. In presenting his demand, 

 payment was at once offered to him, hut the 

 Frenchman said he did not want the money if he 

 coiilil pay, hut it' lu; could not he must have it. — 

 So with holders of government stocks; if the 

 government is able to pay they do not want the 

 money; but if the government cannot pay, they 

 must have it at once. 



The government of the United States con do 

 what no other government on the face of the 

 earth can — it can pay oft" every fraction of its 

 debt, without any alteration, modification or in- 

 crease of the system and rate of taxation, long 

 before it reaches maturity. For the purpose of 

 showing the resources of the three governments, 

 from which the annual expenditures ot each are 

 derived, we give a comparative statement of the 

 income and disbursements of each : — 



Revenue and Expenditures of the United States, 



Great Britain and France. 



1817. United States. Oreat Britain. France. 



Revenue, #26.346,790 #2513 250 000 #233.049 439 



Expenditures, 23,000,000 272,1:30 000 291,134,883 



Kxcess of revenue, 3,346,790 — — 



Kxccgs ol' expendi- 

 ture.-, 



Tax per head of 

 population, #1 20 



This gives at a glance tin 

 country. It appeals that while 

 has an excess of revenue of al 

 of dollars, Great Britain has a 



16 530 000 #8,035,444 



ja 00 #8 00 



position of each 

 the United States 

 out three millions 

 leliciency of more 

 than sixteen and a half millions, and France 

 more than eight millions. The lax per head on 

 the population ol' each, supposing the revenue 

 was raised in that way, shows how oppressive -i 

 must lie to the people of Great Britain and France. 

 In the expenditures of the Unit! d Slates we have 

 partly made an estimate, as we wish to show the 

 ordinary expenditures of the government com- 

 pared with that of other countries. The expen- 

 ditures on account of the war we have been en- 

 gaged in, are of an extraordinary character, and 

 have nothing to do with the annual expenditures 

 in lime of peace. — JY. Y. Herald, March 31. 



How TO ENLARGE Vf.uf.ta BI.KS.— A vast in- 

 crease of food ma) he obtained by managing ju- 

 diciously, antl systematically carrying oil! for a 

 time the principle of increase. Take, for in- 

 stance, a pea. Plant it in a very rich ground. 

 Allan it to hear the first year, say half a dozen 

 pods only : remove all others. Save the largest 

 single pea of these— sow it the next year, and 

 retain of the produce three pods only: sow the 

 largest one the following year, and retain one 

 pod. Again select the largest, and the next year 

 the sort will by this time have trebled its size 

 and weight. Ever afterwards sow the largest 

 se. d. By these means you will get peas (or any 

 thing else,) of a hulk of which we at present 

 have no conception. — Exchange paper. 



The public works of the three great western 

 Slates Ohio, Indiana ami Illinois, are in a very 

 promising position, and hid lair to be unusually 

 productive. In consequence of a freshet, the 

 Ohio Canals will not he opened before the middle 

 of this mouth — April ; the canals of Indiana are 

 already navigable and in admirable order, and 

 the Illinois ami Michigan Canal is ready for busi- 

 ness, and as soon as navigation oti the lakes is 

 resumed, this line will he opened with every de- 

 monstration ol' rejoicing mi the part of the peo- 

 ple of Illinois. Large quantities of freight have 

 already accumulated along the line ami at each 

 termination of this canal. A steamer arrived at 



St. Louis a lew days since from New Orleans, 

 with four hundred and thirty-five hogsheads of 

 sugar, &c, consigned to different houses in Chi- 

 cago. This will he .shipped from St. Louis, by 

 steam, to Peru, and thence to its destination, 

 through the Illinois Canal, and mil he the first 

 shipment from New Orleans via St. Louis to Chi- 

 cago. This i.s a course of trade very In lie. thought 

 ol' a few years ago, and it is destined to he one 

 of the most important movements of the age in 

 the history of the western country. The open- 

 ing of this communication between the waters 

 of the Mississippi and ihose of the great hikes, 

 will he of vast importance to New Orleans, as it 

 will open to that city the trade of an immense 

 tract ol territory, which has heretofore been shut 

 out for want of proper communication. Im- 



use quantities of lumber will he transported 



on this canal, and large tolls will he received 

 from this item of business. The work is fully 

 capable of transporting all the merchandise ami 

 produce offering for shipment, without delay, 

 even if the business along the line is equal to the 

 expectations of the most sanguine friend of the 

 concern. 



In connection with the completion and open- 

 ing of the Illinois and Michigan canal, is the fact 

 that the people of Illinois have voted lu levy all 

 additional tax upon their properly, of two mills 

 on a dollar, for ihe purpose of paying the princi- 

 pal of the internal improvement debt of the 

 State. This is the first time the people of any 

 State in the Union ever voted directly upon such 

 a question, and the result of this is, under the 

 circumstances, more extraordinary than had it 

 been just the reverse. This fact is sufficient to 

 satisfy the greatest skeptics, that ihe people of 

 this country have the disposition to tax them- 

 selves to anv extent to meet the claims of their 

 creditors.— JV. Y. Herald, ,4pril8. 



The decree of the provisional government 

 abolishing slavery in all the colonics, is of great 

 importance, not only in a moral hut in a com- 

 mercial point of view. The present French 

 West India colonies aie the following: — 



Free population. Slaves. Total. 

 Martinique, 40,000 117.50-2 157,502 



Guadaloiipe, 32,059 95.609 127,008 



Guiana, 5,050 16,592 81,648 



Total 77,115 229,703 30(3,818 



The productions of these islands are as follows: 



Sugar and Molasses, lbs. Coffee, Ihs. 

 Martinique, 50,052,303 1,142,915 



Guailaluiipe, 85,t i50,338 2,013,779 



Guiana, 5,989,321 41,064 



Total 157,692,022 3,l!t8,458 



This produce all goes to Fru , and the gov- 

 ernment derived last year 37,122,000 francs, sn) 

 $7,000,000, from the" duty on the sugar. The 

 probability now is, under the decree alluded to, 

 that this supply will he entirely cut oil, and ihis 

 large demand — equal to the whole Louisiana 

 crop — must fall upon foreign sources for French 

 consumption. The consumption of Great Britain 

 in 1847, as compared with 1841, was as follows: 



18 i I. 1817. Iniaaa-r. 



Sugar, Ihs., 496,571,512 732,452,962 235,881,450 



What CONSTITUTES GOOD FARMING. — About 



2000 years ago, when the old Roman, Columella, 

 was asked what constituted good farming, he 

 answered "first good ploughing." On again be- 

 ing asked what came next, he replied, "good 

 ploughing ;" thus strongly impressing ihe occa- 

 sion for good tillage over every other couside 

 ration. 



The reports of the Bureau of Topographical 

 Engineers present some most remarkable state- 

 ineuts of the commerce and tonnage of the west- 

 ern lakes and i ivers. We give the most interest- 

 ing extracts, for the purpose of showing the im- 

 mense internal commerce of the Western coun- 

 try :- 



Ihe net money value of the lake commerce 

 for the year 1846, was $01,914,910; having near- 

 ly doubled in five years. For the same year, the 

 total amount of American lake tonnage was 

 106,836 ions, and of merchandise, 3,861,088 tons. 

 British, 30,000 tons. Estimates from highly in- 

 telligent authority, make the cost of constructing 

 this tonnage, $6,000,000. The passenger trade 

 is also an important item of lake commerce. — 

 The number of passengers in all directions, is 

 Stated at 250,000, which, at five dollars each, as 



uyerage charges, gives for its value §1,250.000. 

 The number of mariners employed was 0,972. 



The aggregate population depending upon the 

 lakes for means of communicating with a mar- 

 ket, in 1840, was 2,928,925. 



Of the western inns, the Mississippi, and its 

 direct and indirect tributaries, it appears from 

 the official returns of the Treasury Department, 

 that ihe steamboat tonnage for ihe year 1842 was 



120,278, I for 1810, 249,055. It is supposed 



that there are 300,000 tons of other boats (not 

 Steamboats) employed on these livers, w hich, add- 

 ed to the steamboat tonnage, g ves for the year 

 1842, an aggregate of 420,278 tons. The flat- 

 boat navigation is supposi d to cany to market, in 

 one year, 000,000 Ions of produce, while the 

 steamboat freight amounts to 1,202,780 ions, or a 

 total of merchandise transported to and from 

 New Orleans on the western risers (exclusive of 

 the way-trade,) for 1842, of 1,802,780 tons. The 

 probable money value uf this commerce, for the 

 same year, can he stateil at $50,500,902, and for 

 1846, according to a statement from the Treasury 

 Department, $02,200,719. This includes, of 

 course, only the direct river convrierce, and not 

 that immense amount of commodities interchan- 

 ged between place and place on the western 

 rivers, and which forms no part of ihe New Or- 

 leans commerce. Of this latter, the total net 

 value can be staled for 1840 at $148,306,719— the 

 floating value cannot be less than double ihis 

 amount. The passenger trade, too, is very great, 

 and i.s supposed to have yielded for 1846, 

 $3,191,982 — making the tola! commerce ol the 

 western rivers $151,498,701. The. steam tonnage 

 for 1846 is slated at 249,055 Ions. 



The total cost of the river craft engaged in 

 this trade, was $12,942,355, anil sustained at an 

 expense of $20,190,242 per annum. The num- 

 ber ol hands employ ed (not shore employ ed) was 

 25,114. These amounts the Bureau considers 

 too small, or at least not at all exaggarated; and 

 that if $183,009,725 he- assumed as a reliable ex- 

 position of the western commerce for 1840, in- 

 stead of $151,498,701, it will more nearly ap- 

 proximate to the truth. 



The total population depending upon the 

 western rivers as a means of communication 

 with a market, for ihe year 1840, was 6,570,027 — 

 ihe rate ol' increase from 1840 to 1845 having 

 been about 5 per cent. The Mississippi, with its 

 tributaries, which traverse every section of this 

 immense valley, furnish 10,074 miles of good 

 sieainhoat navigation, thus affording great natu- 

 ral facilities for the development of unlimited 

 resource .. 



The tonnage of Lake Cliamplain is stated at 

 3,192 ions, and the value of ihe export anil im- 

 port trade for 1840, $11,200,059. The total a- 

 inount appropriated for improvement of its har- 

 bors, is $191,500. The tonnage of Lake Ontario 

 is staled to he 65,636, of which 42j325 Ions are 

 British, and 23,31 1 American. The export and 

 import trade for 1846, is stated at $14,023,907, 

 and the total amount expended for the improve- 

 ment of its harbors, $608,902. On Lake Erie, 

 the total amount expended for harbor improve- 

 ments was $1,348,249, and Ihe toial amount of its 

 commerce (exports and imports) in 1846, $91,- 

 358,350. The total amount of expenditures on 

 Lake Michigan for harbor improvements is 

 $004,447; amount of commerce not known. — 

 For Chicago, however, it amounted, in 1840, to 

 $3,927,150. 



The total amount of American lake tonnage is 

 106,830 tons. The total British lake tonnage is 



