1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 145 



this spirit of luxury and indolence makes no inroads upon his 

 own domains, and do not paralyze his own means of livelihood 

 and success. • 



The increase of luxury among us, especially within a 

 few years past, is most remarkable ; and I may be allowed 

 to refer to it, as not without a powerful influence upon the 

 agricultural community and interests. We hear great and con- 

 stant complaints, of the vast sums of money which we send 

 abroad, or of the debts we contract to foreign nations, for silk 

 and other articles of mere luxury. I agree in reprobating, with 

 all the emphasis that can be used, the folly and criminality of 

 such conduct. But the mistake lies not in the introduction of 

 silk more than in any other article of mere luxury. The folly 

 and the criminality lie not in buying silk, but in buying any 

 thing which we can live without, and running in debt for any 

 thing which we have not the means of paying for ; and with the 

 present habits of the community, are not likely to have the 

 means of paying for. 



The secret of much of the adversity of our condition, for it 

 must be called adversity with nations as with individuals, 

 whenever they are in debt and find it inconvenient, difficult, or 

 impossible to pay, is our own neglect of production. Labor in 

 some form or another is the creator of wealth. All wealth 

 must come out of the earth or the sea. Credit is not wealth. 

 Luxury and labor will seldom be found to subsist together. 

 Luxury does nothing for its own support, but it is a parasitical 

 plant, which, like the misletoe, draws its nourishment from that 

 to which it attaches itself, always to the injury of the health, 

 and too often to the destruction of the life of the tree on which 

 it subsists. Luxury is a direct tax upon labor. It can be sus- 

 tained only by the fruits of labor. Now what is the state of 

 things among us, of which we hear so much complaint ? We 

 are largely in debt to Europe. We are deeply involved at 

 home. We have imported and consumed to an enormous 

 amount, silks, laces, wines, artificial flowers, feathers, and gew- 

 gaws. Luxury of the most extravagant character has paralyzed 

 19 



