No. 133.] 197 



depends on the demand «ind supply. Increase then the demand 

 for labor. Mnitipl j and diversify employments — build factories- 

 construct iiiachinery — manufacture every thing which the circum- 

 stances in which you are placed will permit — pursue ever^ branch 

 of the mechanic arts — bring forth the mineral Avealth which lies 

 dead and useless in your mountains — diversify your agri cultural 

 pursuits, and thus 3'ou create a demand for labor. You change 

 the relative position of the employer and the employed. Com- 

 petition is in favor of labor, not against it. Its pecuniary return 

 is consequently increased, and reaches the highest point which 

 the profitable employment of capital will permit. \Foreign pro- 

 ductions give place to those of our own industry. Tbe immense 

 competitfbn existing between employers, "created by national 

 independence, in the industrial arts, causes the demand for labor 

 which I have described. But let us reverse the picture. Admit 

 a deluge of foreign goods — perhaps the refuse of the European 

 market. Our own manufacturing establishments suspend or 

 greatly curtail their operations. The building connected with 

 manufacturing ceases ; machinery is no longer in demand ; the 

 mechanic arts languish -, our iron slumbers in undlsttirbed repose 

 in its ancient resting-place ; the unemployed labor of other 

 avocations is concentrated upon agriculture, which becomes the 

 principal employment, and, as an inevitable consequence, the rate 

 of wages sinks to its lowest level. The laborer no longer stands 

 on the vantage ground he before occupied, but instead of making 

 his own terms, finds his labor brought to a glutted market, and Is 

 obliged to submit to the great law which lessens the price as the 

 supply is increased. 



Another effect of the independence of which I am speaking, 

 will be to improve, mentally and physically, the entire mass of 

 the people. The great aim of the present age is. the improvement 

 of the individual man. It is thus that humanity is to be advanced. 

 Formerly the Man was nothing — the State was every thing. 

 France was great and glorious in the splendid reign of LouisXIV. ; 

 Init a Frenchman was utterly insignificant. All that is now 

 changed. To raise, to instruct, to qualify for usefulness each 

 individual of the race— this is the end now to be reached. To 

 give manhood to man is better than to extend our limits on tTie 



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