No. (). 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



87 



'>',tK 



per week per quarter, ciiiinl lo 4J ccius it\ a buslicl of 

 whent, or $'i 34 a year. 



Tlic commerclnl elloct o( tliia syalein has been to 

 encourage speeulniKiii. 'J'bo iiuMiu-iua ililU-ieney ap- 

 pears in ii<c eligluest ilegrci> probable, tbe Kiaiii ilcal- 

 ers ivitiirally wiilibold tbeir stock oii band Irom tbc 

 market ; orders are sent to tbc continent lor 

 grain, to be imported in bond, to be entered as 

 Boon as the full of duties will answer ; prico.i 

 •re pushed up by all the arts of trade ; and, as 

 •0011 as the duty sinks to tbs desired rates, (say 6s. 

 &J.,) tbc nuole stock in bond is entered lor consump- 

 tion, and tbus added to tbc general stock; and, if tbe 

 deficiency proves imaginary, or small, prices fall as 

 rapidly as they rose before, tbe doty runs up again, and 

 the speculators bavc received tbe wbole benefit. Tbui 

 a ganililing cbaracicr is imparted to trade, as detrimen- 

 tal to c iniincrcial morals as to ibe general prosperity. 

 From July, 18'i8, to December, 18:>8, tbe quantity en- 

 tered was 6,7S6.SS0 quarters, of wliicb 5,UlS8.!)4(i, or 

 75 per cent., paiil duties not e.\cceding 6s. tiU ; and ol 

 this, ;i,225,v'():! or nearly .')0 per cent, of the wbole 

 quantity, paid only Is. duty. In tbe year 18:i7, there 

 were entered for consumption, 2X3, 7i»3 quarters wiieat, 

 and 40,187 hundred weight of flour, paying duties to 

 the amount of X:)I16,8G',). In ilie year 183S, there 

 we_re entered 1,740,8UC quarters wheat and 3i)>'i,- 

 857 cwt. flour — being more than seven times the 

 quonlity of wheat, and nearly ten limes the quan- 

 tity of fljur entered the preceding year, paying only 

 £140,533 duties, or less than 50 percent.; whereas, 

 had tbe rate of the duty been equal in both years, the 

 duty in the latter would have been £-2,3il3,12.9. From 

 Isi September, 1838. to oOth November, 1839, duty 

 was paid on 4,532,6.')1 quarters wheat, tbe pi ices ran- 

 ging in the time from Cls 10(/. to 8Is. 4d., and the 

 duties ranging Irom Is. to 20s. Sd. : but the average of 

 duties was under 3s. 7d. (15, 16.) 



Tbe tendency of this system to general impoverish- 

 ment, and to tbe increase of misery and discontent 

 among the poorer classes, is already awakening in- 

 tense observation in Great Britain. The manufacto- 

 ries stop work, because orders do not come from Ameri- 

 ca: and the orders are not sent, because that which 

 payment might be mode to a large amount will not be 

 received on any just and reasonable terms. The goods 

 are wanted here, and our free industry is abundantly 

 able to produce the means of payment; but the great 

 elaple of the northwest is under an interdict. The 

 operatives are thrownoutof employment, and reduced 

 to the lowest means of subsistence, and unable to con- 

 sume a full measure of the products of agriculture, 

 and thousands are made paupers, and become an abso- 

 lute charge upon the land. The consumption of agri- 

 cultural products is diminished; the agricultural labo- 

 rers share the common distress; and agriculture itself, 

 the very object sought to be benefitted by this unnatu- 

 ral arrangement is oppressed by its own protection. — 

 It is demonstrable that a well-employed, well-paid, 

 well-fed, prosperous community of operatives would 

 consume and pay lor more agricultural products, in 

 addition to the wheat they might import from Ameri- 

 ca, than a depressed and starving community would 

 ■without the wheat. 



The best authorities agree that a very large propor- 

 tion of the misery which we hear of among the factory 

 children, is the result of the corn laws; first diminish- 

 ing the employment and wages of the parent, and then 

 raising the price of his provisions, until sheer want 

 drives him to sacrifice hie children for bread ! Thus, 

 while we are wanting goods, (not, indeed, the neces- 

 saries of lile, but the cnmforts of civilized and refined 

 life,) oar national revenue falling short, and our gra- 

 naries bursting with abundance, England's mills ore 

 standing sti'l, and her poor perishing with hunger — 

 Surely the common instincts of our nature, the en- 

 lightened and philosophic benevolence which regards 

 human happiness as the great object of human society 

 and government, require a faithful e-\amiiiation of this 

 system by all nadons. 



Tbe question, where Great Britain is to look for 

 supplies of wheat to meet either the occasional though 

 frequent deficiencies of her harvests, arising from her 

 uncertain climate; or the regular demand, not now 

 very distant, caused by tbe increase of population be- 

 yond produ'-tion, is one already exciting the attention 

 of her statesmen and political economists. Tbe Bal- 

 tic conlries are an unsafe reliance, because it is suppo- 

 S'^d they have already reached their maximum. Ire- 

 land, from which large quantities of grain have been 

 brought, is now in process of a great moral and soc al 

 revolution, which, by enabling every peasant to eat his 

 daily bread, will not only fiirnish a home market for 

 Irish wheat, but ere long, create a demand for Ameri- 

 can flour in exchnnje frr Irish linen. The qiiamit?- 



of wheat brouabt from Ireland in 1832 was 552,740 

 quarters; in 18d!>, but !)0,()l)0 quarters. (14.) The 

 Black Si a is another source, but the wheal is of inlc- 

 rior ipialiiy; few goods arc taken in payment, leaving 

 tbe balance to be met with specie; the voyage is long, 

 and wheat very likely lo be injured; and the cost of 

 fi eight enormuusly disproporlioned — the cost of freight 

 and charges I'rom O.lessa being from lOs. lo l!)s. per 

 quarter. The ei.x norlhwestern states of this Union, 

 wiib their present products, consumption of goods, 

 and capability ot inciease, exactly meet the exigency. 

 The examinations made by tbe persons employed last 

 year in taking the census, show that the product of 

 wheat in those states, excluding Wiskonsin, in tbe 

 year 18.3.0, was 25,241,607 bushels, equal to 8 6 bush 

 els to each inhabitant; of Indian corn, 67,620,8li8 

 bushels, or 29 8 to each inhabitant; of other kinds of 

 grain, 29,735,202, bushels, ur 10 lo each inhabitant; 

 and the total of all kinds of grain was 48 bushels to 

 each inhabitant. There can be no doubt that the pro- 

 ducts of 1840 was very much greater than this: but 

 there are no means of ascertaining tbe extent of the in- 

 crease. In some extensive sections it has been estinin- 

 icd at one-fourth, and even one-third. The wheat 

 crop of tbe whole United Stales, (excepting Norih 

 Carolina and Kentucky,) was 75,9!)5,787 biiobels, or 

 5 bushels to each person; and of Indian corn, the crop 

 was 301,947,658 bushels, or 20 bus. els to each person. 

 (17.) 



II we now turn again to the six northwestern states 

 and territories of the Union, we shall find that one oi 

 the greatest interests of the nation is tbe filling up of 

 those countries with a suHicient population to complete 

 the social organization. Without requiring that they 

 should be made as populous as England, with her 294 

 inbabitanisto a squaie mile, it may be safely assumed 

 that the structure of society will not be rendered com- 

 plete, in a country so destitute of mountains and waste 

 lands, with a less population than 50 to a square mile; 

 of this number, they now have but a qnaiter. Any 

 policy, of course ot events, which binders the influx 

 of population, is therefore calculated to protract the 

 period of comparative unorganization. 



In addition, those states have burdened themselves 

 with heavy debts, — all incurred for tbe purpose of ma- 

 king roads, canals, and railways. All these improve- 

 ments were calculated with reference to the convey- 

 ance of the products of the soil to mnrkete out of their 

 borders, and all converging, in effect, towards tbe 

 great Atlantic seaports, whence those products s boul 

 seek a European market Tbe stocks of these states 

 are greatly discr.3dited, — chiefly, it isbtlieved, ihroiigb 

 the unfortunate neglect of a well established axiom in 

 finance, which forbids the creation, of a public debt, 

 without a specific pledge of revenue, from ta.xes oi 

 some other source, sutficient to prevent the accumula- 

 tion of interest. And even now, the slates are reluc- 

 tant to tax themselves, and greatly injuring tbc coun- 

 try by delay, because they do not see a fair prospect of 

 sale for the products of their land, which is all they 

 have to sell. And how are they to acquire the menus 

 of paying the taxes nccessaiy to sustain these stocks, 

 unless they have a market for their staples ? And how 

 are tliese public improvements ever to pay for them- 

 selves, unless the produce of the country can be car- 

 ried on them? And whither shall it be carried, if 

 there is to be no foreign market ? 



Tbc Federal Government has expended more than 

 a million of dollars in creating artificial harbors on the 

 upper lakes; ond two or three millions more are re- 

 quired to complete them in such a way, that what has 

 lieen done shall not be destroyed. In addiuon, har- 

 bors are required by the most urgent necessity, along 

 the coasts of Lake Michigan, now, for hundreds ol 

 miles, destitute of a shelter for shipping. These 

 works are all standing still, because the revenue is 

 short; while tbe tooth of Time is rapidly consuming 

 the unfinished constructions. (16.) 



Should it, indeed, come to be settled that there is to 

 be no foreign raarkel for these products, tbe fine coun 

 try under contemplation is not, tlierefore, to be des- 

 paired of Let the necessity once become fippavent, and 

 there will be but one mind among the people of the 

 Nortb-Wcst. The same patriotism which carried our 

 fathers through tbe self-denying non-importation 

 agreements of the Revolution, will produce a fixed de- 

 termination to build up a home market at every sacri- 

 fice. And it can be done. What has been done ol- 

 ready in tbe way of manufactures, shows that it can 

 lie done. The recent application of the hot-blast with 

 aiithractte coal to the making of iron, and the discov- 

 ery of a mine of natural steel, would be auxiliaries of 

 immense value. We could draw to our factories the 

 best workmen of Europe, attracted less by the temp- 

 tation of wages, than by (he desire to leave liberty and 



land as the inheritance of their children. Bui it 

 would take a long time to huild up a manufacuiring 

 interest adequate to supply tbc warns of the N. West, 

 or to consume the produce of those wide fields; and 

 the burden of taxation for internal improvcmenia, un- 

 completed and unproductive, would be very heavy 

 and hard to bear, and all the population that is con- 

 centrated upon manufactures, is so much kept back 

 from tbc occupation of that noble domoin; and tbc na. 

 tional treasury would feel tbe eflVcts of the curtailment 

 ol imiiorts and the cessation ol land sales; and th» 

 amount o( misery which tbe loss of the American 

 market would occasion to the starving operatives and 

 factory childre.i on tbe other side of tbe Atlantic, ii 

 worthy to be token into tbe account, by every statei- 

 man who has not foi gotten that he is a man. 



On the other hand, let it be supposed for a moment, 

 that the landholders of England would be satisfied 

 with a fixed and moderate duty, in addition to tbe pro- 

 tection aflbrded by the cost of freight and importation 

 now amounting to 30 per cent, of the net proceeds! 

 There would then be a constant market for wheat in 

 England, to which tbe uncommonly uniform climata 

 of tbe North West would furnish a constant and full 

 supply; and tbe whole returns would be required in 

 British manufactured goods, generaUv of the descrip- 

 tion thai yield the greatest profit. "Tmmediately, or. 

 ders would go from this country to set every wheel, 

 and spindle, and hammer in motion. Immediately, 

 these states would be willing to tax themselves for tha 

 interest of the public debt, becauselhey would see how 

 taxes could be paid. Immediately, the state stocka 

 would rise, because tbe interest would be secured, 

 with a certainty that the public works would be com- 

 pleted and rendered productive. Tbe manufacturing 

 industry of England, and the agriculturol industry of 

 the North West, would be stimulated to the highest 



productiveness, by the best of all encouragements 



tbe hope a fair reward. The great cotton staple, too, 

 would feel the benefit of a new and healthy impulga 

 given to trade. The public works would be finished, 

 and the lines of communication now open would b* 

 thronged with freight. New York would abolish tha 

 duty on salt, for the sake of securing to her own 

 enlarged canal the transportation of the produce from 

 the Ouio, the Mauniee, the Wabasb, the Illinois, and 

 tbe Wiskonsin canals, now strongly tending in that 

 direction. (19.) 



The demand for the public lands would pour a stea- 

 dy stream into the national treasury on the one hand; 

 to be met by a current from tbe imports on the other, 

 furnishing an adequate revenue for the completion of 

 our harbor works and national defences. The exports, 

 no longer confined to a single staple, and drawn from 

 the most productive of all liranches of labor — the cul- 

 tivalionof a rich soil that costs next tono hing — would 

 keep foreign exchanges in a healthy slate; new ties of 

 mutual advantage, and new inducements to mutual 

 justice, forbearance, and peace, would arise between 

 two nations of common origin, from whose influenc* 

 the world has so much to hope for; onr own manufac- 

 tures would be left, under their present protection, to 

 a healthy and natural growth with the growth of tha 

 country: and our nation would be saved from another 

 tarifl'conlroversy, to occupy and embitter the debates 

 of another political generation. 



Are not these objects worthy of tbe consideration of 

 American statesmen? Mayan obscure citizen, who 

 loves his country, be pardoned for his presumption in 

 spreading these imperfect suggestions before the Amer- 

 ican Senate t 



Your memorialist respectfully requests that useful 

 information may be collected and diff"used respecting 

 the wheat product of tbe North West; the condition 

 and extent of the foreign market now open for Amer- 

 ican wheat and flour; the obstructicns interposed by 

 the regulations of foreign governments, and the prob- 

 ability of ony repeal or modification of those regula- 

 lations; and that Congress will adopl such measures 

 as shall be deemed wise and proper, to secure an equi- 

 table and adequate market for this valuable product. 



Your memorialist has prepared, from the best mate- 

 rials in his reach, with some labor, a number of tables 

 illustrative of several of the topics in this memoir, 

 which are appended hereto. 



JOSHUA LEAVITT. 

 Washington City, Feb. 25, 1841. 



It is moral excellence alone that renders a free peo- 

 ple great and happy. Without it, all is empty splen- 

 dor end hollow decay. Religion is the source of most 

 of tbe moral excellence of the race. Its influence, 

 when pure and liberal, is the most whoJcaome and «m 



UobliH". 



