No. 8. 



AND GARDENER'S JOUliNAL. 



127 



Protecting Home Industry. 



Mr. Editor — I observe, by ihe freedom of your 

 own rcmnrks as well as by the coiiflicling sentiments 

 of correspondents adaiitied to your columns, ibnt you 

 »re no enemy to the free discussion of all questions 

 connected with the general prosperity. On tho sub- 

 ject of a tarilV, I see two articles in your Fanner for 

 June — one of S. W., the other of Old Humphrey of 

 the Genesee. Plain working folks hke nic, don't 

 know much about " the theory of a Protective Tarifl' 

 and retaliatory duties," or indeed about theories of 

 any kind ; and if it wcuid not be deemed rude, I 

 would venture to say to S. W. that, after looking 

 over several of his well polished communications, a 

 number o( ns havo come to the conclusion that if he 

 were a practical working man, he would find less time, 

 and perhaps hnve less disposition to theorize. The 

 last I beard of him, he was with Zolia in the Saloon, 

 contrary, as I understand it, to express regulation. 

 But if I was you, I would not make a fusa about it — 

 better let biir, be — for tUat,of all places in your boat, is 

 the very spot for him. 



The first statement made by S. W. which I judged 

 material to the support of his anti-iarifl' theory, aston- 

 ished me, for it was indeed news to me, and I think 

 will be to yon, that New England, the great work- 

 shop, has never advocated a high tariff. I have all 

 along supposed that she cried out ns loudly, as united- 

 ly, and 1 may add morj efiectually, for a tariff than 

 Pennsylvania ; and that she has steadily and perse- 

 veringly pursued a policy forced upon her by non-in- 

 tercourse and embargo measures, and in which she 

 was induced to embark mucht)f her capital to supply 

 the demand created by th.;ee measures, .gnd rendered 

 apparent by the v/ar whioh shortly succeeded them. 

 And why is it tfiat factories, not a few among her 

 cities of factories too, are closed, and the hands unem- 

 ployed t .Why,,bnt bec;au5e she cannot stand com. 

 petition viih the pauper labor of the old world — be- 

 cause the protection .which her m.-vn'-ifactures have en- 

 joyed, and ruder which all have lived and many of 

 them flouris.Ued, is about to be withdrawn? And 

 does not New England know all this — and knowing 

 it, has she not sought from G nment the boon of 

 that protection that ensures her prosperity ? 1 can- 

 not doubt it ; for the Yankees, 1 toiie it, .&re among 

 tho las', men on earth, to let any blessing slip by them 

 • unenjoyed because unasked. But near the close, S- 

 VV. says he is in favor of " a tarifl' ample for the pur- 

 poses of revenue, framed with such discrimination 

 as will favor both revenue and protection to our home 

 industry." If Pennsylvania, "in the dark hcur of 

 her distress," asks for any higher tariff' than ibis, ( 

 never heard of it, and you are welcome to say that I 

 think her very unreasonable. Cut says S. V/.,"! 

 always go for encouraging domestic industry and 

 building up a home trade, as a certain market for the 

 fanner." Them's my sentiments, Mr. Editor, and 

 though S. W. and I may not have agreed enti.-ely by 

 the way, yet so cordially dol concui^in his closing re 

 marks that we part the best of friends. 



At odd spells, bt!tween plonghing and pulling 

 Btumps, I have ottentively read your friend Old 

 Humphrey, and am by no means sure that I under- 

 stand him. He speaks approvingly of a tariff' for 

 revenue only, and immediately adds that it should be 

 imposed with such discrimination as to protect such 

 of our manufactures as most need it. Now so far as 

 I understand, this is about all any body wants. And 

 yet in the ne?t paragraph he seeraa to speak of a pro- 

 tective tariff, as evil only, and that continually. I 

 cannct understand this, and without designing to cen- 

 sure the old gentleinnn, I must say I think him a trifle 

 metaphysical, according to the Scotchman's defini- 

 tion of it, — " when ye hear a man talking and canno 

 understand what he means — and when be that's tolk. 



ing does'no understand what be moans himeel, that's 

 metaphysics." 



Not long ago I heard a laboring farmer address a 

 meeting of laborers on tho suliject of protection to 

 home industry. He started with tho position, that 

 the habiis of business that contributed to the thiift and 

 prosperity of a family, had n.> necessary connexion 

 with its number ; ond consequently that those pruden- 

 tial rules and economical habiis that would create and 

 secure the prosperity of a family of five or seven, were 

 in general equally applicn.blo to our great American 

 family of seventeen miUions. .Every economist 

 knows at the end of every year whether he can make 

 the two ends nieet. If, after disposing of the produce 

 of his labor to the best advantage, he finds that he 

 still owes for articles purchased, and that the balance 

 of trode is thus against him, or in homely phrase, that 

 he has bought more than he can pay for, he is forced 

 to the conviction that he can recover from the embar- 

 ra.sment and prevent its recurience o?;/?/ by selling 

 ■more or h'j hnj'mg less — or best of all, by dning some- 

 thing in loth ways. For so surely as be continues to 

 buy more than he sells, and year after year runs be- 

 hind band, so surely is he bankrupt. When the far- 

 mer can pay the shoemaker in the produce of his farm 

 he had probably better nialte the e:;change than make 

 his own shoes ; but if he require in payment that 

 which the farmer does not moke or cannot produce out 

 of his labor, he had better sit in the honse where he 

 can do without shoes, than buy them with the certain- 

 ty that they will be worn out in travelling the road to 

 inevitable ruin. Thete positions, it was argued, had 

 an application to every variety of human intercourse, 

 and were as true of families as of individuals, and of 

 nations as of families. 



Protection to manufactures, by affording bibber 

 wages, w))uld draw off from a redundant agricidtu- 

 ral population, oo many as would equalize production 

 and consumption, thus rendering each one's labor more 

 profitable — for it is clear, if you make consumers of 

 those who are now producers of food,_that ogricuUn- 

 rol labor will be better paid. Protection to home in- 

 dustry will produce on the currency those beneficial 

 results which aro confidently predicted of National 

 Banks, Sub-Treasuries and Fiscal Agencies. So 

 long as we continue to buy more than we sell, so long 

 will there be a constant ttream cf specie running out 

 of the country — ^for specie is the only article with 

 which we at the North can pay foreign debt. Cher 

 ish home industry^ and you will have no call to stnd 

 specie abroad, after existing debts are paid off. Di- 

 vert this exhausting drain — dam up this ceaseless cur- 

 rent, and retain ilvviilh its constant accumulations in 

 the country, and you have the only safe and reliable 

 bosisof a sound and healthful paper cirooilation. The 

 country is thus rendered truly free ond indccendent — 

 a position demanded not lees by our interest than our 

 national honor. Such v.-ere some of tjie views of my 

 friend, and I thought he hit the nail on the head. 

 Yours truly, 



June 2 7, 1842- JOHN FAR MER. 



From the Salem Guietie, 

 Leather Business of Eanvera. 



The fo'lov/ing statement baa been obtained for our 

 use, and we take pleasure in laying before our readers 

 the statistics of so industrious a community as that of 

 Danvers. The well known occuracy of the compiler 

 imparts to it perfect authenticity. 



A statistical account of the Shoe and Leather bu- 

 siness in the town of Danvera for the year 1841, com- 

 piled from the returns made by committees appointed 

 in each department of the business, who reported spe- 

 cially wliat was done by each person engaged in it. 



1. Boots and Sluiea, manufactured, — 924,000 

 pairs. 



Estimated yalue, when ready for market, $650,000 



40 per cent of this is labor npphcd — 1W.")5 

 males arc constantly employed, and 94(3 le. 

 males. 



2, Tunning and Currying — 37.'i,800 aides 

 of leather. 



10 per cent of labor applied in the process 

 of tanning, — 20 per cent of labor applied in 

 the process of currying upper leather. A 

 large proportion of the Icnilier tanned hero 

 is also curried. :t28 males are constantly 

 eniployfd in this business. 



The Heal Estate, consisting of tanneries 

 ind nuli'B us^d in this husiiicsa, is valued at 

 $l'i:i,OUO. C500 cords of hark are used In 

 the tanneries, estinnjted at$;S perctird, when 

 delivered at the yard, .'tl|50,OIIO, 9 lOtbs of 

 this is the result of actual labor applied. Tho 

 transportation of the bark from Maine to 

 Massachusetts employs I.'j vessels ol SO tons 

 each, and (50 men. The transportation of 

 hides Irom South America employs 5 vessels 

 of 200 tons each and 50 men. In addition 

 to the above, citizens of this place are con- 

 cerned in tanneries in Maine and Vermont, 

 from w' ich they leccive leather ready for 

 the market, of the value of $200,000 



3. Mamifaclure of Skins— VoOfiOO dress- 

 ed annually. ' 



Estimated value ivhen ready for the mar- 

 ket, 90,000 



40 per cent of this is labor applied, — 44 

 males constantly employed. 



Gross amount of the vnlne of materials 

 brought lo market annually by our manufuc- 



lureis, . 



$I,7;)2.9110 



The whole number of persons employed as stated 

 above ie 203!). Sujipobing one third of the neit pro- 

 ceeds 10 be applied r.s a compensaiioii for their labor, 

 this would give about $214 to each person, not by any 

 meonc an extravagant compensation for their labor. 

 It is not pretended that the amount of capital employ- 

 ed is as large as the aiim above stated; because some 

 of the articles are twice estiniatrd. 



Such fur instance is the case with tho leather pur- 

 chased by the currier of the tanner. It will also be 

 remembered that a large part of the stock worked in 

 the shoo factories is purchased in the New York and 

 Philadelphia and Baltimore maikela. 



The foregoing estimates are the best approximation 

 to the facts, that I hove been able to obtain from an ex- 

 amination of the returns of men practically engaged 

 in the business. Throughout it has appeared to mo 

 ihey v/eie not disposed to overrate their business. A 

 moresoberi i;idu6trioiis, and mind-llieir-own-busincss 

 class of people, than the manufacturers of this place, 

 it will be difficult to find in any community. 



I hope sir, that the above stalemcnts, hastily sketch- 

 ed, will he found a satisfactory answer to your inqui- 

 ries. Very respectfully and truly yours, 

 Danvers, March, 1842 J. W. PROCTOR. 



On the Effect of Carrots on Hoises. 



.0T^Mif^i4-J!ifar-k~LanG..J^f}j:fis^ : 

 Sir — In answer to a query in your excellent paper 

 of the 10th ins!., respecting feeding horses on car- 

 rots, I am unable to give your correspondent any 

 lenglbened experience on the subject ; but since X 

 have given my horses (twelve in number) cni'rolg, I 

 hove not perceived any ill effects from them, neither 

 have I ever beard the root accused of injuring horses' 

 eyes before ; but the chief reason of niy replying to 

 your correspondent, is to inform him that the parsnip, 

 a root having great affinity to the carrot, is thought tn 

 have thia effect, as he will perceive by the following 

 quotations from Qiiayle's Agriculture of the Islanda 

 on the coast of Normandy, drawn up for the conaid- 

 elation of the late Board of Agriculture. Dnder the 

 head, parsnip in the Island of Jersey, he says : — 

 " Horses eat this root greedily, but in this Island it is 

 never given to them,aa it is alleged when kept on this 

 food their eyes are injured." Again, in the island of 

 Guernsey, he says : — " To horses, parsnips are fre- 

 quently giyen, and have the property of making them 

 sleek and lat ; but in working, they are observed to 

 sweat profusely. If nev,', and cut sufficiently small, 

 no other ill effect results, except Indeed, at one period 

 of the year, towards ihe close of February, when the 

 root begins to shoot ; if then given, both horses and 

 horned cattle are subject, on this food, to an inflam- 

 mation in the eyes, and epiphora, or weeping ; in soma 

 subjects pcrhapa producing blindness." Trusting the 

 above extracts may prove interesting to your correa» 

 pendent, I r"'noin, &e , 



January 'Hth, ^ Devonshire FAKMEBt 



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