PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 



45 



ested in the result of each private enterprise, are 

 better able to attain an advantageous result to each 

 adventure, than the wisest legislation can possibly 

 be ; and it is the aggregate of individual profits that 

 constitutes the public gain, and the welfare of the 

 State. The commerce of Cuba, therefore, would be 

 most advantageously conducted, if left to the natural 

 promptings of individual profit and loss. A differ- 

 ent economical theory, however, prevails with the 

 government of Cuba, and restrictive laws modify 

 her industrial action in a manner that produces a 

 large positive loss to her. 



Her natural exchanges with Spain are the products 

 of her own labor, in return for the fruits of Andalu- 

 sia, and the wines of Catalonia. The existing laws, 

 however, compel her to purchase in Spain all the 

 flour consumed in Cuba, at a cost fifty per cent, 

 greater than she could obtain it in nearer markets, 

 if free to seek them ; while the same obstacles force 

 her to import in Spanish ships, a large portion of the 

 products brought from other countries, at a much 

 greater cost for freight than if her merchants could 

 employ those who would perform the service at the 

 lowest rate. Thus, for a valuable portion of her 

 trade, she is forced to employ two sets of ships ; one 

 to bring the linens and cottons from the looms of 



