mining regions of that state, were out of employment; that the laborers who got work, received only from $3.50 to $4 a week and miners only from $5 to $6-generally paid in goods, equal to 15 or 20 per cent. discount; and that in 1845-'6, laborers got from $5 to $6, and miners from $8 to $10, cash-average increase, 30 per cent.

This, in amount, was generally, if not universally, true of the manufacturing establishments of the country, of every description; and it was equally true in every department of life, that employs labor. Employment was never wanting under the tariff of 1842, and wages did increase- —an average of full 25 per cent. higher than they were before. For further statistics on this subject, see note below.*

The wages of labor in the mechanical trades, on railroads and canals, in agriculture, in common job-work of cities and towns, and

* Everybody knows what savings-banks are instituted for, viz., to afford to labor a secure deposite for its savings. They now exist in many parts of the country, and are a great blessing to the laboring poor. There are two items in the history of these institutions which are probably better evidence of the employment and prosperity of labor, than any or all other that could be given, viz., the comparative number of depositors and the comparative amount of deposites in a course of years. In the state of Massachusetts, the banks of savings are obliged by law to make annual returns to the legislature, of which the following are quotations for three years: In 1841, the number of depositors was 39,832; the amount of deposites, $6,485,424. In 1842, depositors 41,102; deposites $6,675,878. In 1845, depositors 54,256; deposites $9,214,954. The first two years were under the disastrous period that preceded the tariff of '42; the last was the third year of the operation of that tariff. The comparison is instructive, and to the point. The increase from 1841 to 1842, was about 3 per cent. on depositors, and about 34 per cent. on amount deposited. The difference between 1842 and 1845, was about 32 per cent. on depositors, or nearly 11 per cent. per annum; and about 38 per cent. on amount deposited, or nearly 13 per cent. per annum. The amount of deposites in the savings-bank at Lowell, was, in 1841, $448,190; in 1842, $478,365; in 1843, $462,650; in 1844, $591,910; in 1845, $730,890. At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1842, $220,636; in 1846, $336,960. At Saco, Maine, in 1842, $29,667; in 1846, $48,157. It is believed that these facts require no comment, as it is well known for whom these institutions were established, and what classes of persons use them. The details of these statistics for about thirty banks of savings, will be found in Fisher's National Magazine, for March and June, 1846, proving the same thing, viz., that labor was never so prosperous, and never laid up so much, in a given time, as under the tariff of '42.

The following is from the same magazine, for March, 1846 :—

:

"Within the past year 200 houses have been built in Pawtucket, and the adjoining village of Central Falls, all by the hands employed in the manufactories of the two places, some of which have cost upward of $2,000.

"The deposites in the Pawtucket savings-bank, amount, on an average, to $70,000. "The following are the prices paid for wages, in the years 1842 and 1845. They all relate to the same hands who were employed in both years:

in every pursuit throughout the land, in the two periods under con-
sideration—the former universally known as disastrous, and the
latter as prosperous
are too well known to those concerned, to
require certificates from other authorities; and there can be but
one voice from all these quarters, which, for one reason, we are
sorry to say, is most remote from verifying the statements of the
president and his secretary, above cited, on this subject. All the
world know it is not so, and it ought not to have been necessary
to adduce evidence on the point. But such are the FACTS, whereas
not a single fact was cited by these public functionaries, to substan-
tiate their ASSERTIONS.

The secretary also says: "When the number of manufactories
is not great, the power of the system to regulate the wages of labor,
is inconsiderable; but as the profit of capital invested in manufac-
tures is augmented by the protective tariff, there is a corresponding
increase of power, until the control of such capital over the wages
of labor becomes irresistible."

"Before the protective duty was enacted, the best workmen could only obtain
one dollar per day; the same men now receive one dollar and a half per day.”
Another important item of evidence on this subject will be found in the same
magazine for May, 1846:-

"Mr. R. FISHER: Sir-In answer to your queries on the subject of labor in the
following years, we state as follows:-

:-

The Price of Wages per Day, for Masons and Laborers, in the Month of May, in
the following Years :-

1832.. Masons, 13 shillings. Laborers, 7 shillings.

"In addition to the rise in the wages, from 1842 to 1845, there have been em-
ployed from 50 to 75 per cent. more men than there were from 1838 to 1842.

a statement.

Here is a double assumption, involving two untruths. If manufactures were monopolies, as they are sometimes falsely called, that is, if they had exclusive privileges-for nothing else can be a monopoly-then there might possibly be some foundation for such But the more manufactories are encouraged, multiplied, and extended, under a protective tariff, and the more capital there is vested in them, so much greater are the chances of labor, and so much greater is its relative power. When the manufactories are few, and the competition between them small, their power relative to labor is greater; but when they become numerous as competitors, and rich in capital, their rivalship with each other is all for the advantage of labor. In the former case, labor pays court to them, and is obliged to receive terms: in the latter, labor dictates terms, and becomes the object of courtship.

The effect of low wages is to demoralize, to debase, to degrade man, and render him unfit to aspire to freedom, and unfit to enjoy it. Working ever for a bare subsistence, and hardly that, without hope of a better condition, leaves no place for pride, self-respect, and ambition. That debasement of mind, which is everywhere observable among the laboring classes of Europe, whose task is hard, and whose prospect of an improvement in their condition is hopeless, is the necessary effect and uniform concomitant of such a doom. Reduce those dependent on labor in the United States-which comprehends a majority of the people—to such low wages, by the establishment of Free Trade, which would be the inevitable result, and the moral effect would be the same. The character of the people would be entirely changed. The government would be changed-all would be changed. Labor would then be the agent of power, and not an independent agent.

The power of foreign pauper labor over the labor of American freemen, is not vested in itself, but in the arm of its oppressors. It is a mere agent of the latter. Nor can that power be abated, except by a change of political society in those quarters, for the emancipation of labor. So long as political society is the same there, and the same here, there can never be a time when "the protected arts" in the United States, "shall have acquired such strength and perfection as will enable them subsequently, unaided, to stand up against foreign competition." No matter what strength, no matter what perfection they may acquire, they will never be strong enough, never perfect enough, to employ free labor at a fair

price, in a field of competition with the same arts worked by forced labor at a price which barely supports existence.

The question, then-the great, practical, momentous question -is, shall European capital and labor, in a field of open and Free Trade, be permitted to bring American capital and labor, that is, American society, down to the same level? Or shall American society, by the American government, protect American capital and labor, and maintain the position to which the cost of American freedom has elevated them?

The great battle of the world is between freedom and despotism; and more than in anything, or all things else, the form under which that contest is now carried on, is between European capital and labor on one side, and American capital and labor on the other. On this pivot turns the destiny of nations. SUSTAIN the position of American capital and labor, that every man may be secure of the fair reward of his exertions, however humble his birth and calling, and freedom will prevail all the world over. The American people, united and resolved in this great emprise, can beat the worldthe whole world—and crumble into dust the bulwarks of despotic sway. BUT, let European capital and labor, in the hands of European despots, PREVAIL against American capital and labor, for want of protection to the latter, and there is an end of freedom, till another cycle of ages, with its sad round of experience, shall burst the chains again, and they who succeed shall better appreciate their duty and their chances.

The battle for American freedom was only begun in the establishment of American independence. The commercial systems of Europe are more to be feared than all the power of European arms. It is much to say, yet it may be true, that a perpetual war would be less expensive and less perilous than the effects of this occult, silent, insinuating, all-pervading power, if unresisted.

27

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE EFFECTS OF A PROTECTIVE SYSTEM ON THE INTERESTS

OF AGRICULTURE.

Not true that Agriculture has no Share in the Benefits of a Protective System.-Facts and Statistical Evidence on this Point.-Breadstuffs, in ordinary Seasons, cheaper in Europe than in the United States.-The Effect of Indirect Protection of Agriculture-Protection of Slave grown Staples -Slave Labor in the United States needs Protection more than Free Labor.-All Nations can and intend to supply their own Mouths.—Great Britain the greatest Exporter of Agricultural Products, of any Nation in the world.Evidence of William Brown, Esq., on this Point.-The Importance of this Fact in a System of Public Economy-Statistics showing that Europe is Independent of the United States for Breadstuffs.-The Problem as to whether American Indiau Corn will find a permanent Market in Europe.-European Agricultural Labor will always beat American Agricultural Labor in Market, because of its Low Price.-The Effect of a Protective System in sustaining and raising Prices of Agricultural Labor and Products.— Showing of the Effects of certain Items of the Tariff of 1846 on the Interests of American Agriculture.

THE influence of a protective system on agriculture, has been, in no small degree, already set forth in these pages. Nevertheless, it is a point of too much importance to be passed over, so long as other evidence, of an equally impressive character, remains to be considered.

It is sometimes erroneously supposed and maintained, that farmers and agriculturists have no share in the benefits of a protective system. If, indeed, what is thus falsely asserted, were so far true, as that they should receive no direct protection, it will yet appear, that the protection they receive indirectly, under such a system, is not only most important to them, but would in itself be an abundant compensation for the sacrifices which, it is alleged, are imposed upon them, but which, however, as will be seen, are no sacrifices at all. But it will appear that the direct protection provided for agriculturists, under the system, is on an average as great, or greater, than that which is afforded to manufacturers and mechanics. For example, the direct protection granted by the tariff of 1842, to the following articles, wool, hemp, beef, pork, hams, bacon, cheese, butter, lard, potatoes, flour, wheat, and raw cotton, was an average of about fifty per cent., which is at least equal to, and somewhat above, the average protection granted to any other class, manufacturers, mechanics, or whatever; and protection to most of these products of agriculture is very important, when the crops are good

"