almost exclusively derived from those contiguous States that do not cultivate cotton. The disparity between the increase of cotton and that of other agricultural products appears much greater when these facts are considered; and the doctrine that labor advantageously applied, and not population merely, is the true foundation of a country's wealth and prosperity, is fully verified.

The treasury accounts before referred to show that the aggregate increase of our foreign importations of merchandise has not equalled our increased exportations of raw cotton, and that it, as before stated, has most of all other articles enabled us to keep down the balance against us created by such importations. And it should be noticed, also, that the increase of importations is mainly for the use and consumption of those portions of the country that do not produce cotton. The consumption of imported merchandise and products in the cotton region may be greater than the proportion of its white population to that of other sections, but in the aggregate it is much less, and it is also much less than the proportion of its whole population to that of the other States.

Adding the increase of the exportations of our domestic manufactures of cotton to the exportations of raw cotton, the comparison between it and other agricultural products is still more favorable to it. Prior to 1826, such exportations, if any were made, were not specified in the treasury returns, and all our importations of cotton goods specified in those returns are exclusively those of foreign manufacture that had been imported hither. And the nearly total decrease of the importation of foreign raw cotton, and the manufactures thereof, and the substitution therefor of our own product, and manufactures thereof, should also be estimated.

Nor is the supply furnished from the cotton crop for the numerous "household" or "home-made" manufactures used in the United States an unimportant item constituting its value. The aggregate of the value of all these manufactures was, in 1849, upwards of $27,540,000, and it is estimated, as before stated, that the cotton consumed in them is worth annually upwards of $7,500,000. But for our own crop, this would have to be imported.

Though it is not intended to express any opinion in this paper upon the policy of a protective tariff, it is proper to say that the increase of our domestic cotton manufacturing establishments, within a few years past, has well nigh been as astonishing as the increase of the cotton. crop, especially when the advantages of cheap labor and low interest for capital borrowed, and other advantages possessed by British and European manufacturers, are considered. Against such advantages, our manufacturing establishments already use about one-third of the entire crop of raw cotton of the United States. Prior to the war of 1812, they were of little consequence. They first became of importance during that war. They now supply more than three-fourths of the cotton manufactures consumed in the United States. Such supply for home consumption of our domestic cotton manufactures exceeded fifty-seven millions of dollars in 1849-'50. We exported in same year upwards of four millions seven hundred thousand dollars of our domestic cotton manufactures to foreign countries; and these exports in 1852 amounted to upwards of seven million six hundred thousand dollars. Our im

portations of foreign cotton manufactures in 1852 were $19,689,496, and of this we exported $991,784, consuming the balance of $18,697,712. It will be noticed that our exportations of domestic cotton manufactures are over two-fifths of the value of foreign cotton manufactures consumed in the United States. Deducted from the same consumption, it leaves only $11,025,561 as a balance of the foreign manufactures so consumed.

We now pay annually out of, the avails of the cotton crop in Great Britain and Europe about $10,000,000 to those countries for manufacturing for us that portion of our raw cotton, which is first exported thither, and the manufactures thereof then imported into the United States; but they are at the same time the purchasers of two-thirds of our entire crop, and most of the articles they send us could not be manufactured here at the same cost to the consumer; and the cotton producers insist that the foreign market is the most valuable to them, and that they have the right to sell their crops where and to whom they choose, and to employ and pay whomsoever it pleases them to manufacture it. Our domestic cotton manufactures are, however, destined to increase still more. Everything indicates that an immense commerce will ere long arise in the Pacific ocean, and through it to China, the East Indies, and the Asiatic seas generally. The commercial nations of the world are now about to embark in a struggle for the control of that commerce which may perhaps continue through the present decade. But the superiority of position, the greater diversity of the productions of the United States, and the enterprise of our merchants and navigators, will insure the supremacy to us. The domestic cotton manufacturers of the United States may, it is believed, rely upon immensely increased markets for the goods they now manufacture being afforded by the commerce thus opened. The amount necessary to supply these new markets, it has been anticipated by some, will require, in a few years, cotton equal in quantity to the present "entire crop" of "upland" cotton of the United States. The superior facilities for such commerce which our merchants will possess with respect as well to the outward as to the return trade, will enable them to sell our domestic cotton manufactures in those markets more advantageously than any other country can sell the same kind of goods. The official statistical tables show that the domestic cotton manufactures of the United States have not only increased in proportion beyond the increase of our aggregate population, and in a proportion beyond any other prominent article of manufactures, but, in fact, such increase of the cotton manufactures of the United States since 1826, with reference to exportations, exceeds in value the aggregate of the increase of all our other domestic manufactures added together!

A gentleman holding a high position in the legislative department of the federal government, and whose intelligence on this subject is not surpassed by any, estimates that in 1852 the capital invested in cotton manufactories in the United States is at least $80,000,000; that the value of the annual products of such manufactories is at least $70,000,000; that as many as 100,000 male and female laborers are employed in such manufactories; and that quite 700,000 bales, or 315,000,000 pounds, of cotton, worth at least $35,000,000 will be spun

and sold as thread and yarn, or wove into muslin and other manufactures, in this year-1852.

With reference to our foreign commerce especially, the increased consumption in the United States of foreign and domestic cotton manufactures, in lieu of articles that must have swelled our importations still more than has been the case, is an important consideration. But for our cotton, until our domestic products of wool, of silk, and of flax, had become sufficient for our necessities, we should have been compelled to rely on foreign countries. Cotton and its manufactures have decreased the demand for the other articles. In this respect the increased consumption of cotton and its manufactures in the United States and in foreign countries should be regarded by those who deprecate an excess of importations over exportations as injurious to a country, as having been greatly beneficial to our foreign commerce, inasmuch as it has lessened the importations by us of the other articles mentioned.

If the exportations of raw cotton from the United States should, contrary to general anticipation, decrease from any cause, unless its place, as an article of exportation, could be fully supplied by an equivalent amount of domestic manufactures of cotton exported, its cultivation and product must, of necessity, also decrease in a corresponding degree; and the 787,500 of able agricultural laborers, and the 6,300,000 acres of arable land now devoted to its production, would be diverted, by the same necessity, to the production of other articles, (wheat, rye, corn, barley, oats, and the like) and the raising of stock for provisions, (beef, pork, lard, butter, &c.) The result, it can be foreseen, would be the cheapening of those articles, and rendering their production in the present grain-growing and stock-raising States less profitable than at present, and the agriculturist and stock-raisers in these States would also then lose their markets in the cotton-growing States, besides having to encounter competition from them in other markets; and besides, some of the surplus labor of the cotton-growing States would then be employed in manufactures and mechanical pursuits, now chiefly engrossed by other States, from which the supplies are now received by the cotton-growers.

The causes of the fluctuations in the prices of cotton have been subjects of investigation and discussion among the political economists of the United States, and others interested, but hitherto their investigations and discussions have not resulted in much practical good. Conventions of cotton-producers have been held in the Southern States, and different theories advanced as to these causes, and different remedies suggested. Disagreements as to the causes of these fluctuations. have produced differences of opinion as to the remedies and preventives; and consequently, heretofore, no measures of a practical character have been adopted. In some instances the causes are widely different from those producing similar effects as to other products. Doubtless, the extent of the crop has, ordinarily, no inconsiderable influence on the price; and yet, whilst the crop of 1850, the exportations alone of which were 927,237,089 pounds, which at 12.11 cents, brought $112,315,317, the short crop of 1848, the exportations of which were but 635,383,604 pounds, brought 11.31 cents, or $71,984,616; and the crop of 1848, the exportations of which were 1,026,642,269 pounds, brought 6.5

cents, or $66,396,967; and repeated instances will be found in the annexed tables, where large crops have brought large prices, and short crops short prices. The extent of the crop cannot, therefore, in all cases be regarded as governing the prices. The prices of freights have some influence. Much more depends upon the condition of the foreign and domestic cotton manufactories-the general depression or prosperity of trade, commerce and navigation, and the state of the money market. The manufacturers at home and abroad have to resort to extensive credits to carry on their works, even to purchase the raw cotton; and the scarcity of money is certain to cause a corresponding depression in the price of cotton. But the primary and chief cause of these fluctuations is to be found in the fact, that very often, so soon as raw cotton leaves the possession of the planter, whether it is purchased from him or not, it becomes the stake for the most hazardous gambling among those who should be styled commercial speculators and gamblers, rather than merchants. When it is seen that a rise of cotton of one cent per pound creates a difference in the value of that exported from the United States alone, of ten millions of dollars, (and of course a rise of a mill, one million, and of a tenth of a mill, one hundred thousand dollars;) and when it is recollected that raw cotton is regarded as a cash article, and used in lieu of exchange for remittances abroad, it can readily be imagined that temptations and inducements exist to the most hazardous speculations in that article, by those who imagine they foresee an advance in its price, and who, so soon as they purchase, exert themselves to effect the result they desire. The establishment of "Planters' Union Depots" at the chief shipping ports in the South, for the storing of cotton for sale, and also similar depots at or near the chief Atlantic cities, has been proposed as a remedy for, and prevention of, the evils complained of. And the establishment of similar depots at different points in Continental Europe has also (since recent occurrences in Great Britain, indicating a revival of the ancient hostility to the cotton interest of the United States) been suggested. Doubtless, the establishment of such "Continental Depots" would open new, as well as extend the existing markets for our raw cotton, among the continental manufacturers; and it would greatly encourage and promote the latter, and cause them to become forinidable competitors and rivals to the manufacturers of Great Britain, and it is not unlikely some practical measures of the kind will be adopted. Direct trade between southern ports and Europe, so far as it respects the cotton exported thither, has been looked to as likely to relieve the planting interest from the effects of the fluctuations as to prices, and at the same time to relieve it from the exorbitant and onerous charges it is at present subject to, by shipments to Eastern Atlantic ports before shipment to Europe; but it is strongly doubted whether the result of such change, without further preventives, would not be merely another illustration of the old fable of the fox and the flies. The planter will always be subject to similar exactions to those now made; and they will be increased, till he restrains himself from parting with the plenary and personal control of his crop, in any way, except by absolute sale. He will not be relieved whilst the payment of advances on his crops, or other mercantile debts incurred on their credit, constrain him, year after year, as to the disposition of them.

To be relieved, he must become less dependent on the store-keeper, and more self-dependent; and then he can constrain the purchaser to come to his plantation to purchase his crop, and if he is not paid a fair price, refuse to part with it, and keep it in store until he can get such price. When planters generally adopt and adhere to such system, it will be of little consequence to them what charges their crops are subjected to after they leave their hands, and they will be unaffected by the fluctuations occasioned by speculations and gambling. The foreign and domestic manufacturers will also find that it is their interest to get rid of the intermediate commercial agencies, and expenses, between them and the planter, and will unite in the adoption of such system.

Appended hereto are tables of the exports of raw cotton in 1852, exports of domestic cotton manufactures, same year; exports of foreign cotton manufactures, same year; and imports of cotton manufactures, same year. Particular attention should be given to them. On such reference, the fact cannot escape observation, that the government of the United States, by liberal and judicious (and judicious because liberal) arrangements with the different governments of this and the southern continent of America, by enabling these countries to pay for our domestic cotton manufactures in their products, which we do not raise, may open extensive and profitable markets for us, thereby promoting the prosperity as well of the manufacturer as of the producer of cotton. And once open and establish such market, the demand would in a few years, it is anticipated, be equal to the whole of our present exportations. The field of commerce before us, and for us, in these countries, and in the Pacific and East Indies, is unbounded.

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These facts fully demonstrate not only the futility of all the expedients that may be adopted by foreign governments to supplant the cotton crop of this country, but also the inefficiency and folly of any measures of restraint or coercion that may be contrived by them to counteract" whatever policy the United States may decide to adopt, at any time, to sustain and maintain the great interests involved in the cotton crop. If it should become necessary, the cotton-growers of this confederacy can, of themselves, withhold from any foreign country every pound of cotton; and the labor now employed in its cultivation could be, in one season, restricted to growing merely enough for our own consumption. It is an error to suppose that such measure would be ruinous, or even permanently injurious to them. Such labor could be employed in the cultivation of other products-in the rearing of stock, and articles of subsistence, and in the improvement of the lands; with little detriment that would not be temporary, and with less loss and inconvenience to them, than a similar revolution in industrial pursuits and productions would cause in any other country. That the cotton-producers of the United States may rightfully exercise the power, which, by union and concert of action, they unquestionably possess, of decreasing or increasing the aggregate annual supply, and 1egulating its price, so as to secure the receipt of its just value, cannot be denied. Owing to the multiplied charges and expenses to which his cotton is subjected before he receives its proceeds, the planter is generally the person who makes the least profit from it. What are be