Various

“ Our domestic prosperity more than equalled the extension of our trade. It was then that the compting-houses of our merchants were filled with youth from the country, who forsook the slower but surer emoluments of agriculture, for the mushroom but unsubstantial fortunes of commerce; nay, who preferred the meanest drudgery behind the counter of a retail dealer, to the manly and invigorating toil of the cultivator of his paternal acres. ”

“ The phenomenon of the dipping needle is a curiosity, and sufficient to satisfy us that the power of attraction is about the centre of the earth, for let a needle be truly balanced on a centre pin in our latitude, then give it the polarity necessary, the north end will dip about fifty degrees;—move it to the equator it will become again level;—carry it still southward, the south end will dip.
When effects are obvious, man more curious than wise, endeavours to search out the cause, and in some things we may be successful,—others are beyond our knowledge, and hid in the mysteries of Nature's God. ”

“ When our ancestors were gradually rising to wealth under the yoke of Burgundy, Austria, Spain, their frugality was contented with our first dish, and they even blessed the inventor. In their second period, when the noble house of Orange, when Maurice of Nassau was establishing our power in the East and West Indies, and commercial wealth began to overflow all our ports and canals, still habits of prudence occasioned economy, and our rich senators dined on plain mutton, and drank wholesome beer. ”

“ It is indeed a singular inquiry, why the cultivation of the soil among us should have been so little encouraged, when every state in Europe, since the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, has turned its most assiduous attention to this most important department of domestic economy, and ultimately borrowed from it the resources which have carried them through the prodigious conflicts of the last generation.
There have been many causes, certainly not all of equal efficacy, which have co-operated against the interests of agriculture. But there is a prominent one to which we can but just allude. ”

“ Where the footsteps of true philosophy can be traced, her triumphs have been signal; and having found most of these and many other errors exploded, we lay claim in this enlightened age and country, to an extraordinary exemption from the influence of imposture and superstition. Although the darkness and gloom of former ages have in a great degree fled at the approach of the light of knowledge, still here and there the skirts of a black cloud remain, to indicate the failure of an absolute conquest. ”

“ But in the United States the cultivation of the soil has these [333] and many more advantages; nay, it is intimately connected with our national character, because it powerfully acts upon the morals and constitution of our citizens. If it be true, that the torch of liberty has always burned with a purer and brighter lustre on the mountains than on the plains, it is still more true, that the sentiments of honour and integrity more generally animate the rough but manly form of the farmer, than the debilitated body of the artisan. ”

“ It is not to be supposed that, while we refused the broadcloths and hardware of England, she would still continue to buy the same proportion of our cotton and tobacco. Our market then for these articles would be so far lost; and if we now feel the effects of a diminished demand for our produce in consequence of the establishment of peace in Europe, how can it be thought a wise policy to suffer other embarrassments and losses, by excluding ourselves entirely from every foreign port where we might calculate upon its sale? Where then is our produce to find a vent? ”

“ There are few if any men who are not more or less influenced by a desire of some species of fame or distinction, although, in many of the common situations of life, this does not interfere with the pursuit of wealth, and only shows itself in moments of relaxation from the toils of necessity. For one who wishes to signalize himself in his trade or profession, and who is swayed by that desire as a ruling passion, there are probably many who seek to gratify their pride, by the pursuit of eminence in other things. ”

“ When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire forsakes me; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, [353] my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tombs of the parents themselves, I feel how vain it is to grieve for those whom we must quickly follow; when I behold rival kings lying side by side, or the holy men who divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the frivolous competitions, factions, and debates of mankind ”

“ There is in that primitive and honourable occupation, the culture of the earth, something which, while it pours into the lap of the state an increase beyond every other employment, gives us more than the fabled stone, not only a subsistence, but a placid feeling of contentment ”

“ The invention once made, and its applicability rendered plausible, all further contemplation of the subject is accompanied by an exulting hope that fills and occupies the mind. But applying either inventions or any other means to the common business of life, is a more monotonous, common-place labour, that affords no high and exhilarating excitement to persevere. The consequence too often is that the inventor quits one hopeful scheme before it is half reduced to practice, to fly to something still more new ”

“ The funds which constitute a lottery, are principally derived from the pockets of those whose straitened circumstances, prompt them to grasp at the glittering phantoms, paraded before their eyes by professional jugglers.—Their minds become unsettled; a love of idleness and extravagance is excited; and their attention diverted from the true sources of prosperity—industry, frugality and sound morals. ”

“ It is certainly of great importance to the people of America to cultivate the fruit that is natural to the soil of their country, and to make the most of the fruit which the soil produces; especially, when its produce is an article of value and of great consumption in this country. ”

“ We have established in the city and county of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, a system professing to be for the universal education of the poor, at the public expense, to which the black people, by the taxes upon their real property, consumption taxes, and all the taxes of the whites (except the little personal or occupation tax,) actually contribute. It cannot be denied, that many of them are as truly among the poor, as the most and least poor of the white heads of families, whose children are admitted to this constitutional and legal provision. ”

“ People aim at distinction in conversational wit, in politics, philosophy or even drinking or gaming; while the hours devoted to business are guided by the wish for property alone, undisturbed by the love of fame. ”

“ An appeal is respectfully made to the friends of religion, morals, useful knowledge, and general industry, whether we ought not to dispense to them a more generous, just and civilized freedom. If we mean to avoid arguments against the gradual and ultimate abolition of slavery, let us endeavour to instruct them in all those things, which will enable them to labour with advantage, to get their own living in the progressive station on this continent, to which it has pleased God to suffer them to be transferred. ”

“ THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE EARTH.
No subject can more deeply interest the planters and farmers of this country. Our merchants can export every American production without duty, tax or impediment. We have all the benefits of a foreign, coasting, and interior trade, free as to our own laws, and the national government are constantly engaged in negotiations and regulations calculated to soften or remove the inconveniences of foreign monopolies in commerce and navigation. ”

“ When trade has exhausted its power to find a profitable market, abroad or at home, the conversion of our unsaleable surplus produce into new forms, commonly denominated domestic manufactures, becomes an object of reasonable consideration. It is well known, that the cultivated soil and the bowels of the earth give us the following principal objects as the fruits of the culture of the land, or as its spontaneous productions. ”

“ Persons who wish to acquire wealth, or, in fact, to achieve any permanent end, are generally obliged to use steady perseverance, and to apply all the talents they are masters of for a [328] length of time. Precisely the same is the case with inventors. That inventor meets with very extraordinary success indeed, who is not obliged, in the application of his plans to a useful purpose, to employ prudence and economy, and all those qualities which enable a man to conduct business to advantage and to influence the minds of others. ”

“ There was, however, a great sacrifice of conscience and veracity in praising the mutton and the beer. But some yawned, and half the gigot remained even among a numerous company, when the master, seeing their distress, nodded unnoticed to an old hoary-headed domestic, who alone had appeared along with the mutton, and who stood respectfully at the sideboard to serve the bread or the beer. He went out, and the company was left to a languid conversation; their eyes saying more than their tongues. ”

“ While economy is the order of the day, it may not be amiss to point out an item of which it is believed a general ignorance prevails. It is well known to philosophers that when water commences to boil in the open air no additional fire can make it any hotter. A contrary opinion prevails, and those employed in cooking victuals, in order to accelerate the operation think that they cannot make the fire too intense. The fuel added for this purpose is, in fact, not only a wanton waste, but by causing a violent ebulition, it forces from the victuals, with the steam its finest flavour. ”

“ It is necessary for the well-being and security of a nation, that certain articles, should be manufactured within its limits, such as gunpowder, coarse clothing, and some others of a [335] similar discription.—But the moment people attempt to force by means of high duties on foreign imports the production of a commodity, which, by reason of the extravagance of the wages of labour and other causes, must necessarily be sold at a much greater price than the imported one, their conduct would seem no less an affront to common sense, than a solecism in political economy. ”

“ Of this preference of fame to wealth, a striking instance is often afforded by those illiterate persons who follow this pursuit. These often voluntarily abstain from studying the scientific labours of their predecessors, of which I have known instances, in order to preserve the originality of their projects, though frequently at the expense of their perfection and utility. If, then, the larger portion of the labour of these men is devoted to the attainment of celebrity, they can hardly quarrel with results of their own making, nor expect fortune to come to their hands unsought. ”

“ Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man or order of men." M. Say, a man no less remarkable for his practical knowledge of manufacturing industry, than his profound acquaintance with every branch of economical science, has given his marked disapprobation of that system which we are discussing. ”

“ The soil is not only rich and alluvial, but deep and perfectly level. The climate is humid, and the system of irrigation supplies water to almost every field. These circumstances, united to the heat of a southern sun, cause a most rapid and luxurious vegetation. Nothing can be more important in the economy of a farm than the situation of the farm-house and its out-buildings. In this respect our American farmers are lamentably deficient, and though we would not recommend as a model the one described by de Chateauvieux as common in Lombardy, still we think it would afford some valuable hints. ”

“ Let every farmer, planter, iron-master, &c., therefore, encourage manufactures in his household, on his estate, and in his neighbourhood, as the surest method of making a profitable home demand, without the expense of transportation, for the fruits of his labour, and the natural productions of his forests, mines and quarries. We purposely avoid to urge forcing and protecting duties, referring only to those existing, which have been ordained principally for the purpose of raising the requisite public revenue. ”

“ We believe the cheapness of produce and labour and improved machinery and labour-saving processes, will occasion manufactures to prosper and increase, and thus to support the growers of produce and the owners of the land, beyond even our free and valuable trade. To this, the duties laid for revenue, for defence, and for the encouragement of agriculture, will materially contribute; such as the impost upon East India cotton goods, of 271⁄2 to 621⁄2 and even 80 and 90 per cent., as made entirely of foreign cotton, rival to our cotton, flax, hemp, wool and silk. ”