A continent becomes too small to limit the exertions of their skill and labor-the mammoth steam ship is launched, and goes ploughing its way through the deep, to levy contributions from the farthest ends of the earth. Its steam voice wakes the echo of the forest. The savage man and beast fly at its approach; the solitude of the wilderness resounds to the stroke of the woodman's axe-the farmer's cottage is reared on the site of the Indian wigwam-the plains, where but yesterday the wild deer herded, teem with rich harvests. Busy cities dot the land, and the sound of the loom and the anvil are borne upon the wind. The sparks from a thousand forges, illuminate the darkness of night. Labor is in demand. Wealth is distributed; consumptic n increased. The wilderness has been made to bud and blossom as the rose. Savage life has given way before the march of civilization, and the fully developed man rejoices in the pride of his strength.

When will mankind learn, that in union there is beauty and strength? When will they learn that the perfection of their nature depends upon the simultaneous and perfect development of all their powers, and their application to the development of those natural sources of comfort and happiness, with which a benevolent Creator has surrounded them?

the exer

When will man cease to look with a jealous eye upon tion of a fellow being in a different department of labor, and learn that his neighbor's prosperity imparts a genial warmth to his own? When will the farmer realize that the manufacturer is his greatest friend? When will they join hands with the mechanic, and, in an unbroken chain, bind themselves together, across our continent, and around the world? The book of God's instruction has lain open before them for ages, and yet they have failed to learn. For dreary centuries have they defaced God's fair heritage with bitter contention and strife. Unfaithful stewards, they have laid waste the vineyard, which was given them to cultivate and adorn.

But the sun of a brighter day has risen upon the world. The song of the husbandman joins in chorus with the song of the maufacturer,

and harmonizing with the hum of a world filled with busy machinery, ascends as an incense of praise and gratitude to heaven.

O, may my eyes live to see the noontide of this glorious day! May God look down from heaven, his dwelling place, and visit and bless this heritage of man? And if the night approaches, in which no man can work, may I not live to see it.

SAMUEL T. WYLIE.

CINCINNATI, November 5, 1850.

AN ESSAY,

ON THE RELATIONS THAT AGRICULTURAL, MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING INTERESTS SUSTAIN TO EACH OTHER; WITH SOME REMARKS UPON THE RELATIONS OF COMMERCE TO THE OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY.

In the most genial clime, and upon the most fertile soil, man might subsist, perhaps, upon the spontaneous productions of the earth, which he could pluck with his hands, or dig with a broken limb. This would be agriculture in its rudest form-its only form in the absence of the mechanic arts. If it would suffice to sustain human existence, it could, at the most, support but a few scattered people upon a small part of the earth's surface. These people would have no clothing, no shelter but trees and caves, no means of defence against the venomous reptiles and beasts of prey with which the warmer regions of the earth abound. They would be in the lowest conceivable state of want and wretchedness, from which they could by no possibility escape by agriculture alone.

The savage, who roams the uncultivated realms of nature, living upon the beasts, birds and fishes which its waters and its wilds supply, is advanced a step in the scale of existence. With his stone hatchet, the product of his mechanical skill, he constructs his bark covered hut; his flint headed arrow enables him to procure those animals which supply him with food and clothing. Yet it is doubtful whether he can be cited as an instance of man living by means of mechanical industry alone. If, as some writers allege, the felling of trees, and the collection of the spontaneous products of nature, should be classed under the head of agriculture, mechanical industry cannot have an independent existence. Be this as it may, to unite these two employments, to enable the primitive agriculturist above mentioned to construct his wigwam, to place in his hands the means

Says Political Economy, page 64.

of securing animals for food, to teach him how of their skins he may make his blanket, his moccasins and his bed, would vastly improve his condition.

We see, then, that "even in man's rudest state there is an intimate connection between agricultural and mechanical industry; as we rise in the scale of civilization, their mutual dependencies become more apparent.

To trace their relationship-to examine their respective bearingsto point out some of the causes which tend to render their mutual influences more or less beneficial, is the purpose of this essay.

By way of introduction, let us accompany the laborer just located upon a piece of wood land of which he is to make a farm. An are is to him an article of prime necessity. He cannot make it. Who then will furnish it? Various workmen concur in its production, and among others, the blacksmith. This blacksmith cannot eat his own potatoes, but must be fed by the farmer. Each supplies what the other needs; each creates a market for the other's surplus product. The beneficial relationship existing between these occupations is so perfectly obvious as to require no further illustration.

Who is benefitted by the increased productiveness of labor in any kind of business? those who are engaged in that particular business? Yes; but not more than others. The proposition that mechanics derive as much benefit as farmers, from improvement in agriculture, and vice versa, may be to some new and startling; it is, nevertheless, susceptible of demonstration. Were any process discovered by which houses could be built at one-half the present expenses, house builders could not monopolize the saving. If they could, there would be no loss any where; all being able to procure houses as cheaply as before; but the builders would make enormous profits. These profits would induce them to seek to extend their operations, and others would engage in the business. Each, to secure jobs, would endeavor to underbid his competitors, and the price of houses would be reduced. The reduced expenses would enable many to live in good houses who were not able before, and the demand for such houses would be vastly increased. To meet this increased demand would require an additional number of workmen, and until these could be supplied wages would be somewhat higher in this than in other employments. This increase of wages would attract laborers until house building should cease to be more profitable than other occupations; after which, house builders, in their capacity of producers, could derive no ad

vantage from the cheapened process. They would reap a substantial and permanent benefit; but it would consist in this, that their own houses would cost them less. Other mechanics, and farmers,

would participate equally with them in this benefit. Were the expenses of producing everything which the farmer wishes to buy, reduced in the same ratio. his crops not being increased in quantity, it is evident that he would have no more to sell, yet what he sold would bring him twice as much. This, to each individual farmer would be equivalent to doubling the quantity of his surplus products.

Again: Suppose labor become doubly productive in agriculture, rather than in the mechanic arts. If a single farmer, by increased knowledge, or any other means, can with the same labor make his farm produce more than before, he pockets the profit; because the addition made to the general supply is too slight to be felt; if a small, or even a large district, become more productive, there may be no appreciable depression in price; the increase in supply being slight in comparison with the entire demand; but if improvements in agriculture be carried to such an extent that every farmer can double his crops by the same outlay of labor and capital, he must give twice as much of those crops for the same value as he did before; otherwise, his business being more profitable than others, would attract laborers until increased competition should reduce its profits to the common level. We often observe that, when the market is overstocked with a particular commodity, the whole will be sold for less than when the supply falls a little short of the demand. To show how this effect may be produced, let us suppose 100,000 bushels of wheat to be yearly required to supply the consumption of Franklin county. If 120,000 bushels be raised, there will be a surplus of 20,000 to seek another market. Let that market be at Cleveland, when wheat is worth one dollar per bushel, and let the cost of transportation be 25 cents. In this case, wheat in Franklin county would be worth 75 cents; that consumed in the county, as well as that sent abroad; and the value of the entire crop would be $90,000. Again, if but 80,000 bushels be raised, an import of 20,000 will be required to furnish a full supply. This being bought in Cleveland at one dollar, and 25 cents being paid for carriage, will bring the price to a dollar and a