Already he thought Europe was showing a want of capacity to
consume our surplus; in his opinion, cotton, tobacco, and bread-
stuffs had already reached the maximum of foreign demand. From this
he argued that home manufactures should be encouraged to consume the
surplus, and that some portion of American industry should be
diverted from agriculture to manufacturing.
Industrial independence also required this action. England had
recently imposed new duties on wool and cotton, and her corn laws
contributed to limit her demand for our flour. "I am, too," he said,
"a friend of free trade, but it must be a free trade of perfect
reciprocity. If the governing considerations were cheapness; if
national independence were to weigh nothing; if honor nothing; why
not subsidize foreign powers to defend us?" He met the argument of
the deficiency of labor and of the danger of developing overcrowded
and pauperized manufacturing centers by reasoning that machinery
would enable the Americans to atone for their lack of laborers; and
that while distance and attachment to the native soil would check
undue migration of laborers to the west, at the same time the danger
of congestion in the east would be avoided by the attraction of the
cheap western lands.
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