Political Arithmetic No. I
I HAVE often been surprized, that among the numerous and minute calculations submitted to the wisdom of Congress, by Messrs. Pinckney, Wolcott, McHenry, and Co. they have never favoured us with a comparison between the value of the Commerce we so much boast of in this country, and the expence of supporting it. I cannot promise to be accurate to a dollar, but perhaps the following statement of general facts may enable us to form an opinion on the subject, somewhat different from the sentiments that commonly prevail.
It appears, from the late account of the exports of the United States, that the gross amount for the last annual period was about Sixty Millions of Dollars. These exports consist of articles of the first necessity, Grain and Flour—Beef, Pork, and Fish—Lumber and Tobacco—Rice and Indigo. If we did not send them away in our own vessels, they would be fetched away by others, for they are not articles that depend on a forced market. The plated candlesticks or buckles of Birmingham, and the velvets and muslins of Manchester, may require to be known before they come into demand, and the wants of purchasers must frequently be excited and created by novelty, before the articles to be sold can find sufficient vent. But what fashion is there in a bushel of wheat or a cask of flour? The amount of exports from this country, would therefore be the same or nearly so, whether they were exported in American or European bottoms: Thus the only part of our Commerce really defended by the American ships of war, is the CARRYING TRADE.
