Gazette Of The United States

Agriculture and manufactures appear to be rising in the estimation of the people of the United States, and with great reason—they form the surest basis of independence, and eventually prove the source of the greatest profit:—Commerce is little better than mere speculation—and very seldom realizes to the adventurer his high-raised expectations. It has lately been asserted in the newspapers of the United States, that one Farmer in Maryland sold from his last crop, twelve thousand bushels of Wheat: What commercial speculation, on a capital equal to the whole probable cost of this Wheat, would be equally productive on the most favorable calculation? And with respect to Manufactures, there can be little doubt that a large capital can be employed in several species of the coarser kind, to much greater advantage than in almost any mercantile enterprize. Duck of all kinds is now manufactured in the United States and it has been said that coarse Woolens can be made and sold at a lower rate than they can be imported.

The security of property is one principal object of government: Contrast the present situation of the United States, in this particular, with that immediately preceding the adoption of the New Constitution, and how striking the difference! This conscious security, which is induced upon every citizen through the influence of the government, has diffused a new face over our affairs, and has called into operation the dormant funds of individuals, in such manner as to produce an influx of business in every branch, that has been productive of more solid profit to the Union at large, than perhaps ten times the amount of the expences of the general government.