hibit those capacities, and to draw out that natural wealth? That is the great question; that forms the great topic; and now, fellow-citizens of Pennsylvania, what have you to say to it?

Pennsylvania is favored in climate, far more than the State to which I belong. She is favored, too, by position, her eastern line being closely connected with the sea, and her western with the great rivers of the West; while large and useful streams flow from her mountains, east and west, and north and south. She has a soil of remarkable fertility, especially suited to the production of wheat and other kinds of grain. But these are far from being all. She is rich, most rich, in treasures which lie beneath the surface. England possesses her East Indies and her West Indies; but it has been said, with truth, that, as sources of wealth, these are little in comparison with her "Black Indies." Coal and iron are among the chief productive causes of English opulence and English power. The acquisition of the whole empire of the Great Mogul is far less important, and all the mines of Mexico and Peru, if she should acquire them, would be less valuable, than these exhaustless treasures, lying in her own bosom.

Now, Gentlemen, how does Pennsylvania compare with England? In the first place, England and Wales embrace an extent of fifty-seven thousand square miles; Pennsylvania has an area of forty-three thousand. Here, as you perceive, is an approach to equality. Both abound in coal and iron; and probably Pennsylvania has as great a variety of the former, both anthracite and bituminous, as England. The value of coal, in its application to that new agent in human affairs, the use of steam, it is impossible to calculate or estimate. Steam has so far altered the modes of motion, and the forms of human industry and human action, that it may be said to have changed the world. It almost seems that we are whirling round the sun on a new orb, or at least had got into a new creation of things. We fly over the earth's surface, with a rapidity greater than that of the wings of the wind; we penetrate beneath its surface, and with a new and mighty power bring its hidden treasures up to the light of the sun. New agencies are at work, in all departments of business, and the processes of labor are everywhere revolutionized.

In this change, and in the causes which have produced it,

Pennsylvania is singularly and eminently interested; more so, probably, than any other State in the Union. Steam develops her resources, and turns them all to good account; but the development is yet only partial. Probably the coal field of Pennsylvania may be something less in area than that of England and Wales; but this is of little importance, as the supply seems adequate for ages and centuries to come. But the actual annual product is small, compared with that of England. England produces annually thirty millions of tons of coal, worth, at the pit's mouth, sixty or seventy millions of dollars. What an amount of wealth is this, from a single source! Pennsylvania is supposed to produce a million and a half of tons of anthracite coal, and perhaps as much of the bituminous kind. This is all her present product, with a capacity to supply the continent. Now, Gentlemen, how does this product bear on the employment and occupation of her citizens? How does it affect the great interests of labor and industry? This is an important point. If the existence of mines be useful to capitalists alone, it is one thing; but if their existence, and the working of them, be beneficial to the industrious and working classes, then they become quite another thing. Let us see how this is. I am told that coal in the mines may be regarded as worth, generally, thirty cents a ton, that is to say, the right of digging it may be obtained at that price. When dug and made ready for delivery, it is worth two dollars, or two dollars and a quarter, a ton. Now, what does this prove? Why, it proves, certainly, that, of the whole value of a ton of coal, the raw material composes thirty cents, and the labor employed and paid for in producing it from a hundred and seventy to a hundred and ninety-five cents. This last sum, therefore, is earned, by the labor and industry of Pennsylvania, on every ton of coal, making, of course, proper allowance for capital employed in machinery. But then this machinery, again, is itself a product of labor. We may pursue this subject into its details, as far as we please; the pursuit will always end in the establishment of the great principle, that labor is the source of wealth, and another great principle, fairly deducible from it, and equally clear, that, to judge of the general prosperity and happiness of a people, we are to look, in the first place, to the amount of useful, healthy, and well-paid labor which that people performs. It is this new

demand for labor, created by the working of the mines, that makes the subject so important to the whole people of Pennsyl vania. Every new demand for well-paid labor is a new source of prosperity and happiness to the great mass of the community. But this is a vast topic, and I have not now time to go far into it. It so happened, that ten or twelve years ago I addressed an assembly of the citizens of Pennsylvania at Pittsburg. On that occasion I expressed my opinions at some length, on the subject of American labor. Those opinions I still hold, with increased confidence in their truth and justice, and to them I beg leave respectfully to refer you.*

Another great mineral product of Pennsylvania is iron; in this respect, too, your State resembles England. England produces, annually, one million and a half of tons of pig iron. Eight or ten years ago, she did not produce one third of this amount; and this vast increase shows the extent of the new demand for the article, and her increased activity in producing it. But the chief value of iron, as well as of coal, consists of labor, directly or indirectly employed in the production. In the first place, it may be remarked, that the manufacture of iron consumes a vast quantity of coal. It has been computed that the production of a million and a half tons of iron, in England, requires six million tons of coal. Here is a case in which one occupation acts most favorably on another. But in the next place, miners of iron, and all classes of laborers employed in bringing the crude ore through the several stages of progress till it assumes the shape of bar iron, are, of course, to be fed, and clothed, and supported. All this creates a demand for provisions and various agricultural products. It has been estimated, that, for every ton of iron brought to market, twenty dollars have been paid away for agricultural labor and productions.

Now, Gentlemen, if these things be so, if this view of the case be substantially correct, how plain is it, that it is for the interest of every working man in Pennsylvania, of every occupation, that coal and iron should be produced at home, instead of being im ported from abroad? To be sure, if the mines were poor and scanty, and could only be wrought at a far greater expense than mines elsewhere; or if the material, when produced, were of an

The speech here referred to was delivered at Pittsburg, July 9th, 1833. See Vol. I. p. 285.

inferior sort, then the case might be different. But, in fact, richer mines, or mines more easily wrought, do not exist on the face of the earth. Nothing is wanted but a policy which shall give to our own enterprise and our own labor a fair chance, and a just encouragement to begin with. Pennsylvania, indeed, is not the only iron-producing State. Much of that metal is found in New York, in Maryland, in Tennessee; and some in other States. The interest, therefore, is in a good degree general.

But it is said that twenty per cent. ad valorem is duty enough, and, if iron cannot be made at home under such a duty, we ought to send for it to England or to Sweden. Now, in all reason, and according to all experience, this must very much depend upon the state, the degree of advancement, in which the interest proposed to be protected is found. Useful undertakings often require encouragement and stimulus in the beginning, which may afterwards be dispensed with. The product of English iron exemplifies this. At present that interest needs no protection; but up to 1820 it enjoyed the protection of quite as high a rate of duty as now exists in the United States. Now, it may well defy competition for the market at home. And it is well to bear in mind, that the existing tariff of duties in England imposes no less a rate than £42 19s. 6d. on every hundred pounds in value of imported goods, making an average of the whole. Certainly there is not much of the spirit of free trade in this.

Now, I repeat, Gentlemen, that it is not wonderful that a State in the condition of Pennsylvania, and of the character of Pennsylvania, -a State industrious, full of resources, and every way capable of drawing them out, should favor a policy favorable to their development. It would be wonderful if it were otherwise. It would be wonderful, indeed, if she should manifest a disposition to throw off the steam from her thousand engines, put out the fires, and close up her mines. The interest of all her people points the other way. And her aggregate interest, her interest as represented by her government, her own State policy, does that not point in the same direction? The govern ment of Pennsylvania has created a heavy debt, and it has embarrassed its finances, for the purpose of constructing canals and railroads, to furnish means and facilities of transportation, and to bring the great products of the State to market. She will

not slumber over this debt. She knows it must be paid, and she intends to pay it. I never for a moment doubted this. Her faith is pledged, and she will redeem it. She requests, and she needs, no assumption of her debt by the government of the United States. She contracted it herself, and she can pay it herself, and she will pay it. But she has a right to demand something of the general government, and that something is a permanent settled, steady, protective policy, to be established by means of custom-house regulations. Pennsylvania cannot establish this policy for herself. She has parted with the power of laying duties at her own ports. All this is gone to the general government. And that government has solemnly bound itself to exercise the power, fairly, justly, and beneficially. What the State can do, it does, and will do. It makes roads and canals, and creates all the facilities in its power. What the people can do, they do, and will continue to do. They show enterprise, and bestow labor. They make the wilderness blossom, and crown their fields with golden harvests. They are ready to bore the earth and extract its treasures.

It

But there is one thing which is altogether essential, which neither the government of Pennsylvania nor the people of Pennsylvania can do. They are unable to protect themselves, by custom-house regulations, against the poorer and cheaper labor of Europe. This Congress must do for them, or it cannot be done at all. Pennsylvania has no longer the power. is given up. All the world knows that the coal and iron of Pennsylvania, and the other great interests of Pennsylvania, cannot be protected and regulated but through the customhouse, and Pennsylvania has not control over one in the world, That power is parted with. Pennsylvania surrendered it to the federal government. The power of laying duties on imports, which was once a Pennsylvania power, belongs to Pennsylvania no more. But this truth is clear, that this high prerogative, thus parted with, should be exercised, and must be exercised, by the trustee who has it, for the benefit of Pennsylvania, to raise up, bring forth, and reward American labor. The federal gov. ernment, I say, fails in its duty to Pennsylvania, and in its duty to every other State in this Union, if it lets the power lie latent, and refuses to use it. That is the pinch, the very exigence, that made this government of the United States.