Mr. Isaac Greenwood’s Lecture

Read July 9, 1798.  Now first published from the original manuscript.

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Companions of The Useful Arts:

Being interested, in common with every other member of this Association, I have, at all times, been willing to give my feeble assistance to further its objects, and to raise it to the degree of respect it justly merits.  On that principle, and that only, have I ventured to prepare, from my own observation and those of others, the following remarks for this evening’s entertainment; relying on your candor for an indulgence which a want of practice would naturally crave.

The wealth and prosperity of nations principally depend on a due attention to agriculture, manufactures and commerce.  In the various stages of her political existence, America has derived great advantages from the establishment of manufactures and the useful arts.  Her present situation in the world calls her by new and weighty considerations, to promote and extend them.  The United States, as an independent government, require new resources to support their rank and influence, both abroad and at home.  Our distance and the distracted situation of the nations of Europe; possessing within ourselves the materials of the useful arts, and articles of consumption and commerce; the profusion of wood and water, those powerful and necessary agents in all arts and manufactures; the variety of natural productions with which this extensive country abounds, and the number of people in our towns and ancient settlements, who are qualified for employments of this nature; all concur to point out the necessity of our promoting and establishing manufactures among ourselves.  But after all that can be said on the subject, little hope can be entertained of the success of domestic manufactures, without the patronage of the government; and perhaps there is no subject that more deserves the attention of a wise and prudent legislature, than that which tends to promote the useful arts, and to inspire a spirit of industry among the people, and at the same time maintain a commerce with other nations; for it is commerce, (the primum mobile of which is manufactures and agriculture,) that draws gold  and silver, the mainsprings of action, into any State,-a truth illustrated in the present condition of Spain, the mines of Mexico being scarcely sufficient to pay for the merchandise and commodities imported from other European nations.  From these considerations, all commercial governments have granted salutary privileges and encouragements to the manufacturing and mercantile parts of the community, because the return of commerce is riches and plenty, which fortifies countries strength and reputation.  It is the duty, as well as the interest of a good government to encourage and support that kind of commerce, which will terminate in its favor.  A nation may be drained of its wealth and undone by a foreign trade, if it takes more goods from other nations than it sends out, and pays in gold and silver.  Therefore, every wise administration will carefully watch over those branches of commerce where the balance is on their side.  The balance of trade is an equality between the value of commodities bought of foreigners and the value of the native productions transported into other nations.  Therefore, in the exchange of commodities, if one nation pays the other a quantity of gold and silver over and above its property of other kinds, this is a balance against that nation in favor of the other; from which an inference is drawn, as an indubitable corollary, that the whole science of profitable commerce consists in the bringing this single point to bear, which object is eagerly pursued by most of the European powers.

The great diversity of climate, soil, and natural productions of the several countries of the earth, together with the variety of genius, habits and manners of their respective inhabitants, necessarily occasioned a commercial intercourse between them.  The natural wants of every country are few, and perhaps the productions of each, suited by Providence to the inclinations and exigencies of its people, are fully competent to the supply of their necessities.  But the artificial wants, created by refinement of manners, have given great scope to the industry and ingenuity of mankind; and an interchange of the various productions of art, as well as of nature, is carried on between nations, for their mutual convenience.

It is obvious, that the country which can export the most of its native productions, and is so circumstanced as least to need the importation of foreign commodities, has a vast advantage over every other.  But nature alone does not give this advantage. although it contributes greatly to it. A country, naturally poor, may, by the superior industry of its inhabitants, acquire greater wealth, through the medium of its commerce with other countries, than the one abounding in those productions of the earth, which constitute the most absolute and substantial riches, without a proportional degree of national industry.  This, however, is to be understood as relating to the public wealth and resources of such a country; for a people, in their national capacity, may be poor, though the individuals that compose it may, generally, enjoy real riches.  But, in order to render a nation prosperous, and to guard it against the intrigues or hostile designs of foreign powers, it is not sufficient that the people, individually, should possess the kind of riches that have been mentioned.  There must be within the country sufficient circulating medium of property, or that the species of riches which we term money, for the purpose of defraying the necessary charges of the government, and to form, as it were, the public wealth of the nation. 

Money is, properly speaking, the representative of property, and may, with respect to its uses, be considered as property itself.  It is that kind of property which, by reason of its transferability, is the most suitable medium of alienation.  Unless, therefore, a country possesses quantity of this circulating medium fully sufficient to carry on its commerce, a stagnation of its trade, proportionable to the deficiency, must necessarily ensue.  Money will never discover its effects, if it is not put in motion by commerce.  As the body of planet, being in itself opaque, would never discover to its form and figure, if, according to that hypothesis, it did not revolve round the sun, whose light presents it to our view; so we must form the same judgment concerning money which, it is certain, has in itself no power at all to increase and multiply, and thereby to form the riches of a nation; nor, on the contrary, to reduce it to poverty,  If a prosperous or unfavorable motion were not communicated thereto by commerce, we should never be sensible of its effects.

Industry is the soul of commerce, and this the parent of wealth.  Money must be scarce where trade is in its infancy.   To stimulate industry, and consequently to enliven commerce, before a State can acquire a sufficiency of money for carrying on the business of alienation, (in which commerce consists,) the assistance of a judicious credit is required.  The manufacturer must trust his employer, the employer his merchant, the merchant his tradesman, and the tradesman his customer; so that trade is chiefly supported by this circulation of credit; and on the proper application of this by a State, especially in a young country where agriculture is the main source of the people’s wealth, much of the national prosperity depends.

In a country without manufactures, where the inhabitants depends on the culture of the earth for their support, they may, in their individual capacities, be in some degree independent; but, with their utmost exertions, they can scarcely do more than subsist themselves; and viewed aggregately, as a nation, they cannot possibly become rich.  Every shilling they acquire, by the sale of raw materials, and they surplus produce of their lands, must be sent abroad, to purchase the manufacturers and fabrics of other countries, in order to furnish them with the necessary supply of clothing and other wares.  Indeed, when it is considered how greatly the raw material is increased in its value by the labor of the artist or manufacturer, it is plainly discernible that a nation peopled by farmers, must be a region of indolence and misery.  If the soil is naturally fertile, little labor will produce abundance; but, for want of exercise, even that little will be burthensome and often neglected.  Want will be felt in the midst of abundance, and the human mind correspondingly abased.  If the region is more barren, the inhabitants will be obliged to become more industrious, and, therefore, more happy.  But miserable, at best, must be the happiness of such a people.  Those who wish to make agriculture flourish in any country, can have no hopes of succeeding but by bringing manufactures and commerce to her aid; which, by taking from the farmer his superfluous produce, give spirit to his operations, and life and activity to his mind.  A nation, therefore, composed of farmers, without a due intermixture of mechanics and manufactures, must, sooner or later, degenerate to the condition of mere laborers.  In a country thus circumstanced, the value of the imports will unavoidably exceed that of the exports; and, of consequence, the wealth of the country must finally be exhausted.  It is an infallible maxim in every trading country, that the more their importation of foreign merchandise exceeds the exportation of their own, so much more unavoidable will be their ruin and misery at last; and the damages such a traffic usually brings upon a whole nation are even greater than any that have been felt by the most devouring locusts.  Besides, every species of fabric of manufactured, of what kind soever, derives its value from the quantum of labor employed in the workmanship, the intrinsic worth of the materials of which it consists, the demand.

If we view agriculture in the light of a manufacture, we shall find that the land, which we must consider as a raw material, cannot be enhanced, by all the labor of the farmer, so much beyond its intrinsic value as to yield more than a moderate profit on such labor; nor is the demand, and consequently the price of lands, at all affected by fashion, as is generally the case with manufactures, so that the ingenuity or taste of the farmer can contribute little towards increasing the value of his land.  The farmer is in some measure limited in the profits arising from his labors, by the inherent value of the land; whereas, the manufacturer may, from a very small stock, receive emoluments proportioned to the quality of his workmanship, without much regard to the intrinsic value of the material.

The foregoing observations are not designed to shew the superiority of a manufacturing country over one in which the people are principally employed in tilling the earth.  On contrary, I am persuaded that the latter has manifestly the advantage over one wholly dependent on trade and manufactures.  The prosperity of the one depends very much on the precarious circumstances of human affairs and political events.  The other cannot be sensibly or easily affected by such causes.  But the design of what has been said, is merely to maintain this principle, -that a whole people, depending on agriculture, without the aid of manufactures, cannot be wealthy or powerful, as a nation.  It is admitted, that, in a free government, riches are by no means essential for the security of the rights of a citizen.  In a genuine republic, all good men in private stations, are on an equality, whatever may be the disparity in their fortunes.  Nothing can entitle one citizen to a preference over another but superior virtue and abilities.  With respect to States, in relation to each other, the difference is obvious.

If the foregoing principle is established, and these reasonings be applied to our own country, it becomes manifest that our interest, our duty, our safety, require that we should exert ourselves in instituting manufactures in the several States in the American Union.  The establishment of those manufactures only, which may be fabricated from the native materials of the country,-and of them, such alone the intrinsic value of the raw material whereof, forms a considerable portion of its worth when wrought up; this will comprehend the most useful manufactures, and those which will least conduce to the encouragement of luxury.  The products of the land in this country ought to be our great dependence, and consequently agriculture merits our attention.  Therefore, such manufactures as are most conductive to the interest of this primary object, deserve the most immediate encouragement.  And above all, let us be ambitious in the prosecution of our various callings; for, were it not for emulation, man would scarcely have been distinguished from the beasts of the field.  The arts were sent to mitigate the toils of life, and regale the active mind.  That spirit of emulation, which in a state of nature impels every man to aspire at distinction, takes a twofold direction when connected with society.  He who was ambitious of pre-eminence in a state of independence, is still ambitious as an individual, and moreover becomes ambitious to promote the honor and happiness of the society with which he is connected.

  “May fair Benevolence, with pliant rein,

Direct our conduct to our fellow men;

May we to human frailties pay respect,

Smooth o’er each foible, and each fault correct;

To pining Grief, sweet consolation speak,

And wipe the tear of woe from Virtue’s cheek.”