The Past, the Present and the Future
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Past, The Present and The Future By H.C. Carey Author of "Principles of Political Economy' If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, Whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself John VII. 17 Philadelphia Carey & Hart 1848 Digital Edition Prepared by Gary Edwards In Australia 24th July, 2006 Preface The volume now offered to the public is designed to demonstrate the existence of a simple and beautiful law of nature, governing man in all his efforts for the maintenance and improvement of his condition, a law so powerful and universal that escape from it is impossible, but which, nevertheless, has heretofore remained unnoticed. The further object of these pages is, by aid of this law, to examine and to solve various questions of great interest. In doing this, it has been necessary to refer to the history of various nations, in order to show that certain causes have invariably produced certain effects; and thus to account for the differences observable in their present condition, and in their modes of thought, and action. If in so doing the author be found to have expressed himself strongly in regard to some of the nations of Europe, he begs the reader to believe that he has done so not because he is not of them, but because they are not of those who have maintained peace and permitted the laws of nature to take effect: and if, on the contrary, he has spoken highly of the course pursued by the United States, and has placed in a strong point of view the results here realised, he begs the reader also to believe that he has done so, not merely because he is of them, but because they have, to an extent hitherto unprecedented, followed "the things that make for peace;" and because they, less than any other people, have interfered with the great natural laws under which man lives, and moves, and has his being. "God," says the wise man, "hath made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions." We find fewer of these "inventions" in the history of the United States than in that of any other nation, and it is due to the great cause of Truth and Human Happiness to exhibit as strongly as possible the contrast between the unrestricted operation of the laws of God on the one hand, and the results of the " inventions" of man, on the other. Table of Contents Chapter 1. Man and Land 9 2. Man and Food 77 3. Wealth 94 4. Wealth and Land 137 5. Man and His Standard of Value 157 6. Man And His Fellow Man 212 7. Man 247 8. Man and His Helpmate 262 9. Man and His Family 274 10. Concentration and Centralization 284 11. Colonization 315 12. Ireland 378 13. India 392 14. Annexation. 410 15. Civilization 415 The Future 429 The Lesson of the Past to the present The first cultivator, the Robinson Crusoe of his day, provided however with a wife, has neither axe nor spade. He works alone. Population being small, land is, of course, abundant. He may select for himself, without fear of his title being disputed. He is surrounded by soils possessed, in the highest possible degree, of the qualities that fit them for yielding large returns to labour. They are, however, covered with immense trees that he cannot fell, or they are swamps that he cannot drain. To pass through them even is attended with no small difficulty. The first is a mass of roots, stumps, decaying logs, and shrubs, while into the other he sinks half leg deep at every step. The atmosphere, too, is Impure. Fogs settle upon the low lands, and the, dense foliage of the wood prevents the circulation of the air. He has no axe, but if he had, he would not venture there, for to do so, would be attended with certain loss of health and great risk of life. Vegetation, too, is so luxuriant, that before he could, with the imperfect machinery at his command, clear a single acre, a portion of it would be again so overgrown that he would have to recommence his labour, which would be almost, if not quite, that of Sisyphus. The higher lands, comparatively bare of timber, are ill calculated to yield a return to his [begin page 10] labour. Nevertheless there are spots on the hill where the thin soil has prevented the growth of trees and shrubs, or there are spaces among the trees, that can be cultivated while they still remain standing, and when he pulls up by the roots the few shrubs scattered over the surface, he feels no apprehension of their being speedily replaced. With his hands he may even succeed in barking the trees, or, by the aid of fire, he may so far destroy them that time alone is needed to give him a few cleared acres, upon which he may plant his grain, with little fear of weeds. To attempt these things upon the richer lands would be loss of labour. In some places the ground is always wet. In others, the trees are too large to be seriously injured by fire, and its only effect would be to stimulate the growth of weeds and brush. He, therefore, commences the work of cultivation far up the hill, where, making with his stick holes in the light soil that drains itself, he drops the grain an inch or two below the surface, and in due season obtains a return of double the amount of his seed. He pounds this between stones, and obtains bread. His condition is improved. He has succeeded in making the earth labour for him, while himself engaged in trapping rabbits or squirrels, and in gathering fruits. In process of time, he succeeds in sharpening a stone, and thus obtains a hatchet by aid of which he is enabled to proceed more rapidly in girdling the trees, and in removing the sprouts and their roots, which is nevertheless a very slow and laborious operation. At the next step, we find him bringing into activity a new soil, whose food-producing powers were less obvious to sight than those of that first attempted. He finds an ore of copper, and by the aid of some of his fallen and decayed timber, succeeds in burning it, and thus obtains a better axe, with far less labour than was required for the first. He has also something like a spade. [begin page 11] He can now make holes four inches deep with less labour than with his stick he could make those of two. He penetrates to a lower soil, and being enabled to stir the earth and loosen it, the rain is now absorbed instead of running off from the hard ground, and he finds his new one far better and more easily worked than that upon which he has heretofore wasted his labour. His seed, better protected, is less liable to be frozen out in winter, or parched in summer, the consequence of which is that he gathers thrice the quantity sown. His new soil, gives him larger returns with less labour. At the next step, we find him bringing into action another new soil. He has found that which, on burning, yields him zinc, and by combining this with his copper he has brass. His machinery improves, and he proceeds more rapidly. He sinks deeper into the land first occupied, and, is enabled to clear other lands upon which vegetation grows more luxuriantly, because he can now exterminate the shrubs with some hope of occupying the land before they are replaced with others equally valueless for the supply of his wants. His children, too, have grown, and they can weed the ground and assist him in removing the obstacles by which his progress is impeded. At another step, we find him burning apiece of the iron soil which surrounds him in all directions, and now he is enabled to obtain a real axe and spade, inferior in quality, but still much superior to those by which his labour has been thus far aided. He next, with the aid of his sons, grown to man's estate, removes the light pine of the hill-side, leaving still untouched, however, the heavy oak of the river bottom. His cultivable ground is increased in extent, while he is enabled with his spade to penetrate still deeper than before, thus bringing into action the powers of the several soils lying within half a dozen inches of the surface. He finds, with great pleasure, that the light [begin page 12] soil is underlaid with clay, and that by combining the two he obtains a new one far more productive than that first brought into activity. He finds, too, that by turning the topsoil down, the process of decomposition is facilitated, and that thus, with each new operation, he receives an increasing reward for his labour. His family has increased, and he has obtained the important advantage of combination of exertion. Things that were needed to be done to render his land more rapidly productive, but which were to one man impracticable, become simple and easy when now attempted by himself and his half dozen sons, each of whom obtains far more food than he alone could at first command, and in return for far less severe exertion. He next extends his operations downwards, towards the low grounds of the stream, girdling the large trees, and burning the brush, and thus facilitating the passage of air so as to render the land by degrees fitted for occupation.