labor. We then take an account of stock and see what our savings are.

Afterward, to test the other theory, suppose we remove the duties on
iron, the duties on coffee, and the duties on everything else, so that
we shall obtain everything with as little difficulty and outlay of
labor as possible. If we then take an account of stock, is it not
certain that we shall find more iron in the country, more coffee, more
everything else?

Choose then, fellow-countrymen, between scarcity and abundance,
between much and little, between Protection and Free Trade. You now
know which theory is the right one, for you know the fruits they each
bear.

But, it will be answered, if we are inundated with foreign goods and
produce, our specie, our precious product of California, our dollars,
will leave the country.

Well, what of that? Man is not fed with coin. He does not dress in
gold, nor warm himself with silver. What does it matter, then, whether
there be more or less specie in the country, provided there be more
bread in the cupboard, more meat in the larder, more clothes in the
wardrobe, and more fuel in the cellar?

Again, it will be objected, if we accustom ourselves to depend upon
England for iron, what shall we do in case of a war with that country?

To this I reply, we shall then be compelled to produce iron ourselves.
But, again I am told, we will not be prepared; we will have no
furnaces in blast, no forges ready. True; neither will there be any