not
view it in the same light, nor regret, with a New-York merchant whom I
met in the Fair to-day, that Congress did not appropriate $100,000 to
secure a full and commanding exhibition of American products at this
Fair. I do not see how any tangible and adequate benefit to the Nation
would have resulted from such a dubious disposition of National funds.
In the first place, our great Agricultural staples--at least, all such
as find markets abroad--are already accessible and well known here.
Bales of Cotton, casks of Hams or other Meats, barrels of Flour or
Resin, hogsheads of Tobacco, &c., might have been heaped up here as high
as St. Paul's steeple--to what end? Europeans already know that we
produce these staples in abundance and perfection, and when they want them
they buy of us. I doubt whether cumbering the Fair with them would have
either promoted the National interest or exalted the National reputation.
It would have served rather to deepen the impression, already too general
both at home and abroad, that we are a rude, clumsy people, inhabiting a
broad, fertile domain, affording great incitements to the most slovenly
description of Agriculture, and that it is our policy to stick to that,
and let alone the nicer processes of Art, which require dexterity and
delicacy of workmanship. We must outgrow this error.

Our Manufacturers are in many departments grossly deficient, in others
inferior to the best rival productions of Europe. In Silks and Linens,
we have nothing now to show; I trust the case will be bravely altered
within a few years. In broad cloths, we are behind and going behind, but
in Satinets, Flannels, (woolen) Shawls, De Laines, Ginghams, Drills and
most plain Cottons, we are producing as effectively as our rivals, and
in many departments gaining upon them. But few of these are goods which
make much show in a Fair; three cases of Parisian gewgaws will outshine
in an exhibition a million dollars' worth of admirable and cheap
Muslins, Drills, Flannels, &c. And beside, our Manufacturers, who find
themselves met at every turn, and often supplanted at their own doors by
showy fabrics from abroad, are shy of calling attention in Europe to the
few articles which, by the help of valuable American inventions, they
are able to make and sell at a profit. I know this consideration has
kept some goods and more machinery at home which would otherwise have
been here. The manufacturers are here or are coming, to see wh