Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/60

50 of hogs, and fifty millions of fowls. I shall speak of the exportation, when I come to treat of the commerce of the country.

This consumption of flesh, in a population of eight or nine millions of inhabitants, would appear disproportioned, did we not know that an American consumes much more than an European. In Europe, it is calculated that a pound of bread, and half a pound of meat or other food, will suffice an individual per diem. An American daily consumes little more than half a pound of bread, but at least a pound of meat, besides butter and potatoes, which make up at least one fourth of his food.

In some of the States there are various mines of iron, copper, and lead; and in others of coal: their annual product, however, is not calculated at more than two millions of dollars, nearly the whole of which is consumed in the country. This is a proof that these mines are naturally poor, or that they are badly worked.

Manufactures did not begin to be encouraged in the United States, until since the year 1805. Until that epoch, they had remained, as it were, stationary in the country, and the Americans depended upon foreign nations, principally upon England, for the different articles which they wanted. Attention to them was awakened, in a great measure, by the obstacles thrown in the way of neutral commerce and navigation, by the belligerent powers. Their annual product may now be calculated at 125