"When, therefore, we purchase a Portuguese orange, we may say that we
obtain it 99/100 gratuitously and 1/100 by the right of labor; in
other words, at a mere song compared to those of New York.
"Now it is precisely on account of this 99/100 _gratuity_ (excuse the
phrase) that you argue in favor of exclusion. How, you say, could
national labor sustain the competition of foreign labor, when the
first has every thing to do, and the last is rid of nearly all the
trouble, the sun taking the rest of the business upon himself? If then
the 99/100 _gratuity_ can determine you to check competition, on what
principle can the _entire gratuity_ be alleged as a reason for
admitting it? You are no logicians if, refusing the 99/100 gratuity as
hurtful to human labor, you do not _a fortiori_, and with double zeal,
reject the full gratuity.
"Again, when any article, as coal, iron, cheese, or cloth, comes to us
from foreign countries with less labor than if we produced it
ourselves, the difference in price is a _gratuitous gift_ conferred
upon us; and the gift is more or less considerable, according as the
difference is greater or less.
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