It was in the midst of this career of prosperity in the United States that many far-seeing American statesmen urged on the then reluctant attention of those of their countrymen who dwelt along the sea-board the paramount necessity of dedicating their surplus capital to the extension of agricultural industry. These men urged that the food heretofore exported by America to foreign countries might not be required for European consumption, and that many of the hands then engaged in active hostilities, either for defence or conquest, would be required for agriculture. Instead of there being always a deficiency of food in Europe, it was quite possible that there might be a surplus of provisions, the many thousands in their armies and fleets being added to the productive classes, and thus diminishing the chief branch of freight enjoyed by the United States shipping. The experience of the interval from 1783 to 1791, when American trade was so much depressed, had not been lost upon keen and calm observers, and many able American writers incessantly pointed to the vast, rich, fertile uncultivated lands in the south and west of the Union, as the inexhaustible mine of wealth from which the future greatness and power of the States must be derived, and urged their countrymen to encourage and direct their efforts to that branch of domestic industry. This salutary advice was not altogether lost at that time upon the Americans; but it has since been ardently pursued, with what success the exports of the articles of corn and cotton alone will fully establish. [Sidenote: The shipwrights of Baltimore seek protection.]