JAN. 30, 1833.] The Tariff Bill. [H. of R. [Here Mr. ROANE, of Virginia, in an under tone, observed to Mr. P. that Yankees use it in more ways than one.] Yes, said Mr. P., if our hasty puddings were not sometimes made to swim in this as well as milk, the bard of Connecticut could not have sung with such apparent inspiration the praises of such a common article of food in New England. his seat and out of it, what past experience has proved to be true, that the hemp of Kentucky could not come in competition with that which was imported; that the mode of curing here was so different from that abroad, that the one could not take the place of the other; and he at the last session was in favor of a greater reduction than that which was made by the act of the 14th July. If, sir, hemp could be imported free of duty, as is actually the case in Great Britain, our ropewalks, now in a manner A reduction of the duty on molasses, or the introducidle, might be profitably used in the manufacture of cord- tion of it duty free, would not injure any one of the proage for exportation, as well as for own vessels. But, tected articles of the country. Such is the protection under the operation of this bill, vessels will, as they have given to sugar in this bill, that the sugar interest of Louiheretofore done, destined from this country for Europe, siana would not suffer by such an introduction, and most take as little cordage as they can be safely navigated with, of the molasses of that State does, and for a long time and make up their deficiency on their arrival out; thus will, find a ready market in the West, and cannot be intransferring American capital to a foreign land, and em-jured by any successful competition. Why, then, should ploying foreign labor instead of that of our own citizens. the duty be retained? If this article could be imported duty free, or was subject Of all the interests in this country, which will feel the to only a small impost, our own labor might supply the direct and immediate effects of this bill, that of wool and West Indies and South America with cordage; at any rate, woollens is the most extensive. How far and to what exwe could divide the trade in this article with the English, tent they may be injured, others are more competent give einployment to the mechanics of our own country, and than I am, said Mr. P., to judge. No man is better acgive a stimulus to the navigation interest, and all the quainted with their interests than the honorable gentlebranches of national industry connected with or depend-man from Massachusetts, [Mr. BATES,] who has just ent upon it. But pass this bill, and they have nothing to taken his seat. Neither, in his estimation, can live under hope for or expect. One would suppose that the com- the operations of this bill. Will gentlemen pause for a mittee had in view the destruction of another of our in-moment, and, before they proceed in the work of deterests. The duty on rum is to be so far reduced, as I struction, reflect upon the extent of these two interests? have already shown, I think, as to enable the foreign to The capital in wool and woollens is, at this time, supply the place of the domestic in all our markets, and $167,000,000. Annual produce, $40,000,000. Threeconsequently prostrate the whole of our distilleries. fourths the produce of agriculture. West India rum, I am told, will be brought for twenty- The sheep, at this time, are valued at $40,000,000, and eight cents a gallon, third proof, hogsheads and all, in this the number might be quadrupled in three years. country for exportation, giving the vender the drawback. gentlemen prepared, at one blow, to deprive us of this Such rum is 10 per cent. above first proof, which being great produce by the destruction of this immense capital? deducted to ascertain the price of first proof, leaves it I hope not. There is no pursuit which one would supat only 25.20 cents per gallon, then deduct four cents for pose from the course of our legislation was less regarded the value of the hogshead, brings the rum at twenty-one than agriculture: yet it has engaged in it more than five cents and eight mills, which is all the rum netts the seller times the number of all the others combined. It is selin this country, reckoned first proof. The price of New dom the farmer calls your attention to his wants. He England rum is now, without the hogshead, at the distil- seldom makes any demands or prefers any claims; and, lery, thirty-three cents, and can hardly be afforded for sir, what employment is there more honorable or as usethat; nor will it probably be much lower if the duty on ful? By honest industry, by hard labor, by the sweat of molasses should continue at four or five cents. Then, sir, his brow, he is able to sustain himself, and supply the admit the importer receives twenty-two cents for first wants of his country. Without this labor, where would proof, and pays eighteen cents duty, it will only raise it to be the comforts or necessaries of life? Are forty cents per gallon, seven cents above the price of do- Mr. Chairman, the soil which he cultivates with his lamestic rum. There can be no doubt but the foreign rum bor is pledged for all the requirements of the Governwould have a general preference in the market at twenty ment. His fields are as lasting as the eternal hills, and cents difference of price. Pass this bill, and domestic when the tax gatherer calls, he is sure to find him. He distilling must cease; the importation of molasses would cannot change his employment for any other. As his lot be lessened; our navigation feel the effects of it; and with is cast, so it remains. His gains may be sure, but they this decrease of importation, there would be a decrease are always small. Sir, what is at this time his great deof the exportation of many of those agricultural products pendence? I speak, sir, of those in that part of the as well as those things which are drawn from the ocean, country with which I am best acquainted, my own home: given in exchange for this article. Sir, I lay out of the it is wool. If he be the proprietor of the land he cultiaccount the effect which the destruction of this one inte- vates, he looks to this for his gains; if but the tenant, to rest would have upon the mechanics and laborers to whom this he looks to enable him to pay his rent, and for the it directly and indirectly gives employment. maintenance of his family. Let it not be understood, beI come now, Mr. Chairman, to the consideration of cause we have in Rhode Island a large manufacturing inanother article: that of molasses is as much, if not more, terest, we have not a great agricultural interest also. Sir, entitled to a reduction of duty than any other. Its pre- if we have but a little soil, we endeavor to supply the sent duty is frequently equal to its cost in the island of want of extensive fields by high cultivation, and placing Cuba, if we except the price of the hogshead; and the upon the lands we have all the stock they can possibly duty proposed by this bill, of four cents a gallon, will be sustain. To this interest I pray gentlemen to turn their equal to an ad valorem duty of 75 or 80 per cent. If we attention before they vote for this bill in its present form. view this article as a material for manufacturing, the re- Think of our flocks, and you will have at least some misduction goes in aid of American industry, in which may givings before you strike the blow, some compunctious also be included the employ of our vessels and seamen. visitings. I am animated with hope, and cannot but take If it is considered as an article of domestic consumption, courage from what I have seen in the honorable gentleit is one of the cheapest, and most nutritious, and best man from New York, [Mr. RooT.] Anti-tariff as he may adapted to the use of the poor and laboring classes of be supposed to be, he has offered us one prayer for the any of the foreign productions. sheep upon the banks of the Delaware. H. of R. The Tariff Bill. [JAN. 30, 1833. In regard to the agricultural interest, said Mr. P., I have heard it somewhere said, not here, that the woollen might have said more, but could not have contented my manufacturers require it. Sir, they have not, to my self with saying less. Early associations, an acquaintance knowledge, asked for it. Pass this bill, and my word for with it in all its parts better than with any other interest, it, something more than olive oil will be found necessary as it always has, so it always will engage me to stand by to keep their wheels in motion. This proposed reducand sustain it. The laborer is worthy of his hire. Con- tion will be but a poor compensation for the losses they tinue to the farmer the little pittance which he now re- will sustain by the operation of the bill generally. Let ceives. Let him not suffer by the direct, as he certainly me then call the attention of the committee to the extent will, to what extent I know not, by the indirect operations and advantages to the country of a pursuit which this reof this bill, if it should pass with the provisions it now duction may severely affect and eventually destroy. The contains. If the Hessian fly has destroyed his grain, let statement which I read shows the number of ships in 1831, not our legislation blast his remaining prospect. A remark and men engaged in this business, the quantity of provior two more generally in regard to the navigation of the sions consumed, the amount of foreign articles used, and country to be affected by the bill, and to give all the the quantity of sperm oil obtained from 1815 to 1831. credit to the committee they are entitled to. In looking For the last two years the number of ships has greatly inover a comparison of the duties of the act of last session creased, and the number of men now employed is more with those proposed by this bill, I find that on chain ca- than seven thousand. 93,180 bris. 1828 73,077 1829 79,840 1830 106,829 1821 48,000 brls. 1827 1825 62,240 1831 110,000 The whale oil brought in 1830 was 118,000 barrels, and in 1831, 188,000 barrels; 100 barrels sperm oil will produce 27,000 pounds spermaceti. The common whale ships average about 1,000 barrels of oil. bles the duty is to be reduced from 59 to 20 per cent. ad THE WHALE TRADE.-- It is estimated that the number of valorem, and, without stopping to inquire whether this whale ships in the United States, in 1831, was 300; the reduction will be conducive to the interest of the rope-number of men employed in them was about 6,500, who makers, the navigation of the country will give them consumed annually 36,0 0 barrels flour, 30,000 barrels credit for it. And as this interest was not entirely over-beef and pork, 18,000 bolts of duck, 6,000,000 staves, looked, and was recognised as an existing interest, and 2,000 tons of cordage, and 700,000 pounds of copper and knowing as they did that it had to compete with the navi- copper nails. The quantity of sperm oil obtained from gation of the world; that it has heretofore been sustained 1815 to 1831 is stated to be as follows: by the superior skill, industry, and enterprise of our na- 1815 3,944 brls. vigators and seamen, without which it could not have been 1816 7,539 sustained at all; that shipbuilding is as much a manufac- 1817 32,760 ture as any other; that the mechanics of our country have 1818 18,625 also their rights, and are entitled to the protection of their 1819 21,323 country; that this navigation has been taxed with charges 1820 34,708 upon ship registers, Mediterranean passes, and, until lately, with tonnage duties, not to mention others, it is to be regretted that the heavy charges on iron, hemp, and duck, should have been altogether apparently unobserved by them. Sir, the chairman of the committee at the last ses- Sir, let us view the origin, progress, and fluctuations sion fought manfully to reduce the duty on sail duck. I of this business as far as we have the means of examinawas proud to fight with him, and am now willing to say tion. It had its beginning in 1701: at the commencement that to his great exertions is the navigation of the coun- of the revolutionary war it brought into the province of try mainly indebted for the reduction of the duty on that Massachusetts, through the island of Nantucket alone, article last session to 15 per cent. ad valorem. That gen- 167,000 pounds sterling annually. It then employed 150 tleman will allow me to say, I have no doubt, that the sail of vessels, with about 2,000 men, but at the opening reduction at that time effected was not so great as he of the peace this number was reduced to nineteen sail wished or desired. His recorded votes show that it was only. Our late war suspended this business altogether. Why then has this article been overlooked by him The statement I have submitted shows that, since the conin his bill reported for the express purpose of reducing clusion of the war, the success of this business has increasthe revenue six millions of dollars? Do not the same ed almost in a geometrical ratio, and this, too, by the causes now exist which existed six months ago for its re- mere force of American genius, skill, and enterprise, unduction? Have any new manufactures of it sprung up aided by bounties or any direct encouragement on the since the last session, requiring the aid or protection of part of the Government of the United States whatsoever, the Government? We have had no petitions in favor of and against all the encouragement, direct and indirect, further protection from the manufacturers in this country. given by other countries, England, France, and Holland, The committee may be able to solve what to me is a mys-to this species of fishery. tery. They have not yet done it. not. Edmund Burke might have been an enthusiast--he was At the last session, Mr. Chairman, I presented memo- surely a prophet, although even more has been realized rials and remonstrances against the reduction of the duty than his ardent imagination led him to predict when he on olive oil. I received them from that portion of my pronounced the following eulogium upon the enterprise constituents who are engaged in the whale fishery. I pre- of the New England colonists: sume, sir, that if it had been generally known what this bill proposed in relation to olive oil, we should have heard at this session from those whose interests may be materially affected by the reduction upon it. The law of 1832 reduced the duty to twenty cents per gallon, and the bill of this session proposes a further reduction of ten cents. I did not have the pleasure, said Mr. P., to hear my honorable friend from Massachusetts, [Mr. REED,] when he addressed the committee a few days ago; but knowing the great interest his constituents have in the whale fishery, and his watchfulness in regard to all measures which can affect their interests, I doubt not he at that time called the attention of the committee to the operations of that part of the bill which I am now considering. I know not the interests which have called for this reduction, but I "As to the wealth, Mr. Speaker, which the colonies have drawn from the sea by their fisheries, you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely thought those acquisitions of value, for they seemed even to excite your envy; and yet, the spirit by which that enterprising employment has been exercised, ought rather, in my opinion, to have raised your esteem and admiration. And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it? Pass by the other parts, and look at the manner in which the people of New England have of late carried on the whale fishery. "Whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits; whilst we are looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear JAN. 30, 1833.] The Tariff Bill. [H. OF R that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar alone was the enemy made to feel the force, discipline, cold, that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under and education of these men. Our private armed vessels, the frozen serpent of the south; Falkland island, which manned with these men, scoured the ocean, and caused it seemed too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of to blaze with the fires they set to the vessels of the enenational ambition, is but a stage and resting place in the my, entered his harbors, and, in some instances, laid his progress of their victorious industry. cities under contribution. Sir, our enemy was made more "Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them sensibly to feel the effects of the war by the dauntless than the accumulated winter of both the poles. We bravery and matchless skill of these men, thus reared, know that whilst some of them draw the line and strike than by all our other means of annoyance combined. the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run the lon- Ought we, by any act of legislation, to be cut off from this gitude, and pursue their gigantic game along the coast source of national defence, or deprived of the means of of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by their fisheries. successful and vigorous naval warfare? Paralyze this arm No climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither of our national power, and in the event of another war you the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, will not find a sufficient number of American seamen to nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of the English enter-man the ships of the line which now constitute in part the prise, ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy in- navy of the United States. dustry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people; a people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood. A single port in one of the Eastern States sends annually into the Pacific Ocean more tonnage than at the commencement of the revolutionary war was owned in the whole thirteen colonies. The port to which I allude (New Bedford) employs almost exclusively in this fishery, which is increasing every year, and I might almost say every month, 50,000 tons of shipping. I am To a consideration of the cottons of the country, and the undoubted effect of this bill upon them, I must now call the attention of the committee. I regret, said Mr. P., that upon other topics so much of your time has been con"When I contemplate these things; when I know that sumed by me. There are in Rhode Island more cotton the colonies in general owe little or nothing to any one manufactories than in any other State, and perhaps as of ours, and that they are not squeezed into this happy much capital invested in the cotton manufacture as in any form by the constraints of a watchful and suspicious Go- one in the Union. The value, extent, and importance of vernment, but that, through a wise and salutary neglect, this business, the effect of this bill upon it, and a history a generous nature has been suffered to take her own of its rise and progress in the United States, must claim way to perfection; when I reflect upon these effects, our attention. In 1789, the first cotton mill was erected when I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel and put into operation by an enterprising and industrious all the pride of power sink, and all presumption in the foreigner, in one of the then small villages in Rhode wisdom of human contrivances melt and die away within Island. For a long period of time the business was pursued me. My rigor relents. I pardon something to the spirit rather as an experiment than otherwise. I lived more of liberty. than half my days, said Mr. P., within a short distance of cotton manufactories, without ever having seen one. They were visited by most of our citizens from motives of curiosity until within the last fifteen or twenty years. authorized to say, by a gentleman who may now be within these walls, that, until 1806-7, the whole number of spindles in Rhode Island (and there were but few, if any, at that time in any other State) would not exceed 10,000, This business, Mr. Chairman, will be seriously injured, owned by citizens residing in and about the town of Properhaps destroyed, by this bill in two ways. A duty of vidence. If, sir, the number has so far increased as to ten cents a gallon on olive oil will cause that article to require for manufacture 250,000 bales of cotton, and the take the place, to a very great extent, of whale oil in our increase has been the result of the protection given by own markets, and a reduction of duty on cottons from se- the Government to our manufactures, can that protection ven cents a square yard to one and a quarter cents, de- in good faith be withdrawn, if, by withdrawing it, the mastroying that interest, as I shall soon attempt to show, will nufacturing establishments will be destroyed? Will they take from it the great and extensive demand which the be destroyed if this bill becomes a law? I think they will. cotton manufacturers have for it. And where, sir, can a No institutions reared or sustained by a protection of six market be found for it? Not in England, who knows her and a half and seven cents per square yard, when the own interest and the importance of this business too well same is suddenly reduced to one and a quarter and one to suffer it to enter her ports. Pass this bill, and your cent two mills a square yard, can possibly stand. Sir, whale fishery must be abandoned. the mere apprehension of the passage of this bill has led A moment's reflection upon the consequences of its one individual with whom I have of late conversed, to abandonment, not to the labor, wealth, and commerce of say that he would to-day sell all his interest in one of the country, but to the national arm, and I quit the sub-the manufactories of Rhode Island at a discount of fifty ject. In the event of a war, seven thousand seamen will per cent. upon its costs, and that factory one of the best be withdrawn from this pursuit for the national defence; conducted, and most profitable concerns of the kind in men who have periled life and defied danger in contend- that State. ing with the leviathan of the deep; men who will court danger in fighting upon the ocean the battles of their country. Sir, a recurrence to the events of the late war fully shows, that, without the nursery for seamen created by our fisheries, this country would not have been, as it is now acknowledged to be, the bravest and most success- The tariff of 1816 laying a duty of 25 per cent., with a ful in naval warfare of any on the face of the globe. minimum of 25 cents per square yard, or, properly speakWhen the Guerriere struck her proud flag to the consti- ing, a specific duty of six and a quarter cents per square tution, from what nursery were seamen of the latter drawn? yard, was levelled expressly at the India cottons, which From our fisheries. A great proportion of her crew were cost in India nine cents per yard on the average, and was from Marblehead, Nantucket, and New Bedford. Turn designed, as it proved to be, prohibitory. Cotton yarns to all the naval battles in which we were successful, and it will be found that the valiant sons of the ocean who mainly contributed to our victories were nurtured, reared in the American fisheries. But not in our national ships VOL. IX.-95 Mr. Chairman, indulge me while I call your attention to the history of our legislation, and its operation upon the cottons of this country, the inevitable effect of this bill upon them, and the consequences which would follow the destruction of this branch of national industry. were also valued at 60 cents per pound, and paid 25 per cent. duty. Our manufacturers now make an article two or three times as valuable, and sell it at 25 per cent. less than the cost of those cottons in India. They also, very H. OF R.] The Tariff Bill. [JAN. 30, 1833. early after 1816, commenced manufacturing other descrip- is built twenty-five to fifty per cent. cheaper in England tions of cotton goods, with which we had heretofore been than in this country, owing to the price of iron, coal, and supplied from England, and thus commenced the compe- labor. Besides, the labor on many kinds of cotton goods tition with her, which has continued ever since, and been is much greater than on woollens, and the price of labor gradually extended to finer and more valuable kinds of cannot be reduced so low in this country as to enable us goods, in which they have been aided by the act of 1818, to compete with England in this manufacture, except of repealing the clause in the act of 1816, which reduced the very coarsest kinds, without more decided commerthe duty to 20 per cent., to commence in 1819; by the cial regulations than are contained in this bill. act of 1894, raising the minimum to 30 cents on plain cot- Another important feature in this bill, and to our matons, and 35 cents on colored and prints, and to 75 cents nufacturers a very odious one, is, the reduction of the per pound on colored yarn; and by that of 1828, which duty on cotton yarn from fifteen cents per pound on unadded five cents more to each minimum on cloth; that of bleached or uncolored, and eighteen and three-fourths 1832 takes off the addition made in 1828. These duties cents on colored or bleached, to ten per cent. ad valorem. are prohibitory on all goods of the description of those This reduction would, if possible, more emphatically ruin formerly imported from India, and on some more valuable this business than any other. A pound of No. 20 cotton descriptions, and, of course, a less duty would answer for yarn, I am told, would pay about one and a half cents the manufacture of these, and still be prohibitory. There duty. This would make three and a half yards of cloth, is such a very great variety of cotton manufactures, dif- and the duty would be less than half a cent per yard. fering in appearance and value by such slight shades, it Under such a duty yarns would be imported on the beam, would not be possible to levy different rates of duties on ready prepared for weaving by power looms, if, indeed, each, without leading to gross frauds, and thus defeating the owner of the looms should be able to weave it, against the protection intended to be given. Besides, the great his Manchester competitor. An intelligent constituent, fluctuations in the market, the alternate gluts and scarci- after reading this bill, in his indignation exclaimed-"the ties, are such as to require the duties to be much higher devil was behind the curtain when this bill was draughted, than would otherwise be required. Should the specific and the manufacturers of Manchester must have been duty be abandoned, and give place to that provided in the present when it was done, or the duty on yarn would nebill, the manufacturers would at once lose their market ver have been reduced to ten per cent. ad valorem." for all but the coarsest descriptions of cotton goods, and Many of the cotton mills which manufacture yarn excluin these would meet with foreign competition to a con- sively, are owned by men of small property, mostly mesiderable extent. A coarse and cheap article would be chanics and farmers, who have a small stream of water made of Surat and Bengal cotton, which costs but half as on their farms, and who have thus been induced to invest much in Liverpool as the Carolina and Georgia cotton, of all their money in these mills, and to give their principal which our manufacturers make such goods, and our mar-attention to them. Many of these mills are located in the ket would be filled with them, as it is well known such Middle States, and many more in New England. But at goods are made in England of India cotton. Besides, Paterson, in New Jersey, most of the large and valuable those of our manufacturers who are now making the finer mills are employed in making yarns, but all, wherever description of goods would have to stop entirely, (of this situated, will shut down their gates on the day this bill there is no question,) or turn upon the coarse article, and passes, and the owners of many, very many, of these beit is easy to see that a business which, at this moment, come bankrupts; suffering and starvation soon overtake does not pay but a limited profit, as I will soon fully show, the men, women, and children, employed in them. (and it is believed, I have certainly been so told, many I will now say a few words in reply to the allegations mills have run the past year without making six per cent. frequently made here, that the profits of cotton manufacon their capital,) would at once be ruined by such acces-tories are such as would well warrant the Government in sions to the supply both at home and from abroad; con- withdrawing the protection which has been, ever since sequently, the whole cotton manufacture of the country 1816, extended to them. I fortunately, said Mr. P., have would be absolutely ruined by the proposed bill, and the documents in my hands emanating from the Treasury 50 to 60,000,000 dollars invested in it be sunk, and a large Department, by which these allegations are disproved; proportion of the owners of this capital would become documents for which I am at this time indebted to the bankrupts. It would fall particularly heavy on many en- courtesy of the public printer. As they have not yet terprising men of the laboring and mechanical classes, been published and laid upon our desks, before I call who have invested all the hard earnings of their whole the attention of the committee to this testimony, permit lives in the fixtures necessary to carry on the business; me to state a fact furnished by a friend now in this city, next would come the laboring classes who still work in the truth of which is susceptible of the clearest proofthe cotton mills for the owners. Thus would 125,000 that, since the year 1816, the proprietors of twenty-eight persons, and as many more connected with, and dependent of the thirty-six cotton mills on one of the streams of upon them, be turned out of employment; next in the se- water in Rhode Island have become bankrupts, and the ries of victims would be the farmers in the vicinity of the owners of the residue have realized less than five per mills, who would lose their market for their productions. cent. per annum upon their investments. With this fact The mechanics, tradesmen, merchants, clerks, &c. &c. before us, who can say that this pursuit has been so prowould follow in the train; in fact, all who are interested fitable as to warrant us in adopting that part of this bill in the trade, and all connected with them, and almost all which will withdraw from it the protection it now has, classes in the manufacturing States, thus connected, would and with which it has too often been found a losing be ruined. concern? I will now send to the Chair, to be read by the The duty under the bill cannot be considered otherwise Clerk of the House, the answer of an intelligent and than twenty per cent. ad valorem; consequently, the range practical man, himself a manufacturer, and well acquaintof duties would be, instead of seven and a half cents per ed with all that pertains to the business, and whose statesquare yard, as under the law of 1832, from three-fourths ments will be respected wherever, and by all to whom of one cent to two cents per yard. We manufacture but he is known. few goods, the like of which would be imported at over two cents duty. The average, as far as there would be any average, would be from one to two cents, which is no protection at all. This is the solemn conviction of the vast majority of cotton manufacturers. Machinery itself Answer of John Whipple, of Providence, in the State of JAN. 30, 1833.] The Tariff Bill. [H. of R. the Congress of the United States, of the 19th of Janua- rates, and our ability to live under a very great reduction ry, 1832. of them. That and other similar queries probably arose, To the five first questions, I answer, that Ephraim directly or indirectly, from what I deem the mere vaporTalbot and myself are the present owners of the Hope ing of injudicious and inexperienced men. mill, in Scituate, in the county of Providence. The fa- Inasmuch, however, as such opinions do prevail to a bric manufactured is cotton cloths, and the power is water. considerable extent, no counter opinion, unless confirmed It was built in 1806, by a joint stock company, and during by proof of its correctness, can be expected to be listened the years 1806, '7, and '8, 2,000 spindles were put into ope- to. I will therefore first state my opinion of past, and ration, and $85,000, in cash, expended. No dividends, the probable future profits, and the facts on which I rely or receipts of any kind, were realized until 1821, when for its confirmation; and as all such opinions, and even the establishment was sold to Mr. Talbot and myself for statements of facts, are liable to material errors, I shall $21,000; and the outstanding debts of the company being make them public previous to forwarding them to the paid, there remained $8,000 to be divided. Simple in- proper department, in order that my misstatements (if terest upon the $85,000 will amount to over $70,000. any) may be corrected by those in this section of the Deduct the $8,000 received, and the balance of loss is country who are opposed to us as to the expediency of $144,000. protective laws, and who, living here, have equal or better means of information. Since our ownership, over 50,000 dollars has been expended, and 3,400 spindles set in motion; and if it is If by profit is meant the nett gain to the capitalists, all admitted that since 1821 there has been a profit of five expenses, including interest of money, being deducted, I per cent. as stated by Mr. Talbot, still the question pro- have no hesitation in saying that, in Massachusetts and pounded being "the annual rate of profits on the capi- Rhode Island, the residence of the owners of more than tal invested since the establishment of the manufactory," it half the number of the cotton spindles in the country, will be seen that there has been an almost entire loss of there has been no profit, but a loss. I feel well assured one capital of $85,000, and fourteen years' interest; and that four per cent. per annum upon all the capital investwhat loss or what gain the present owners may realize, ed in those two States, added to the original investments, depends upon the present value of the establishment, would much exceed all the profits added to the present which value is itself, in a great measure, dependent upon value of the establishments. I also feel a great confidence the future measures of Government. in the opinion that the manufacture of cotton is not a busi Upon this subject of profits, prejudices of an extreme-ness upon which any average rate of interest or profit ly injurious character prevail, to a limited extent, in the can be predicated; that the capital invested in it can with Northern and Middle, and, very generally, in the South- no propriety be termed "stock," but that a mill and its ern States. The cotton and woollen manufacturers are appendages approach nearer to a set of tools, their represented as greedy monopolists, who are not satisfied productiveness depending on the skill with which they with fortunes already accumulated, under favor of the are used, more than on any thing inherent in the tools Government, and at the expense of other interests, but themselves. are still urging additional protection. These representa- The Hope mill, in this State, and the Pomfret mill, in tions, made by persons hostile to the American system, Connecticut, (owned in this State,) were erected in the are founded partly on vague and general rumor, and year 1806. The former with a capital of $85,000, and partly on the injudicious, and, as I conceive, éxtravagant 2,000 spindles; the latter with a capital of $60,000, and statements of some of the manufacturers themselves. In 1,000 spindles. They have both been in operation for the spring of 1829, a manufacturer of cotton cloths had twenty-six years, manufacturing similar fabrics, and enconvinced himself, and endeavored to convince me, that countering the same markets. The former during most 25 per cent. annual profit had been, and would continue of the time was unskilfully managed, and the latter with to be, the usual result of that employment. He is a ju- as much prudence and forecast as ever mingled in any dicious and intelligent man, and of considerable experi- business. Nearly $150,000 has been lost by the one, and ence in the business; and yet in the succeeding summer about $300,000 made by the other. This latter mill, as he failed, and paid but forty or fifty cents on the dollar. I was assured by an active owner a few days since, has Larger stories even than this had come up to us from realized an actual profit of ten per cent. per annum, Boston, for several years previous to 1829. Actual divi- from 1806 down to the present time. It is the general dends, it was said, of from 20 to 30 per cent. had been opinion here, that the success of this mill is as much made from year to year, and capital flowed into the cot- above the other mills in the State, as that of the Hope is ton business, excited by these and similar statements, to below it. I feel very confident that there is no mill in an unprecedented amount. In the summer and fall of Rhode Island or Massachusetts, the profits of which, for 1829, however, it was ascertained, as I am informed and a series of years, will bear any comparison to it. These believe, that an actual loss of at least nine millions of dol-are extreme cases; but there are a great number of others, lars was sustained by the city of Boston alone. The in which the variations in the results are so great as to experience of past years is wholly disregarded, and again justify the opinion that tools, and not stock, is the approwe hear of new millions advanced, and the old stories of priate term for a cotton mill; and that we can calculate 20 per cent. profit sounded larger than ever, and even by with the same propriety upon the average rate of interest some of the manufacturers themselves. I am even told upon the capital of a grocer or a tailor, without a knowthat something like this has been stated by a worthy and ledge of the men, as upon a cotton spinner. The geneintelligent manufacturer, on the floor of Congress. ral result of six and twenty years' business justifies this While such statements proceed from such sources, we view of the subject. Prudent, cautious, and vigorous ought not to be surprised that some, even of the friends men, who have been their own agents, and paid interest of the tariff, should propose a reduction of duties; nor for but a small part of their capital, have succeeded; and, ought we to complain, should it be ascertained that the to my knowledge, no others have. Even this class of twenty-ninth query proposed to the Rhode Island manu- men have in their operations mingled the character of facturers embodied the real opinions of some of the advo- the merchant so largely with that of the manufacturer, cates of the American system. That query contemplates that it would be difficult to separate the results. a reduction of the duties to 12 per cent. ad valorem, I believe that all those who thought they were making and asks us "if we should be obliged to abandon our considerable profits, and who operated upon borrowed business, or should we continue to manufacture at reduced capitals, have failed; and that the number of those who, prices?" It presupposes very large profits at present since 1806, have either wholly failed, or retired from the |