attendance required being that of one person to feed this automaton with the blanks and the wires, which he is so well able to work up to the satisfaction of his masters.

There is, of course, nothing to boast of on the ground of superiority on account of these inventions; but it is much to the credit of the American inventor, that he is able so to meet the necessities of his case, and supply the want of fingers, which are at present so

scarce.

Another peculiarity observable in American industry, is the want of that division of labour which is one of the great causes of excellence in the productions of our own and other of the older countries in which art is carried to a high point of perfection. With us, trades and manufactures branch out into a variety of subdivisions, from which, 'besides the perfection noticed, we have a great economy of time, and, consequently, of expense. The citizen of the United States knows that matters are different with him, and seems really to pride himself in not remaining over long at any particular occupation, and being able to turn his hand to some dozen different pursuits in the course of his life.

This knowledge of two or three departments of one trade, or even the pursuit of several trades, by one individual, does not interfere so much with the systematic division of labour as may be supposed. In most instances the change of employment is made at convenient periods, or as a relief to the workman from the monotony of always doing the same thing. This change and variety of occupation is, in many respects, favourable to the man, as distinguished from the operative or the artist. In many cases our economic laws enhance the work or the value of time, when they degrade the workmen, between whom and the perfection of their works a singular contrast exists. While our American operative is a man and a citizen, he is often found wanting in that perfect skill of hand and marvellous accuracy which distinguish the workmen of this country. So much is there to check the national tendencies of self-gratulation and boasting on either side of the Atlantic, and to promote respect and good feeling among us all.

The machinery of a country will naturally correspond with its wants, and with the history and state of its people. Testing the

machinery of the United States by this rule of adaptation, the mechanical appliances in use must call forth much admiration. A large proportion of the mechanical power of the States has, from its earliest application, been, from the circumstances of the country, directed to wood, this being the material on which it has been requisite to operate for so many purposes, and which is presented in the greatest abundance. Stone, for a similar reason, has been subdued to man's use by the application of machinery, of which we have an instance in the fact that one man is able to perform as much work by machinery in stone-dressing, as twenty persons by hand. In common with our own and other great manufacturing countries, the Union presents remarkable illustrations of the amazingly productive power of machinery, as compared with mere manual operations. Into the details of these triumphs of machinery it is unnecessary here to enter. It may suffice to refer to the improvements effected in spinning-machinery, by which one man can attend to a mule containing 1,088 spindles, each spinning three hanks, or 3,264 hanks a day; so that, as compared with the operations of the most expert spinner in Hindoostan, the American operative can perform the work of 3,000 men.

The Law of Limited Liability, which is now engaging public attention, is an important source of the prosperity which attends the industry of the United States. This law affords the most ample facilities for the investment of capital, and has led to a much greater development of the industrial resources and skill of that country than could have resulted under other circumstances for many years to come. In the United States, the agent or secretary, manager, treasurer, and directors being also shareholders, are held by the law responsible to the extent of their means for the results of the management intrusted to them. The limited responsibility is confined to the non-managing shareholders only. It will be seen from the several illustrations given in the following pages, that this law works well in America; and these facts will strengthen the case of those who advocate its application to our country.

The comparative density of the old and the new countries, differing as they do, will account for the very different feelings with which the increase of machinery has been regarded in many

parts of this country and the United States, where the workmen hail with satisfaction all mechanical improvements, the importance and value of which, as releasing them from the drudgery of unskilled labour, they are enabled by education to understand and appreciate. This statement is not intended to disparage the operatives of our own country, who in many respects are placed in a position different from that of their class in the United States, where the principles that ought to regulate the relations between the employer and the employed are thoroughly understood, and where the law of limited liability, to which we have just referred, affords the most ample facilities for the investment of capital in business, and where the skilled labourer is in many respects furnished with many opportunities of advancement which he has not among us. Particularly it should be noticed that no taxation of any kind is suffered to interfere with the free development of the press, and that the humblest labourer can indulge in the luxury of his daily paper, so that everybody reads, and intelligence penetrates through the lowest grades of society. . . .

The compulsory educational clauses adopted in the laws of most of the States, and especially those of New England, by which some three months of every year must be spent at school by the young factory operative under 14 or 15 years of age, secure every child from the cupidity of the parent, or the neglect of the manufacturer; since to profit by the child's labour during three-fourths of the year, he or she must be regularly in attendance in some public or private school conducted by some authorized teacher during the other fourth.

This lays the foundation for that wide-spread intelligence which prevails amongst the factory operatives of the United States; and though at first sight the manufacturer may appear to be restricted in the free use of the labour offered to him, the system re-acts to the permanent advantage of both employer and employed.

The skill of hand which comes of experience is, notwithstanding present defects, rapidly following the perceptive power so keenly awakened by early intellectual training. Quickly learning from the skilful European artisans thrown amongst them by emigration, or imported as instructors, with minds, as already stated, prepared by sound practical education, the Americans have laid

the foundation of a wide-spread system of manufacturing operations, the influence of which cannot be calculated upon, and are daily improving upon the lessons obtained from their older and more experienced compeers of Europe.

Commercially, advantages of no ordinary kind are presented to the manufacturing States of the American Union. The immense development of its resources in the west, the demands of a population increasing daily by emigration from Europe, as also by the results of a healthy natural process of inter-emigration, which tends to spread over an enlarged surface the population of the Atlantic States; the facilities of communication by lakes, rivers, and railways; and the cultivation of European tastes, and consequently of European wants; all tend to the encouragement of those arts and manufactures which it is the interest of the citizens of the older States to cultivate, and in which they have so far succeeded that their markets may be said to be secured to them as much as manufacturers, as they have hitherto been, and will doubtless continue to be, as merchants. For whether the supply is derived from the home or foreign manufacturer, the demand cannot fail to be greater than the industry of both can supply. This once fairly recognised, those jealousies which have ever tended to retard the progress of nations in the peaceful arts, will be no longer suffered to interfere, by taking the form of restrictions on commerce and the free intercourse of peoples.

The extent to which the people of the United States have as yet succeeded in manufactures may be attributed to indomitable energy and an educated intelligence, as also to the ready welcome accorded to the skilled workmen of Europe, rather than to any peculiar native advantages; since these latter have only developed themselves as manufacturing skill and industry have progressed. Only one obstacle of any importance stands in the way of constant advance towards greater perfection, and that is the conviction that perfection is already attained. This opinion, which prevails to a large extent, is unworthy of that intelligence which has overcome so many difficulties, and which can only be prevented from achieving all it aspires to, by a vain-glorious conviction that it has nothing more to do.

CHAPTER X

REPRESENTATIVE VIEWS OF THE PRO

TECTIVE TARIFF

INTRODUCTION

Next to currency problems no purely economic subject has aroused so much interest in the United States, and played so great a part in political discussion both in and out of Congress as the tariff policy of the federal government. From the first measure to raise a revenue from import duties in 1789 until the present time no generation of the American people has escaped the tariff controversy. More than anything else this controversy has furnished our statesmen and the public at large with such knowledge of economic science as they⚫ have acquired. It is this aspect of the subject, together with its influence upon. our politics, rather than any direct effect upon economic development, which makes it an important factor in American economic history.

Perhaps the most striking result of the long discussion of the relative merits of free trade and protection is the way it has increased the disposition of our people to exaggerate the influence of the government in economic affairs. From the first our public men have made this the chief factor in explaining whatever of prosperity or depression the country has experienced. Other influences have not been appreciated or have been ignored altogether. Tariff discussion has greatly increased this tendency. Clay set an example of it in his great speech on the American System in 1832. "If I were to select any term of seven years since the adoption of the present Constitution which exhibited a scene of the most wide-spread dismay and desolation, it would be exactly that term of seven years which immediately preceded the establishment of the tariff of 1824." "If the term of seven years were to be selected, of the greatest prosperity which this people have enjoyed since the establishment of their present Constitution, it would be exactly that period of seven years which immediately followed the passage of the tariff of 1824." The inevitable conclusion was: "This transformation of the condition of the ' country from gloom and distress to brightness and prosperity has been mainly the work of American legislation fostering American industry, instead of allowing it to be controlled by foreign legislation, cherishing foreign industry." Calhoun, McDuffie, and Hayne were hardly less emphatic in attributing the undoubted economic ills of South Carolina to the same legislation. From that time to this it has been the practice of public men on both sides to follow these examples, and the general public has usually accepted their explanations.