not an inconsiderable portion of it, as it appears, was likewise employed in erecting establishments for manufacturing cotton wool. To make this statement as satisfactory as possible to give it all the certainty that it is susceptible of attaining, the following facts are respectfully submitted to the consideration of the House. They show the rapid progress which has been made in a few years, and evidently the ability to carry them on with certainty of success, should a just and liberal policy regard them as objects deserving encouragement: In the year 1800, 500 bales of cotton were manufactured in manufacturing establishments. In the year 1805, 1000 bales of cotton were manufactured in manufacturing establishments. In the year 1810, 10,000 bales of cotton were manufactured in manufacturing establishments. In the year 1815, 90,000 bales of cotton were manufactured in manufacturing establishments. This statement the Committee have no reason to doubt; nor have they any question as to the truth of the following succinct statement of the capital which is employed, of the labor which it commands, and of the products of that labor: Capital..... Males employed, from the age of 17 and upwards. Boys under 17 years of age.. Wages of one hundred thousand persons, averaging $150 each. Cost, per yard, averaging 30 cents. . . . $40,000,000 10,000 66,000 24,000 . $15,000,000 £27,000,000 .81,000,000 .$24,000,000 C. Historical Sketch of Cotton Manufactures before 18311 The state of the cotton manufacturing industry in this country in 1831 was not only promising but flourishing. More than a million spindles were in operation, and each year several hundred million yards of cloth were turned out from more than 500 mills. The development of the industry up to this point is given by Mr. Kettell as follows: The old mill of Samuel Slater, Esq., the first building erected in America for the manufacture of cotton yarns, is a venerable woodbuilt structure, two stories in height, bearing numerous evidences of its antiquity, having been erected in 1793. Two spinning frames, the first in the mill, are still there, and are decided curiosities in their way. It is almost incredible to believe that this old building, time 1 Eighty Years' Progress. By Thomas P. Kettell (Hartford, 1869), 280-4. worn and weather-browned, was the first to spread its sheltering roof over the young pupil of Arkwright, and that those dwarf frames, rusty and mildewed with inactivity, are the pioneer machines of that immense branch of our national industry the manufacture of cotton goods. It may be remarked that down to 1828 the exportation of machines of all kinds, and also wool, was strictly prohibited in England, for fear other nations should benefit by English mechanical genius, of which they supposed they had a monopoly; when, however, they found that the balance of genius was on this side of the pond, they liberally removed the prohibition. Mr. Slater, the father of American cotton manufacture, was so closely watched at the English custom-house, that he could not smuggle over a drawing or pattern. He had, however, acquired a full knowledge of the Arkwright principle of spinning, and from recollection, and with his own hands, made three cards and twenty-two spindles, and put them in motion in the building of a clothier, by the water-wheel of an old fulling-mill. Sixty-seven years have since elapsed, and the business has in that period increased beyond all precedent in the history of manufactures. . . . By the returns of the marshals of the census of 1810, the number of cotton factories was 168, with 90,000 spindles; but from most of the states no returns were made of the quantity of cotton used and the yarns spun. Massachusetts had 54, most of them, no doubt, small, having in the whole only 19,448 spindles, consuming but 838,348 pounds of cotton, and their produce valued at $931,916. Rhode Island had 26 factories, with 21,030 spindles, and Connecticut 14, with 11,883 spindles. These were for the supply of yarn to be used in hand looms exclusively. In this position of affairs the war took place; but just on its eve Mr. Francis C. Lowell, of Boston, returned from Europe, where he had inspected the great improvements in machines for cotton manufacturing, and had formed the project of establishing the manufacture in this country. He associated with himself in the enterprise his brother-in-law, Patrick S. Jackson, and they set about it. The country was then at war with England, and there was no possibility of getting either models or machines thence, nor even drawings. The memory of Mr. Lowell was all that was to be depended upon for the structure of the machinery, the materials used in the construction, even the tools of the machine shop. The first object to be accomplished was to procure a power loom. To obtain one from England was, of course, impracticable; and although there were many patents for such machines in our Patent Office, not one had yet exhibited sufficient merit to be adopted into use. Under these circumstances but one resource remained- to invent one themselves - and this these earnest men at once set about. The establishment of the Lowell mills took place at a time when the occurrence of war had diverted the capital of New England from commerce, and it eagerly sought new models of investment. These were presented in the promising prospects of the newly invented. machine manufactures. The cotton growth of the south had become large before the war, and that event caused an immense accumulation of stock that sunk the price to the lowest point, and by so doing, offered an abundance of raw material at rates merely nominal compared with what the English manufacturers had been paying. This gave a great advantage to the new enterprise, and Congress aided it by the establishment of protective duties. The minimum cotton duty was invented for the purpose. The rate was nominally ad valorem, but the price was fixed at a minimum, on which the duty was cast hence the duty was in effect specific. Thus, the abundant raw material, the low price of cotton, and the protection of the government, all combined to give breadth to the newly awakened manufacturing fever. The capital that crowded into it, soon, as a matter of course, overdid the business, and distress followed, which was sought to be relieved by a still higher tariff in 1824. That seemed, however, to add but fuel to the flame; and in 1828, still higher rates were demanded. We may compare these tariffs: cotton goods not dyed were to be valued at twenty-five cents per square yard, and pay twenty-five per cent. duty, or six and a quarter cents per yard; goods printed or dyed were to pay nine cents per square yard; fustians, moleskins, etc., were to pay twenty-five cents per square yard; woollens were charged twenty-five per cent. in 1816, thirty-three and a half per cent. in 1824, and forty-five per cent. in 1828. Under all these circumstances, the manufacture could not fail to grow rapidly, and of course to bring on distress as the result. In 1831, the tariff excitement had reached such a pitch that the most disastrous political results were anticipated. It was then that the committee of the convention collected information of the existing manufactures. They reported the table which we annex. The returns are for the eleven states where manufactures were well developed [modified statistics of seven of the eleven states are given below]; some twenty to thirty other mills were also reported, but so imperfectly that the returns were rejected. The table is very valuable - as follows: Such had been the immense growth of the manufacture in ten years from the time the Lowell mills were started, when but little machine cloth was made; but in 1831, there was made, it appears, 230,461,990 yards, or nearly twenty yards per head of all the people. It is obvious that this large and sudden production of cloth could have found vent only by supplanting the work of families and hand looms, and of course by pressing hard upon the spinners of yarn. . . D. A View of Cotton Manufactures in 18601 The twenty years preceding 1860 saw a rapid development of the cotton goods industry. The number of spindles increased to more than 5,000,000, while the number of pounds of cotton consumed exceeded 350,000,000. Among the great branches of pure manufacture in the United States, that of cotton goods holds the first rank in respect to the value of the product and the amount of capital employed. Aided by the possession of the raw material as a product of our own soil, and by the enterprise and ingenuity of our people, this valuable industry has grown with a rapidity almost unrivalled. The total value of cotton goods manufactured in New England was $80,301,535, and in the middle States $26,272,111 — an increase of 83.4 per cent. in the former, and 77.7 in the latter. The remaining States produced to the value of $8,564,280, making the whole production during that year $115,137,926, against $65,501,687, the value of this branch in 1850, or an increase in the general business of nearly 76 per centum in ten years. In the States of Maine and New Jersey the manufacture increased in the same time 152 per cent.; in Pennsylvania, over 102 per cent.; in New Hampshire and Connecticut, over 87 per cent.; in Massachusetts nearly 69 per cent., and in Rhode Island 88.7 per cent. The total production in this branch was at the rate per capita of $3.69 for every individual in the Union, equivalent to 46 yards of cloth for each, at the medium price of 8 cents per yard. The average product per head in 1850 was 32 yards. The increase alone has, therefore, been at the rate of 11 yards for each person, or nearly equal to the average annual consumption per capita in 1830, when it was estimated to amount to twelve yards. The number of hands employed in the manufacture in 1860 was 45,315 males, and 73,605 females, an increase in the male operatives of 10,020, and in the female of 10,944 since 1850. The average product of the labor of each operative was $969. The number of spindles was returned 1 Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census, 1860. (Washington, 1862), 65-7. |