The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 437

                                
CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
437
prosecute the inquiry which they had commenced;
and on the 19th day of March, 1812, a joint resolu-
tion was passed by both Houses, and approved by
the President, directing the Secretary of the Treas-
ury, Mr. Gallatin, to have the returns digested and
perfected. For this purpose, Mr. Galiatin em-
ployed Mr. Tench Coxe, of Philadelphia, an em-
inent advocate for manufactures, a writer for twen-
ty-seven years in their favor, and the gentleman
whose opinions on this subject were lately presented
by Mr. Webster, at a public meeting, in a way to
pass them for those of Dr. Franklin. Mr. Coxe
completed his task with great labor and care. He
took two years to verify his statements, and pro-
duced an authentic work, from which I will now
read the extracts which will sustain my assertion.
Mr. B. then read from Mr. Coxe's repotr, page
53 of the introduction, as follows:
"In. the course of the numerous and diversified operations,
occasioned by the aelibemtc- execution of tins digest and
statement, constant and % ery close attention has been ap-
plied to those facts whiell have occurred throughout the
L nion since the autumn ot the year 1810, from which a
judgment of the eond.tion of the manufactures of the United
States l'or the current year 1813 might be safely formed,
it has resulted m a thorough conviction that, alter allowing
for the interruptions to the importations of certain raw mate-
rials, the scleral branches of manufactures in the States,
'i emtories, and districts, have advanced, upon a medium, at
the full rate of twenty per centum; which would give an ag-
gregate lor this year of ^07,000,000. " ■ ► jjut as it
is best to moke ample allowances for some manifest repeti-
tions of articles, which are inextricably involved in the sub-
ordinate returns, a sincere and well-reflected final opinion
is respectfully offered, that the whole people of the United
States, taken in 181S at eight millions of persons, will actu-
ally make, within this year, manufactured goods (exclusive-
ly of the doubtful) to tile full value of two hundred millions
of dollars.'*
Here (said Mr. B.) are two great facts stated;
first, that manufactures were then actually advancing
at the rate of 20 per centum per annum; secondly,
that the actual value of manufactures then amounted
to two hundred millions of dollars per annum. Con-
template these facts within themselves, and the
flourishing condition of the manufacturing interest,
which they announce is great and striking. Twen-
ty per centum of annual increase, and two hundred
millions of annual product, in a population of eight
millions, is an astonishing result for a young coun-
try. Compare it with other interests, and with pop-
ulation. Population was only increasing at the rate
of three per cent per annum, and required twenty-
iive years to double: foreign commerce was only in-
creasing at a moderate rate, and required twenty
years to advance from twenty millions to one hun-
dred millions, and is only now where it was above
thirty years ago. Agriculture, though advancing
steadily in its exports in the first half of our nation-
al existence, has since declined in all its ancient sta-
ples. Yet manufactures were already at two hun-
dred millions of annual product, and advancing at
the rate of twenty percent per annum, before the
protective system was invented—before politicians
had taken it into their heads to become their patrons!
But Mr. Coxe does not stop at these statements.
He makes his case still stronger by comparison—
by comparing the state of American with that of
English manufactures, at the nearest proximate
point of time and amounts of population. He shows
that the manufactures of England, (not of Great
Britain, but of England proper,) with a population
of eight and a half millions, and just before the form-
ation of our constitution, was only two hundred
and sixty-six millions !—a mere fraction beyond our
own, with eight millions of people, before the pro-
tective system was established. But hear him for
himself. Let him speak for himself. Let this
enlightened and disinterested champion of the cause
deliver his own facts in his own words. At page
52, he says:
"Pome confirmation of this view of our national opera-
rations, mercantile and manufacturing, may be drawn from
the facts.that, m the years of general peace and prosperous
and regular commerce—from 178o to 1787—the average ex-
ports of England, (alone,) with about 8,500,000 inhabitants,
amounted to seventy millions of dollars, while their manu-
factures weie computed at two huntheri and sixty-six millions
of dollars,.''''
This, Mr. President, is a most astonishing ap-
proximation. The English had been pushing their
manufactures from the time of Edward III—full five
hundred years—and had only reached the product
of two hundred and sixty-six millions of dollars
to eight and a half millions of population. We had
been letting ours alone with the advantage they pos-
sessed in their three thousand miles distance from
their Europian rivals—in their incidental protection
under revenue duties—in their advantages of cheap
provisions, light taxes, hard money, and frea action
under equal laws. "We had been letting our man-
ufactures alone with these real and great advantages,
and they were already nearly eqal in amount' to
those of England, after five hundred years of gov-
ernmental protection.
But let us continue the reading; let the witness
speak. At page 10 of the introduction, Mr. Coxe
says:
^ "Machinery is now in actual operation in the United
States for printing cotton and linen cloths by engraved rol-
lers of copper, moved by water. Ten thousand yards have
been printed with ease in a single day, by one man ond two
boys, with these rollers. Fifty thousand children's hand-
kerchiefs have been printed in the same time by the same
number of persons. Similar means are in constant use for
staining1 and dying cotton and linen cloths of one color in
the same expeditious manner, so a« to make them fit l'or the
greater variety of apparel and furniture "
And again from page 11, of the introduction:
"The States of Rhode Island and Massachusetts have ex-
pelled all doubts about the practicability of the cotton ope-
ration?. "With the smallest territory in the United States,
Rhode Island has already attained, and introduced into her
vicinity a cotton branch of onr manufacturer as valuable as
the cotton branch of any country m Europe was at the
time of the formation of our constitution. The neighboring
States of Massachusetts and Connecticut quickly followed
Khode Island; and the tables w Inch are annexed, imperfect
as they unavoidably are, manifest the universality and mag-
nitude of the cotton manufacture in 1810."
One thousand eight hundred and ten!—observe the
date,Mr. President! Observe the date!—one thousand
eight hundred and ten! Two years before the war, and
near seven years before the politicians took hold of the
subject, the cotton manufacture was completely es-
tablished in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massa-
chusetts; as well established as it was in any coun-
try in Europe before the formation of our constitu-
tion; a man and two boys could print, with ease,
ten thousand yards of calico, or fifty thousand chil-
drens' handkerchiefs in a day; that the success of
these States had expelled all doubt upon the sub-
ject. And this was the state of the cotton manufac-
ture in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachu-
setts, more than the third of a century ago: and now,
after twenty-five years of aid from the protective
system, we are told that this manufacture must
go to ruin if not further protected by enormous du-
ties and prohibitory minimums. Certainly, if this is
the case, they have been injured by our aid, and have
been held up so long that they cannot stand alone. But
this is not tne case. This manufacture was well estab-
lished thirty-odd years ago, and is able now, as I
will show hereafter, to stand alone, and to contend
with the cottons of Great Britain and of Europe, not
only here at home, but all over the world. And
here, Mr. President, I must again advert to the date.
The modern champions of manufactures say it was
the war which gave birth to manufactures, and that
we must have high duties now to protect what the
war created; but the work of Mr. Coxe showa this
to be a grand mistake; that this great interest had
taken deep and wide root before the war, and was
going on well even before the year 1810.
It is impossible to follow Mr. Coxe through a
detailed view of the condition of each branch of
manufactures, which he presents in this volume.
The index occupies eight pages, and the number of ar-
ticles enumerated exceeds three hundred. They com-
prise all manner of productions—almost everything
useful or ornamental—in the working of wool, wood,
iron, glass, hemp, flax, leather, and a long list of
others, all well established as early as the year
1810, and many before that time. He computes
the manufactures of the three articles of wool, flax,
and cotton alone, at forty millions of dollars. Iron,
he computes at fourteen millions—leather at eigh-
teen—wood at five and a half—cables and cordage
four and a quarter. Wool, he says, was in the
most rapid state of improvement next after cotton.
New England made fine, if not superfine, broad-
cloth, above fifty years ago. President Washing-
ton wore a suit of it, made at Jeremiah Wads-
worth's factory in Connecticut, when he first met
the two Houses of Congress under the present
constitution. Fifty-four years ago, on the most
august occasion in the annals of man, the most
finished gentleman, hero, and patriot that modern
times have beheld, found Connecticut cloth good
enough for him to wear! And now we are to be en-
tertained with, a belief that the manufacture of this
cloth is just growing up there—that it has been
hatched into existence by the hot incubation and
meretricious embraces of politicians and capitalists,
and is yet too feeble to stand unless supported by
the powerful arm of the American government!
I repeat it,—it is impossible; time and strength
would fail undertake to follow Mr. Coxe
through his detailed view of our manufactures in
1810. I must take it by States, and show what he
then said of States which are now the most urgent
for government protection. Thus: The manufac-
tures - of Massachusetts were stated at §21,895,000;
New Hampshire 5£ millions; Vermont at mil-
lions; Rhode Island at 4 millions; with the remark
that the cotton manufacture was there increasing at
the rate of 33£ per centum; Connecticut at 7^; with
the remark, that there were constant additions to the
number of manufactories in that State, and of the
capital employed in them; New York 25 millions,
with the belief it should be 33; New Jersey 7 millions;
Maryland 11|. All this appears at page 38 of the
tables, and shows the extraordinary growth of
manufactures in all these States at the early period
of 1810. But Pennsylvania was still superior to all
these; and to that State Mr. Coxe devoted a separate
table, by countries, at page 63 of the introduction.
Forty-four millions of dollars is his estimate of the
manufactures of that State, of which 16 millions alone
were in the city and county of Philadelphia. His
whole estimate for 1810 is near 200 millions of dollars;
about double as much as the whole exported pro-
^ductions of agriculture are at this day; about double
as much as the whole importation of foreign
goods are at this day; about equal to the joint
amount of exported agriculture and foreign com-
merce thirty-three years thereafter! The whole
cotton crop of the United States for the last
year was 47 millions. Pennsylvania manufactured
44 millions in 1810. The largest cotton crop ever
made in any one State in a year, was 15 millions—
that of Mississippi in 1839. Philadelphia county
and city manufactured 16 millions in 1810!
Having shown this to be the flourishing condition
and actual value of our manufactures at that early
period, Mr. Coxe proceeds to the very natural in-
quiry into the causes of the extraordinary growth of
this branch of industry in our new and youthful
country. He inquires into these causes, and finds
them in the freedom of our institutions, which per-
mits every talent to take its natural course, and for-
eign skill to incorporate with our own ; in our po-
sition, which gave all the difference of costs and
charges and mercantile profit on the foreign rival,
in favor of the domestic article ; in the abundance of
raw materials, the cheapness of provisions, the
lightness of taxes, and in the incidental protection
resulting from the imposition of revenue daties for
the support of the government. But this is a point
at which the oldest advocate of manufactures should
be allowed to speak for himself: and let us hear
him. I read from pages 28, 29, 50, 59, 60, of the
introduetion:
"The United States have some palpable and great advan-
tages over their foreign rivals in the cotton branch. Thes>e
of Europe depend upon foreign agriculture for the raw
material, for the. indigo, and in a considerable degree for
their breadstufts." r * r * * *
"The expenses, costs and charges of transporting cotton
from the farms and plantations even near the coasts of the
United States, to the manufactories of Manchester, Glasgow
and Rouen, and the same charges upon manufactured goods
brought from those placcs to nouses of the planters and,
farmers in America, arc equal to 00 per cent on the finer
and 75 per cent on the coarse, heavy, and bulky goods of
those great manufacturing towers."' 1
"Every man and woman in the United States uncharged
with crime, is free of every city, town, borough, hamlet,
ullage, township, hundred, county, and enjoys the free-
dom of oveiy occupation, trade and calling.5' "Foreign
master* as w ell as jomnymen and foreign capitalists have
discovered that the United States afford extensive opportu-
nities to employ themselves in manufactures, and the useful
arts, as has been long the case in commerce, navigating,
stocks, banks, and insurance companies. The manufactur-
ing branches are ?s open to them here, as are agriculture
and the purchase of lands and houses m the most favorable
State-;, or a® they aie to a native or naturalized citizen.
Patented monopolies, processes, machinery and tools, en-
grossed for a time by foreign invention in Europe, may of
course be used here by all persons v, ithout restraint oi in-
jury. In this highly inventive and well instructed age,
these opportunities, in such a country as the United States,
often redound to the great benefit of lespectablc foieignej^
as well os of ourselves."'—Pat>e.s 28, 29, 50.
"It is manifest to the close observer, that this state of
things very" extensively existing, and faithfully represented,
has occasioned manufactuies to spring up everywhere, y*
an operation of plain common sense to effect the consump-
tion, employment or sale of the products of the earth,
and to attain a supply of the comforts and conveniences ot life.
It is the natural and irresistible working of things."—Pact-
f>9, 60.
"The facility of retaining and steadily extending this ial«-
able branch {the manufacturing) of the national industry ts
manifested by its very early and spontaneous commmenetr/icnt
in evtry county and township, and by its nearly spontaneous
and costless growth, with such aids only as have not occasioned
any material expense or .sacrifice to ugricultuie ur commttcr,
since they were chiefly incidental to necessary remme, or re-
sulted from our distance from the foreign consumers of our pro'
Auctions and manufactures of our supplies."--Pas;e. 50 * * *
"SucA are tht principal fact? whi< h oct ur to r«r< olhction, at thiq