In striking contrast with the slight progress which had, on thewhole, been made by the manufacturers of the country, stood theimproved condition of its navigation, which since the year 1789,upon the motion of James Madison, had received effectualprotection.From a tonnage of 200,000 in 1789 their mercantilemarine had increased in 1801 to more than 1,000,000 tons.Under theprotection of the tariff of 1804, the manufacturing interest of theUnited States could just barely maintain itself against the Englishmanufactories, which were continually being improved, and hadattained a colossal magnitude, and it would doubtless have had tosuccumb entirely to English competition, had it not been for thehelp of the embargo and declaration of war of 1812.In consequenceof these events, just as at the time of the War of Independence,the American manufactories received such an extraordinary impetusthat they not only sufficed for the home demand, but soon began toexport as well.According to a report of the Committee on Trade andManufactures to Congress in 1815, 100,000 hands were employed inthe woollen and cotton manufactures alone, whose yearly productionamounted to the value of more than sixty million dollars.As in thedays of the War of Independence, and as a necessary consequence ofthe increase in manufacturing power, there occurred a rapid rise inall prices, not only of produce and in wages, but also of landedproperty, and hence universal prosperity amongst landowners,labourers, and all engaged in internal trade.
After the peace of Ghent, Congress, warned by the experience of1786, decreed that for the first year the previous duties should bedoubled, and during this period the country continued to prosper.
Coerced, however, by powerful private interests which were opposedto those of the manufacturers, and persuaded by the arguments oftheorists, it resolved in the year 1816 to make a considerablereduction in the import duties, whereupon the same effects ofexternal competition reappeared which had been experienced from1786 to 1789, viz.ruin of manufactories, unsaleability of produce,fall in the value of property and general calamity amonglandowners.After the country had for a second time enjoyed in wartime the blessings of peace, it suffered, for a second time,greater evils through peace than the most devastating war couldhave brought upon it.It was only in the year 1824, after theeffects of the English corn laws had been made manifest to the fullextent of their unwise tendency thus compelling the agriculturalinterest of the central, northern, and western states to makecommon cause with the manufacturing interest, that a somewhathigher tariff was passed in Congress, which, however, as MrHuskisson immediately brought forward counteracting measures withthe view of paralysing the effects of this tariff on Englishcompetition, soon proved insufficient, and had to be supplementedby the tariff of 1828, carried through Congress after a violentstruggle.
Recently published official statistics(1*) of Massachusettsgive a tolerable idea of the start taken by the manufactures of theUnited States, especially in the central and northern states of theUnion, in consequence of the protective system, and in spite of thesubsequent modification of the tariff of 1828.In the year 1837,there were in this State (Massachusetts) 282 cotton mills and565,031 spindles in operation, employing 4,997 male and 14,757female hands; 37,275,917 pounds of cotton were worked up, and126,000,000 yards of textile fabrics manufactured, of the value of13,056,659 dollars, produced by a capital of 14,369,719 dollars.
In the woollen manufacture there were 192 mills, 501 machines,and 3,612 male and 3,485 female operatives employed, who worked up10,858,988 pounds of wool, and produced 11,313,426 yards of cloth,of the value of 10,399,807 dollars on a working capital of5,770,750 dollars.
16,689,877 pairs of shoes and boots were manufactured (largequantities of shoes being exported to the western states), to thevalue of 14,642,520 dollars.
The other branches of manufacture stood in relative proportionto the above.
The combined value of the manufactures of the State (deductingshipbuilding) amounted to over 86 million dollars, with a workingcapital of about 60 million dollars.
The number of operatives (men) was 117,352; and the totalnumber of inhabitants of the State (in 1837) was 701,331.
Misery, brutality, and crime are unknown among themanufacturing population here.On the contrary, among the numerousmale and female factory workers the strictest morality,cleanliness, and neatness in dress, exist; libraries areestablished to furnish them with useful and instructive books; thework is not exhausting, the food nourishing and good.Most of thewomen save a dowry for themselves.(2*)This last is evidently the effect of the cheap prices of thecommon necessaries of life, light taxation, and an equitablecustoms tariff.Let England repeal the restrictions on the importof agricultural produce, decrease the existing taxes on consumptionby one-half or two-thirds, cover the loss by an income tax, and herfactory workers will be put into the same position.
