ANUFACTURES.
*
AN adjourned meeting of the citizens of the city and county
of Philadelphia, friendly to American manufactures, was held in
the county court house, on Saturday the 2d of October, 1819.
Matthew Lawler, Esq. Chairman.
C. Raguet, Esq. Secretary.
{
* The committee appointed for the purpose, presented the fol-
lowing
REPORT.
The committee appointed by a meeting of the citizens of the
city and county of Philadelphia, held on the 21st August, at the
county court house, to make enquiry into the situation of the
manufactures of the city of Philadelphia and its vicinity, in 1814,
1816, and 1819, beg leave to report —
That they have performed the duty assigned them with as much
attention as in their power ; and regret that notwithstanding all
their diligence, they have been able to procure the necessary
information from only thirty branches of manufactures, of which
they annex the result.
Although they made report in part, on the 4th ult. containing
a statement of the situation of seventeen branches, they judge it
pvoper to present their fellow citizens with a connected view of
the whole together ; so as to enable them to form a correct esti-
mate on a subject of immense importance not merely to the wel-
fare of this community, but to the wealth, power, and resources
of our common country ; which never can be really independent,
while it continues to buy more than it sells — paralizes the indus-
try of its citizens, neglects its domestic manufactures, and sup-
ports those of foreign nations.
B
<s
w
V
2 .
ui "D __ ______ _
!-S 3 ? 3 5'e§<* og?
=o2c5'Hi“» SLg^
n> 3 ?r =* E- <?■ = r 3 ^ ' 3 »3r
*0-0 2 £■=•». e c* § -§ -o ® -
{2 f® 6 3 ??* S. S* 5" M 01
~ 3 2 ^ ST S’ n»
3 «■*
» 3 =• - .
a pr
03 H W
6 5 ^ 2
2 !iSo^
tS*
8°
►g.
p*
O f'C
m 3 5 *
« 3^
p "O
re fg
J!
3 ^5 ™
rZ ^
a
c <*?
HTOiOO^-c^
OCPp 3 “c 33 J
p re 2. 3 o '"’• «
<? - 3 3 5
Hin
rr o o
- 3 crq
' cr? to
3 to
a- ca
5 £
* w
3 ^ S- 2 |’ fr f
§ ^ *°
3
P 5
o
Of
<3
3
g
s
3*
a?
?og
O M 5 O
S 3
o 05
MiMM tO M M t-l to O 03 03 H* t-t t-i tO CO M ifi. ~v|
OOCOKOi ^(O^COOiNTC;, '-OMCn050N;tO 03 03 Oi 03 S| to Ca »-* tO 0>
OOitOOOOOiOO^O^NOOJOOOOi^OO^OSiOtO^MCKO^^OiM
£21
•I!
M M tO
(Om tot-tto to to I-Uk-IH* M^fOM 03
C 3 »tO*^ 0 »OiKD 03 t 0 ^tO^ OSOStO-^CAODCA^tO^tO
O^NOMaOiOOOHOiCotOMtO^OtOO m OO Ot
M M3 M 03 M . .. . _
CPOm O<A>-*Crrt 0 * N t<AUit 003 t 04 -t 0
C 0 QMQ(OOMiO^^OM)aOM)OO
to 3
t-Ml-t t-i. h-* JO l -*0 \-l >-
ODlOOOOO CACOCA^T©03~<rCAC?>tO 004 ^*nt 3 tOtOCTit-‘Oi»JxOOtOtO^
H (0 0 »M 0000030 .QiM) 00 > 030 (OOM(tN». 00 >StOOOiO to
tOOCO^tOCOCTi^t'^OrtOrtO^OOOiOiCritf^^'^tf^Ort^ cn to to to 03
OlOOOtOOiN
03 O O C it> M Oi
^^^ioo^*<ro 30 totOi 03 o>*^iai»f^'^“^tJ^CACo
OtO>^OOtnONSOO) u OC 0 03 (OOM/f'Oi
OOlOOOOOOiOiOtOWOOOMHONOOO
>ofr-
to CO CO 03 03
0)0000i^0i
tfiCOOONN
*-*■ w
03 Or 00 NT 00 *»l Ca -'I 00 to Ott H* 03 if*. CA ^ Ca NT Ca O 00 Q> Oi 03 ^
UOiOOOOOOOOOtHOiOtO^OOO CO t£»000 o>
00(0MOOOOONOO^K)OOO03OO 03 tf^OOOOi O*
tdw Wl-
t-t to to
CA <a to
cr> 03 -^r
© ^ to
CA Ca CA 03 tO ^
^ o> © ^ o>
•^t O 03 to to
tOOOlOOOO
rc
o
tJ ^
CD $
J e.
3 0)
« 3
rs
c
to to to
Ol r- 1 to
00 4 ^ ^
00 Ca to
e©
l“t to
to ^ oo 03 »-»
N Cl Oi to M 03 03
Ca tO O O 00 00 00
Ca Ca O O CO to c
m
to -vf 03
O Ca co
© CO i—
OxjiN CM
M >1 03 C ^
© ca to © ca
The following is a list of the branches of business, on which
the committee found it impracticable to procure the necessary
information :
Shotmakers
Plumbers
Coopers
Umbrella makers
Bookbinders
Sugar bakers
Chocolate makers
Snuff and tobacco manufacturers
Stone cutters
Glass manufacturers
Brewers
Tanners
Curriers
Dyers
Brick makers
Chair makers
ofhands ( Average value of their IValm
il
Carpenters
Painters and glaziers
Manufacturers of gunpowder
Shoemakers
Engravers
Glovers
Embroiderers
Calico printers
Turners
Wheelwrights, Sec. & C.
It is obvious that these branches must have partaken of the
general decay of business — but it is impossible to ascertain in
what proportion.
We do not pretend that the above statements are critically
exact. It is obvious, that it would be hardly possible to render
them so, unless they were collected officially by public authority.
But from the characters of the citizens who have furnished our
data, we can confidently assert, that if there be any errors, they
are neither numerous nor important ; and that any slight excess
in some is amply counterbalanced by deficiencies in others ; of
the latter description some have already fallen within our know-
ledge.
The preceding table demands the most serious reflection of
our citizens. It is fraught with instruction.
The following is
Average of
1814, and 1816.
an analysis :
1819*
Diminution.
persons emp.oyed
Weekly wages
Wages per annum
9,425
$58,340
$3,033,779
2,137
$12,822
$666,744
7,288
$45,518
$2,3 66,935
Thus in the article of wages alone, there is in thirty branches
of manufacture, an actual annual loss of $2,366,935 00
Supposing the materials only equal to the wages,
they amount to - - 2,366,9 35 00
Annual amount of productive industry smothered by } ^ ^3 870 00
our present system, 5 * 5
In this city and vicinity, there are, it appears, 7,288 persons
thrown idle. And it is far from unreasonable to presume, that
on every person thus deprived of employment, at least two other
persons depend. Hence it follows that no less than 21,864 per-
sons are bereft of maintenance in thirty branches of business, in
one single district of no great extent, not forty miles in diameter.
The pecuniary loss arising from this state of things may be
calculated with tolerable certainty. But who can calculate the
injuries of another description that flow from it ? The demoral-
ization that necessarily results from want of employment, and its
attendant, dissipation ? the heart-rending pangs felt by parents,
whose prospects of supporting their families are blighted and
blasted ? the numerous estimable females accustomed to earn a
subsistence by spinning, and other employments adapted to their
sex, and whose wants and distresses may force them to a life of
guilt and wretchedness ? the vice and immorality, to which chil-
dren are exposed by a career of idleness ? in a word, the flood of
evils, moral and political, which are let loose on society, by the
existing state of things ?
It would far exceed the bounds of this report, to enter into de-
tails on those various branches of business. This must be left to
the reflexion of our citizens and of the legislature of the United
States, who alone are competent to apply a remedy to the exist-
ing evils. But we cannot forbear casting a glance at one parti-
cular branch, in order to establish the impolicy of our system.
The basis of the paper manufacture is a raw material, com-
pletely worthless for any other purpose. All the produce of it,
therefore, is clear gain to the community, and a solid substantial
addition to the wealth of the country. We therefore exhibit a
comparative view of the state of this branch in 1816, and 1819
1816.
Workmen employed 950
Annual wages §247,000
Annual production §760,000
Tons of rags worked up 2,600
Thus in one single branch,
1819. Diminution.
175 775
§45,000 §202.000
§136,000 §624,000
472 2,128
of little comparative importance,
an annual loss of 624,000 dollars is incurred in the vicinity of the
city ; and 775 persons are rendered destitute of employment, many
of them men and women of large families. This is independent
of the sacrifice of the capital of the employers, which in many
cases is reduced to one half of its former value.
Our policy is in direct hostility with that of all the wise nations
in the world for four or five hundred years past They have al-
ways held out inducements to the migration of artists, mechanics,
and manufacturers, whom they have received with open arms,
and fostered and cherished, frequently by bounties and immuni-
ties. In some countries the emigration of such persons is made
penal. But alas ! with us the same ruinous policy that depresses
the industry of our native citizens, discourages the migration to
our shores of foreigners devoted to manufactures. Allured by
the advantages of our excellent form of government, hundreds
and thousands of them come to enrich us with their capital, their
talents, and their industry ; but on their arrival they find no room
for the employment of either industry, talents, or capital. Many
of those who seek support here in their respective trades and
professions, are obliged to earn a maintenance by low and servile
occupations, in which their skill and talents are literally thrown
away; many, to our knowledge, have been reduced to mendicity;
and hundreds are driven to Canada or Nova Scotia, or obliged to
return to their native countries, where they hold out a beacon to
others, not to try their fortunes in this new world. To England
no less than one hundred lately returned in one vessel.
We beg leave to repeat, what we stated in our former report,
that most of these manufactures are prostrated not for want of
protecting duties, but in consequence of the general impoverish-
ment of the country, arising principally from the want of protec-
tion to the great leading branches of cotton, wool, and iron. A
large portion of our manufactures, including the chief of those de-
pending on manual labour, have succeeded completely : and it is a
singular and striking fact, notwithstanding the high price of labour
is so often urged against the encouragement, and against the
5
chance of success of manufactures here, that we yield the palm
chiefly in those branches depending on machinery, in which, from
our numerous mill-seats, we have advantages beyond any nation
in Europe.
A trite observation is used to palliate our sufferings, which, as
it diverts public attention from their real sources, and thus may
prevent the application of an adequate remedy, deserves to be met
and refuted. We invite your attention.
It is asserted that the present is a season of general stagnation
and embarrassment ; that the commercial world is every where
involved in distress, the necessary consequence of the transition
from a state of war to a state of peace ; and that we only parti-
cipate in the general suffering, from which we have no right to
claim an exemption.
These views, however plausible, are destitute of foundatipn,
and are wholly unsupported by facts. That there is great distress
in certain parts of Europe, we admit ; but it is far from being as
general as is asserted. Manufactures and trade are in a flourish-
ing state in France, Russia, and the Netherlands, in consequence
of the wise system of protecting national industry, pursued in
those countries. The first, it is stated by travellers of undoubted
veracity, was never in a more prosperous situation.
But admitting for a moment, that distress and. embarrassment
were not only general, but universal in Europe, it by no means
follows that they should extend to this country. The nations of
that quarter, with hardly any exception, were for twenty years
wasted and consumed by a devouring war. Most of them were
subjected to the often repeated rapine and depredation of count-
less hordes of licentious and rapacious armies, which levied on
them most exorbitant and ruinous contributions. Their people
are generally subject to grinding taxes, rack-rents, and oppressive
tythes. Their national debts are enormous, and their governments
expensive — supported by numerous standing armies, a burden to
the rest of the community.
We ask our fellow citizens what analogy can be found between
their situation and ours ? None. — As well might we compare
the decay and decrepitude of seventy to the vigour and alacrity
of thirty, as compare some of the European nations with the
United States.
For nineteen successive years we enjoyed as numerous and as
important advantages as any nation ever did. We carried on a
most extensive and lucrative commerce with all the world, and
were the carriers for a large portion of the commercial nations.
We were at war only about two years and a half, during which
time our manufactures made a progress not often equalled, and per-
haps never, under similar circumstances, exceeded. We closed
the war with honour and glory, and in a state of high prosperity ;
our debt is moderate ; our public contributions light; our govern-
ment unexpcnsive ; direct taxes are hardly known. We pay no
tythes ; as the support of the clergy is wholly voluntary ; — ninety-
6
nine out of a hundred of our farmers and planters own the soil they
cultivate ; our people are ingenious, industrious, and persevering:
yet notwithstanding all these, and various other advantages, in
three years, without war, famine or pestilence, we have fallen
from a high grade of prosperity. Distress in a greater or less de-
gree pervades the nation ; property of almost every description
has fallen 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or even 60 per cent. Industry is ge-
nerally paralized, and every class of our citizens is embarrassed,
except public officers, whose salaries remain unaltered, notwith-
standing the rise in the value of money, and likewise great capi-
talists, who are enabled to possess themselves of the property of
the distressed at one half or two thirds of its value, and in some
cases at one-third.
But with our system it could not be otherwise. It never has
been otherwise with nations whose industry has not been protected.
Had we, like the Spaniards, the mines of Potosi, we should, like
them, be impoverished, under a system which opens our ports to
the manufactures of all the world, while most of its markets are
shut, not only against our manufactures, but in some cases against
the most important produce of our soil ; a system whereby we
are deluged with immoderate quantities of luxuries, which we
do not want, and of necessaries and conveniences, with which we
could supply ourselves; a system which prodigally lavishes the
wealth and resources of our country, to support the agriculture,
manufactures, trade, and commerce, of foreign nations, and stints
and starves our own — consigning our fellow citizens to distress
and wretchedness : And thus, under the best form of government
in the world, we wantonly inflict on ourselves many of the most
serious and oppressive evils of the worst; for it is an awful truth,
which we wish to be sounded in the ears of all the constituted
authorities of the United and individual states, that there is no
country in the civilized world , in which the class of manufacturer s y
who have at all times been most zealously cherished by all wise go-
vernments , are in so unprotected a situation , as in the United
States. There is not a greater difference between light and
darkness, virtue and vice, than between the fostering care be-
stowed on manufactures in England, France, Austria and Russia
and the cold and chilling neglect which the successive applica-
tions for relief, made to congress, by our manufacturers in 1816,
1817, 1818, and 1819, have experienced. They produced no
more effect, and were treated with no more respect, than the ap-
plications of the congress of 1774, to the ministers of his Bri-
tannic majesty. And in fact, it is a melancholy truth, that the
manufacturers of the United States are almost as completely un-
represented in congress, as this country, when in its colonial
state, was in the British parliament : and history is replete with
proofs that when the power of a country is exclusively vested in
one portion of its people, the others rarely experience the bene-
ficent consequences resulting from that “ even-handed justice”
which “ does as it would be done by.”
7
The committee believe that one of the chief ends of govern-
ment is the protection of property acquired, and protection in the
acquisition of property ; that so far as respects the latter object, a
large portion of the manufacturers are debarred of this right ; that
it is impossible for one large class of citizens to suffer without
the others participating in the distress ; and finally that, although
the manufacturers are the first and greatest sufferers by this bale-
ful policy, which sacrifices their industry to that of foreign nations,
yet, that the impoverishment of the country, arising from that
sacrifice, has spread itself over the whole of the United States
with the two exceptions already specified.
Although not exactly within the duty enjoined on your com-
mitee, they judged it not improper to exhibit a statement of the
depreciation of the value and income of real estate in the city
of Philadelphia, in order more fully to corroborate the view they
have given of the existing distress.
Of 85 houses in six continuous squares in Market street,
which were in 1818 rented for
There were, one month since, only 49 occupied, which
rent for -
Diminution of annual income in part of a single street
And there were no less than 36 houses wholly unoccupied.
In those squares, many of the houses are under lease, and
therefore have undergone no change in the rent ; and many are
occupied by the owners. Of both descriptions no notice is taken.
This view is wholly confined to houses of which the rent has been
lowered, or which are unoccupied.
And on an examination of sundry streets, being about three-
fourths of the whole city, there were found, a fortnight since, not
less than about 400 houses unoccupied.
On a careful examination of the subject, your committee re-
spectfully submit for consideration the following resolutions :
Resolved , That it is clearly established, on a careful examina-
tion, that the industry of a very large portion of the inhabitants of
this city and its vicinity is completely destroyed, whereby thou-
sands of useful citizens and their families are deprived of employ-
ment, and reduced to distress and difficulty.
Resolved , That the great difference between our situation, and
that of those countries in Europe, which at present suffer dis-
tress and embarrassment, together with the solid advantages we
possess, forbid the idea that our embarrassments are owing to the
transition from a state of war to a state of peace. — (2 dissenting
voices.)
Resolved , That the grand and primary cause of the prostrate
state of our manufactures, is the extravagant inundation of foreign
goods poured into our country, in consequence of the want of
adequate protection for the national industry ; which goods are
sold at such reduced rates as to deprive our citizens of a chance
of sale of their manufactures ; whereby our country is plunged in
debt, our wealth drained away to support the industry of foreign
nations — and a heavy permanent annual tax imposed on us, to
g88,260
35.205
53,055
8
pay the interest of the government and bank stock, remitted in
payment for those goods. — (1 dissenting voice.)
Resolved , That the intercourse between the United States and
most of the countries of Europe, is carried on without adequate
reciprocity ; as our chief manufactures, and even some of our agri-
cultural productions, are there excluded by positive prohibitions,
or by extravagant duties, while our government prohibits no ar-
ticle whatever, and imposes on foreign manufactures duties com-
paratively light, and wholly inadequate for protection.
Resolved , That it be earnestly recommended to the friends of
the welfare of their country, to unite their exertions to induce
congress, at its next session, to remove the source of the evils
under which the nation labours, by such a modification of the
tariff, as will afford protection to the industry of the citizens of
the United States, equal to what is afforded by the monarchies
of Europe to the industry of their subjects.
Resolved , That the committee of correspondence appointed on
the 4th ult. be a standing committee to correspond with such citi-
zens of this and the other states, as may be disposed to co-operate
in the support of the national industry.
Resolved , That it be earnestly recommended to the citizens of
Boston, New-York, Baltimore, Wilmington, Pittsburg, and all
other places, where industry is paralized, to appoint committees
to make enquiry into the rise, progress, and decline of their
manufactures respectively, in order to lay the result before con-
gress, at their next session, so as to enable that body fully to ap-
preciate the ruinous consequences of the existing policy, and to
apply an adequate remedy.
Resolved, That the memorial adopted at the meeting on the
4th ult. together with the proceedings of this meeting, be trans-
mitted by the committee of correspondence to the members of
the general and state governments, and to all the post-masters in
the United States,
Resolved , That Thomas Leiper, M. Richards, James Ronald-
son, Z. Philips, and Thomas F. Gordon, be a committee of finance,
for the purpose of raising subscriptions to defray the expences of
the publication of these documents.
A letter from the secretary of a society formed in Boston, for
the purpose of encouraging domestic manufactures, to a citizen,
was read — whereupon it was
Resolved , That the committee of correspondence open a com-
munication with the said society upon the objects for which they
have mutually been established.
The question being severally put on those resolutions, they
were duly agreed to.
Adjourned to meet at this place on the last Monday in Novem-
ber next.
MATHEW LAWLER, Chairman.
Condy Raguet, Secretary.
October 2, 1819.