The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-08-01
Fwm The Jvs,D York Statesman.
COTTON MANUFACTURES.

In my last / endeavored to explain the
effects which an increase of duty on I'M
ported Awoollens would have on our manu-
tactures of wool by opening wider mar
ket and thereby rendering sales more GER
tain, at the same time that they wouid,
from the increased quantities produced ana
! sold, be enabled to afford their fahrlcs at
lower rates to the consumer.
The effect can be illustrated on an ex-
tended scale by the facts which the history
of our coarse cottons disclose. l have
procured an account of actual sales made
in this city Indifferent periods, the qualities
adjudged to be the same.
: In 1915 1.-THE year of the peace) when
cotton was 30 cents per pound, the sales of
domestic shifting were % cents per yard.
The next year, 1916, cotton rose to 2e
cents per ID. and shirting fell in price to
2l cents per yard.
In 1878 when cotton sold at 81 cents per
lb. shifting continued at 81 cents per yard.
From that period till this, they have declln-
ed in price, and now when the same quail
ty of cotton is sold at 81 cents per ID. shir-
7tings are sold at 81 cents per yard.
The present low price cannot be attrlb-
.Vted TO the fs s.. OF cotton, as one fourth of
"A pound of cotton viii make a yard OF these
goods whether cotton is 8! or 20 cents per
ID. it will differ less than three. cents per
ward. five add three cents to the present
price of shirtings it will make them only
ia cents per yard. The sales in 1913
were therefore one hundred per cent
above the present prices, adding the diner
ence in the price of cotton.
Here we can give matter OF fact eVi-
depce of the influence of regular home
competition operating under a protecting
duty. This is the way consumers are tax
ed by paying IL cents instead of 70. what
becomes of the argument about the high
price of labor in this country? Wlll It be
said that the same reduction would have
taken place if the minimum duty on the
suuare yard had not been imposed ARK,
wright's invention had been ins ,1 I.l ,st
moro Sl1dH twenty years OeloIe, anu Its III
fiuence had not been felt.
But prices have fallen in England, 1t Is
Z said. IF there had been demand, on
their market fox an amount equal to what
we have consumed and exported, would
they have fallen to their present prices?
II was said when our protecting law was
agitated, that it would not only tax the
consumer, b.. also ruin the manufacturer.
I've were told of hot-bed growths, Chinese
system, and all that sort of thing. Is it SO Z
Are not the manufacturers with their goods
at 81 cents per yard as fourishing as at
any former period? Is it not admitted
that ample reward has generally attended
rood management IN the cotton depart
ment? The general prosperity prevailing
ain those places where they are established,
confirms the fact. If the woollen r:Sila-
lecturers had been favored with similar
protection with the cotton, would not SINH
lar benefits have resulted? and small re-
duction on our enormous consumption Tor q
series of years would have essentially con-
tributed to our prosperity. But even with
less than half the protection bestowed on
cottons, they have made sufficient progress
to interest the jealousy Of the British cab
met. Laws are enacted and treaties enter
ed into, with the express view of checking
manufactures to Continue in. gsossccsion of
our market. Mr.. Huskisson, the president
of their board of trade, in his late speech
in Parliament, justiies the treaty with
Prussia, by asking, I" How could we suc-
cessfully enter into competition with the
woollen manufacturers, &c. of the United
States, if any change be made in the ship
ping, by which the raw material comes to
this country" Whenit is in our power to
counterfeit their plans, and secure the ad-
vantage to ourselves, shall we hesitate9
AMERICANUS.