Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 182?-183?, 1832-04-27

! anu Idh lhcIe be any employment more APP
propriate' Who has not been delighted
with contemplating the clock-worll regu-
larlty ofalarge cotton manuiactory?I have
often visited them, at Cincinnati and other
places, and always with increased admira-
ton. The women, separated from the other
sex, work in apartments, large, airy, well
warmed, and spacious Neatly dressed,
with rudy compilations, and happy coun-
( tenances, they watch the work before them
| mend the broken threads and replace the
exhausted balls or breaches At stated
! hours they are called TO their meals, and go
and return with light and cheerful step. At
night they separate, and repair TO their sep
( arate houses, under the care of a mother,
! guardian, OF friend. ''SiX days shalt thou
| labor and do all that thou hast 10 do, but the
seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy
! God." Accordingly, we behold them. on
that sacred day, assembled together in His
| temples, and in devotional attitudes and with
! p!ouS countenanCes, Offering their PRAYERS
TO Heaven for all its blessings, of which il is
not the least that system Of policy has
been adopted by their country, which ad-
mlts OF their obtaining comfortable subsist-
ence. Manufactures have brought into
profitable employment a vast amount of fc-
male labor, which, without them, would
be lost 10 the country.
In respect TO woollens, every gentleman's
own observation and experience will enable
him TO judge of the great reduction Of price
which has taken place in most of these arti-
cles, since the tariff of 1924. Itwould have
been still greater, but for the high duty on
the raw material imposed for the Particular
benefit of the farming interest But, with
out going into particular details, shall lin
IT myself TO inviting the attention ofthe Sen
ale TO single article OF general and neces-
sary use The protection given 10 flannel in
1873 was fully adequate. Ii has enabled
The American manufacturer to obtain COM
plete possession of the American market |
and now, let us look at the effect | have
before me statementirom a highly respect |
able mercantile house, showing the price Of
four descriptions OF flannel, during six years
The average price of them, in 1896, was |
thirty-eight aud three-quarter cents in
1927, thirty eight in 1928, (the wear of
the tariff forty six in 1929, thirtv-siX ; in
1880 Notwithstanding The advance in the
price OF wooD thirty-two and in 1881,
thlrty-two and quarter. These facts re-
quire no comments. | have before me
another statement, Of a practical and re-
spectacle man, well versed in the flannel
manufacture in America and England, de- |
monstrating that the cost Of manufacture is !
precisely the same in both countries; and !
that, although yard ofhaEnel, which would !
sell IN I'm gland, at fifteen cents, would com |
mand here twenty-five, the difference of |
seven cents is the exact difference between
the cost in the two countries, of the six oun-
ces OF wool contained in yard of flannel
Brown sugar, during ten years, from |
1872 to 1902, with duty Of one and half |
cents per pound, averaged fourteen cents per |
pound. The same article, during ten years, |
from 1920 TO 1880, with duty of three cents, |
has averaged only eight cents per pound =
Nails, with duty of FIVE cents per pound, |
are selling at six cents Window glass, |
eight by ten, prior to the tariff OF 1924, sold |
at twelve or thirteen dollars per hundred |
feet; it now sells for three dollars seventy |
five cents.
The gentleman from South Carolina, SEN
sibe of the incontestible fact of the very !
great reduction in the prices of the necessa-
ries of life, protected by the American Sys- !
tenn, has felt the full force OF it, and has |
presented various explanations, of the caus- |
es 10 which he ascribes it, The first is the |
diminished production ofthe precious metals, !
IN consequence OF the distressed state of the |
countries in which they are extracted, and |
the consequent increase Of their value rela-
tive 10 that of the commodities for which |
they are exchanged. But, If this be tie |
true cause OF the reduction of price, its ope- !
ration ought to have been general on all OBJ |
Jects, and OF course upon cotton among the !
rest. And, in point of fact, the diminished |
price oil That staple is not greater than the |
diminulion of the value Of other staples Of
agriculture. Flour, which commanded, !
some years ago, ten or twelve dollars per
barrel. is now sold for five II no fall oCto
baCco has been still more. Tic Kite foot Of
Maryland, which sold at from sixteen TO
twenty dollars per hundred, row produces
only four or five. That Of Virginia has sus-
tanned an equal decline. Beef, pork, every /
article, almost, produced by the farmer, has |
decreased in value. Oughtnot South Caro- |
lima then to submit quietly 10 state Of
things, which is general, and proceeds from
an uncomfortable cause Ought she TO as
cribe to the "accurscd" tariff what results
from the calamities Of civil and foreign war
raging in many countries?
But, sir, I do not subscribe to this doc
trine implicitly. | do not believe that the
diminished production the precious metals.
If that be the fact satisfactorily accounts for
the fall in prices For, | think that the aug
mentation of the currency Of the world. by
means Of banks, public stocks and other ia
cIIlues arising out Of exchange and credit
has more than supplied any deficiency in
thc amount OF the precious metals
II is further urged that the restoration Of
/ peace IN Europe, after the battle ofWater-
loo, and the consequent return opeaceful
/ pursuits oilarge masses offs population, by
greatly increasing the aggregate amount Of
| effective labor, had tendency TO lower pri-
/ L. q.