Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1858-06-25
]. NJ. EASON & BRO
ALL ABOUT A BELL.

The good people Of Charleston, South
Carolina, are, it seems, in want of q new
ERE alarm bell, and have been and are
greatly exercised upon the question wheth-
or they shall give the contract to some of
their own mechanics, who offered to un-
dertake the job on the terms Of '~nc bell
no pay" or whether they shall procure a
bell from celebrated foundry in New
York. While the Board Of Fire Masters
and the City Council were still discussing
the important matter, Committee of the
former body, convinced, no doubt, that a
bell cast in their own city could not ring
so loudly or melodiously as one from dis
lance, nor be equally serviceable. in Civ
ing the alarm when conhagration dire or
threatened insurrection might make it
necessary to rouse the slumbering citizens,
had determined to take time by the fore
lock and secure the success of their views
and had already contracted that it should
be cast in New York. Thus their ears
will be saved the infection of hearing the
tones of home made bell, albeit their an
ticipatory action had led to an animated
newspaper quarrel, and the charges are
being rung upon the subject of the bell
in an incessant, if not deafening manner.
There are great many people who are
possessed of the same notions as the Com
mittee Of the Fire Masters of Charleston.
They think that nothing can be as good
if made in their own locality as if manu-
featured elsewhere. To their eyes and
ears every thing from abroad is invested
with superior qualities. Such ideas in
deed are quite too prevalent. They are
often unjust, and always unwise and short
sighted, even in view Of personal interest
It may be set down as an axiom that every
dollars worth of manufactures, from a
shoe to a locomotive, which is imported
from any other place, when it could be
made on the spot, is pecuniary loss to
the community in general to that extent
less than the cost Of the raw material, and
that such importations are in fact impov-
erishing in their effect. True, the proper
ton to each person may seem trifing, but
it swells to an enormous tribute in the ag-
gregate, when, for instance, as in the case
Of our own city, the total amount thus
sent away and expended is counted up
The dependence of the prosperity of any
Guy upon us uOHesUiC IndnulactuTeS
more vital and intimate than is generally
imagined. 1t is not, in fact, erroneous te
consider them more valuable even than its
commerce, for commerce thrusts its stats
tics under our eyes, while those of domes-
tic manufactures are hidden in thousands
of petty shops and in the rooms of solita.
ry workmen. The domestic manufactures
Of the United States are estimated by the
hundreds of millions of dollars annually
1t is not merely those establishments which
attract attention from their size and the
extent of their operations which swell this
vast amount, but the small shops and the
busy hands that everywhere are at work
producing something for the use, comfort
or qualification of the community. In
deed, far the greater proportion are con-
tributed from the latter sources Every
citizen ought to patronize domestic manu-.
features and home mechanics from prin-
ciple. Nor can such a course be consider.
ed either selfish or illiberal, it is, on the
contrary, duty he owes to the commune
ty in which lives.