Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-01-20
CONDITION OF MANUFACTURES.

The Cotton and Wooden Manufactures of the
country are now in a comparatively flourish
ing condition They are recovering, with as
great rapidity as is healthful, from the disas
trous revulsion of '57 Perhaps there are not
and we hope will not be, at present, induce
ments sufficient to augment the number Of
mills already erected. There are already
enough to supply the present, or reasonably
prospective demands of the markets, both do
mestic and foreign. In manufacturing, as in
almost everything else, we are apt to OUer do.
To this characteristic were we greatly indebt-
ed for the misfortune which befell manufac-
lures two years ago, We had gone on, erect
ing factories and increasing spindles, until the
markets were overstocked with goods One
source of trouble, therefore, was chargeable to
the manufacturers themselves. We trust this
lesson will be needed in future.
The cotton mills, throughout the country,
are now in full operation, and are more or less
remunerative. Some of their dividends, on
the LIST instant, were very f1attering. Those
mills supplied with new and improved machin-
money, and faster, of course, than mills that
are old and generally in less fortunate condi-
ton.
One of the great drawbacks to our manufac-
turers is their method of disposing of the fab
RIGS. They are given to commission mer-
chants who both claim and get the lions share
of the profits. These middle interest gentle
men get not less than one and half per cent,
and frequently five per cent, including guar
anty. Perhaps it will be said that the mer-
chants cannot well live on less, on account of
the heavy expenses of stores, warehouses, SC.
This is only an admission that the system of
commission sales is wrong Then how RENE
died? By the manufacturers establishing Cloth
Halls in the principal cities, and selling the
goods themselves. This may not be practical
BILE to the small manufacturers, but it certainly
would be to the larger ones, with whom the
former could make mutually satisfactory ar
rangement. This plan was once tried in
Rhode Island, where it was measurably sue
cessful; and, it is believed, needed only to
have been persisted in, to become entirely SO.
Such is the present opinion of some of the larg-
est and shrewdest manufacturers of that State
Another evil, which ought to be Immediately
removed, is that of long credits. The general
rule has been, we think, eight months and, in
many cases, it has been, and still is ten. Why
credit of two to four months longer than is
given for other commodities should be exacted
of domestic fabrics, is more than we can an
swer or understand. Six months credit is
long enough; and we trust manufacturers will
insist that it shall not be longer. The present
time, when goods are sold close up to produc-
ton, and even in advance, is a favorable oppor-
tunity for manufacturers to insist on this i'm
portant form.
There are many men engaged in the manu-
featuring business who are demanding, if not
expecting, "aid and comfort" by revision OF
the Tariff. While we should be glad to see
further incidental protection to this interest,
we really do not see much chance for it. The
great interests, as well as the great sections of
the country, are at this time, unfortunately,
inimical and antagonistic. The great produc-
ing States, West as well as South, want no
high Tariff; and they carry too many guns
for us in the contest beneath the dome of the
Capitol. Therefore, our friends must not rely
too much on the Tariff, which may prove a
broken reed. If they can only be assured OF
some permanent policy on the part of the Gov
eminent toward manufactures, they can make a
remunerative business of that which, under a
huctuating policy, would be too poor and
precarious to be followed