The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-01-10
A Case for sympathy.

~ - 80 p
1t 20 touches us We cannot resist the
temptation to give it 20 The readers Of.
the UNION in legible bourgeois. Q1o.h
the Post, Mr.. Sprague, one of the Sena-
tors in Congress, from Rhode Islsnd,
whose wealth has been accumulated by
a fortunate management Of manufac-
turing capital, has laid before Congress
a suggestion for the benefit Of his
brother mill owners. He has given an
example of the truth of a remark which
w have often had occasion to make,
that the mor Of what ia called protee-
ton the manufacturer receive, the
more they ask.
On the 9Th Of December, Mr.. Sprsgue
moved a joint resolution insIucting
the proper committees in the Senate
and House of Representatives to in
quire, in substance, into the tax Cd do
mestic manufacturer and that laid on
imported goods, aud whether imported
goods had not by this means the ad-
vantage ver those manufactured here
in other words, whether come further
legislation is not necessary for the in
terest Of our mill owners.
In what a distressed condition the
mill-oWners are, and how important it
is that Congress should interfere TO save
them from ruin, the report Of the semi
annual dividends just declared by the
manufacturing companies in New Eng
land will demonstrate. Looking over
the list which contains the statement of
the capital they empluy and the profits
they receive, we ind them in the low
est depth Of distress. The Androscog-
gin Company, for example, divided
twenty-five per cent oil its capital on
the first of the present month. Its cap
ital is q million of dollars its dividend
is a quarter Of a million After paying
liberal salaries to those who superin-
tend its concerns, and wages to the
workpeople employed, the shareholder
touches twenty-five dollars for every
hundred atwhich his shares are valued.
Here is a clear case for the interven-
ton of Congress. We wonder thatScn-
ator Sprague, who is not without orator
zeal abilities, did not introduce his
scheme with g pathetic Grafton on the
destitution Of his Androscoggin breth,
rem.
But the unfortunate owners OF the
Androsoosgin shares are not the only
Objects of eommiseration The Apple
ton mills divided twenty per cent
which used TO be called q handsome
dividend, on the first Of June last
The Bates mills divided thirty-hve per
cent for the whole year. The Chicopee
mills, with q capital OF $4,000, divided
Tor the whole year ending with the FIRST
Of this month, fifty per cent Every
hundred dollars invested in TIE Chico
pee mills brings in to its miserable
owner fifty dollars.
These are hard cases, 10 be sure, and
we wonder not that Senator Sprsgue
has stood forth as the champion OF
these unfortunates thus early in the
session. 1t was a case that admitted Of
n o delay. Why here is the Nashua
Company, which divides only f qusrter
of million Of dollars among IFS share
holders. Here are the Pacific mills,
which have earned only S39o,oOt
Only a little less than three millions q
a half have been distributed by these
New England mills among those VINO
own the stock, as the proceeds Of the
last six months, after the payment OF
all expenses, salaries and wages. Mr.
sprague certainly should signaiize the
r-eopening Of the session Of Congress
with q funeral Grafton on the decoas5
Of American industry.
When we compare what the Nassa
chuse:ts railways have been doing ioi
the last six months with what the
shareholders in the cotton mills have
received, we wonder that Mr. Spragu'
did not bring in q resolution directing
an INQUIRY TO be made whether q liberia.
bounty should not be paid out OF the
national treasury 10 every proprietor o
a railroad share. The New England
railroads are making modest dividend.
of four or five per cent for the last SO
months, and eight, ten, or seven-yerl
, rarely less, for the whole year-that b
to say, caly one, two, three, or four pc.
, cent more than lawful interest in New
England We wonder that this case o
5 still greater distress and restitution Ia
b been neglected by Mr. Sprague.
, The Commercial Bulletin, a Boston
print, in which we find these heart
/ rending accounts, comments upon then
e in a vein of inimitable irony, thus:
. "The past six months have proved
season OF prosperity and large profits 4
our New England manufacturers
= e. T.
4 "Tbe makers of cotton fabrics hay.
q been especially fortunate IN their ope
ratious. and such has been the deman'
> FOR their products, that while runnin.
their machinery 70 the full extent @
its capacity-or, rather, the supply o
operative labor-they have been so,'
Z close up at a nett profit varying from
TWENTY-FIVE to one hundred per cent
. The same good luck aud activity hay
e been participated IN by manufactures
- OF woollsn goods, clothing boots nn'
n shoes, hardware, etc, who have all pee
doing 3 thriving aud satisfactory busi
uess' both a. regards the volume an
/ the profits
b, Aud so this journalist goes on maxim
"a sport of the miseries OF his fellow
y creatures. who get only "a net prof.
70 varying from twenty-five % a handse
per cent Yet, to do him Justice, W
ought to mention that he proceeds I
y remark that this state Of tLings canine
b De permanent and thai Congress mus
20 yet interfere FOR the relief Of the mani
ao,urcr 10y legislation After all, there
g. tore, We must allow that the writer {
the paragraphs which No have quoted
o. not 20 h~ardhearted as he might Al hr.
thought appear-Nr Ie-k rs.
We clip from the Nashville corr,
NJ spondence Of the Chicago Evening Pos
the following "honorable mention c
be- one Of our toWnsmen
O. "Nc better locomotive or cars exist. q
ao better connections are made, %. better man
aEcmert is hsd. luulrgsp c Than is loar
q ou he NashNl ana ,Eatau. oEa and Nash
vale aud Norbueslrru Eslg11is. Ihss
~ rs1sa-e under tAe same general man
Of aErmcut. TIE latter ceuucg.s the Ilnuc~se
river al 1~ohus7nNile vi D this place.
Your readers VIII r~ecol.ect taI. ". 7
'y lanes. i0,mer.y an eminent rsllrosd en-
!. giuecr 'f N.ch raa. cad, later stu. o.
c1mmagdiuE officer ct the Ist N.th.Ea.
Rurfnaarl and MaaHaufse ans rha mona