The estimate of the actual charges of manufacturing in the two countries gives an average of six mills per yard against us; yet, taking both charges into the estimate, the net advantage was three per cent. in our favor; and besides this, our goods were the best. Since 1840, the British Government has been obliged to take off the duty, but it could not lessen the cost of labor, of power, or of capital. The wages of the operative then were barely enough to support life; the cost of coal must increase as the seams nearest the surface are exhausted; and it is doubtful whether the capital then invested in the cotton mill was paying any interest. The changes that have since occurred on this side of the water have all been in our favor; that is, so far as the cost of manufacturing is concerned. More experience has given us greater skill; we have more system, and more economy; new facilities of intercommunication have brought our producers and manufacturers of cotton nearer to each other and lessened the cost of their mutual exchanges; but, more than all, the cost of labor, in which England had so much the advantage, has been lessened over one-half; that is, less than one-half is now required. Besides, of late years the supply of cotton has been so near the demand, that the price has fallen from 14 cents per pound to an average of 8 or 9 cents; as the cost is reduced our relative advantage is increased. From these facts we have this corollary: that, as the cost of labor, power, and material is reduced, the cost of transportation rises in importance. If England cannot profitably compete with us in the Chili market, certainly she cannot compete with us here; for the width of the Atlantic gives us a protection, directly or indirectly, of at least 15 per cent. ad valorem. In point of fact, just as fast as the American manufacturer is able to supply the home demand in any article, the English manufacturer is driven from our market, unless, to raise money or to break down a rival, he is prepared to sell at less than cost. It is to be hoped that the wages of labor in this country will never be so low that we can compete with China in embroidered shawls or ivory trinkets; or with France and Germany in tapestry or laces made by hand. In such fabrics the cost of transportation bears but a slight proportion to the cost of labor. It is clear, then, that England cannot sell coarse, heavy, and cheap goods in this valley in competition with our own manufacturer. Let us see if New-England can. In 1821, as I am told, the first mill for spinning cotton yarn on an extensive scale was established on the Ohio. Now, who sees in our stores a hauk of English or Eastern cotton yarn? The same cause that has produced this resultthat is, the cost of transportation-must, in a few years, build up all the mills we need to supply us with domestics." To see what the precise inducements are to start such a mill here, I give the following details of the cost of transporting cotton from its point of production to us and to the New-England mill, and of the goods from the mill to us. It is clear that the difference in the first and the amount of the last give the sum of our advantages in this item, at least to the extent of our home market. I base my estimates on a mill of 10,000 spindles for convenience, and because that is near the most economical size. It will be borne in mind that the calculation includes the cost of machinery for preparing the cotton and weaving the goods. At almost any point on the Ohio river the cost of building is less than in Massachusetts. We have stone, lime, clay, and generally, lumber on or near the spot. There the lamber and lime is brought from Maine; but few positions furnish good clay for brick; and granite is not as easily worked as our lime or sandstone. The moment there is a demand for it, machinery can be made here 20 per cent. cheaper than at the East. The cost now would be nearly this: Brought forward, Here a working capital, sufficiently large to lay in a stock of cotton for five months, is Capital stock, $173,500 46,500 $220,000 This estimate is larger by $20,000 to $30,000 than that made by persons who have far more practical knowledge on the subject than I have. The longer the material and its product are in transitu, or, in other words, the further the manufactory is from the raw material and the market, the larger must be the working capital; and the interest on the difference is fairly a part of the cost of transportation. And besides, as England and New-England are obliged to enter the cotton market once a year, and at the same time, and at the very time when our other great staples are ready for shipment, prices and freights are then generally at their highest rates; sometimes, as we have seen, sufficient means of transportation cannot be had at all; to guard against this contingency, as well as the fluctuations of price, many mills keep a heavy surplus stock. We can cominand the market at all times; we are always ready to contract, and can select our own time to receive the cotton. We are here, also, at the point of consumption; we cannot for years supply the home demand, and our goods will be taken as fast as they are made. With these facts in view, it is very safe to say that the New-England mill requires a working capital of $100,000 more than ours; but, to be altogether within the mark, put it at $50,000; the interest on this is the first item of saving or advantage to be carried out-say per annum $3,000. As we can turn over our capital more than once a year, and its earnings at each time will exceed 6 per cent., we might with propriety make the item much larger. At Lowell there are forty-five mills, containing 253.456 spindles, and with a capital of $11,490,000, or, over $450,000 for every 10,000 spindles. If $50,000 is deducted for capital required to purchase the power, $50,000 more to cover the difference in communicating the power and the additional cost of buildings, the working capital would seem to be $130,000 over that required here by my estimate. But I am not advised as to how much of this capital is required to ena ble the mill to sell on credit, or whether the surplus fund, usually laid aside out of profits, is sufficient for this purpose. The Lowell corporations rarely publish the amount of their reserved funds, or even of their profits, unless when they are remarkably low. The mill in question will turn out on the average, two tons of goods a daysay 600 tons per annum. The English estimate of waste and loss is one-sixth ; our rule gives 89 pounds of goods for 100 pounds of cotton; by this, the mill will require 666 tons of cotton per annum. The following estimate of the cost of bringing dry goods to Louisville from Boston, via New-Orleans, was obtained from one of our largest dry goods houses, and I feel confident that the rates are below the average: Boston wharfage per bale, Freight to New-Orleans per bale, Charges at Insurance, 2 per cent., on $66, or on cost and 10 per cent. added, 021 45 30 1 32 Add average cost on the bale from the mill to and at Boston, at least, The bale, 4-8 brown cotton, of 750 yards, average cost $60; 3 yards to the pound. This gives over cent to the yard, 14 cents to the pound, and $30 per ton. There are, however, but few houses that ship by New-Orleans, and at times when freights are low; altogether the largest portion of the brown cottons and prints brought to the central West come from the Eastern agent or jobber, and by the lakes or across the mountains. This is the ordinary course of trade, and there is no reason why we should not base our estimates on what is usually done, if the same system is likely to continue. By these last routes, as every dry goods merchant (wholesale) can satisfy himself by reference to his books, the average freight from the eastern cities is from two-thirds to three-fourths of one cent. per yard. If to this is added the coastwise freight, insurance interest, profit of the jobber, or commission of the second agent, the cost will swell up to at least 1 cent per yard, 3 cents per pound, or $60 per ton. But, as I have often been told, the agent at Baltimore will sell domestics just as low as they can be had at Boston or Lowell, and the Philadelphia jobber will often sell lower to draw in customers, as he relies for his profits on other goods. All very true; but a moment's reflection will satisfy any man of the fallacy of this reasoning. The manufacturer may wish to get rid of his surplus, and find it his interest to pay the transportation to, and the commission of an agent in a remote market, but this does not lessen the actual cost of the transportation or agency. The jobber may entice a customer into his store by selling silver at fifty cents an ounce, but this does not prove that the ounce of silver is actually worth less than a dollar. The same kind of argument is often applied to cost of transportation on our river. The Peytona will ask $5 from a passenger to Louisville, who calls her in at Brandenburg, and the price would be the same if he got in at Cairo; yet the writer on the western carrying trade would be laughed at, were he to state that the cost of transportation from Cairo and Brandenburg to Louisville was the same. Coal often sells for a less price at St. Petersburg than at Newcastle; yet no one has attempted to show that the shipment of coal a thousand miles lessons its cost, or that St. Petersburg is the proper site of manufactures, because coal was sold there at a particular day cheaper than at the English coal mines. The balance sheet of every business must show the profits or losses in each of its branches. The high prices demanded by the larger boats for waypassengers and freight have introduced the river packets. and the extra costs paid by the eastern manufacturer are now building up the western mills. To return to the figures: the mill given will consume 666 tons of cotton per annum. Freight from the cotton districts of Nashville, Florence, Tuscumbia, and points on the Mississippi river in Tennessee and Arkansas, and on the Arkansas river, are about the same to Louisville as to New-Orleans. As the river packets multiply, the rates in this direction will probably be lower. Besides, as our agricultural exports increase, the return boats will run light and charge less. Our mill, then, will save the charges on the cotton at New-Orleans and the cost between that city and the New-England mill. I have not access to a series of New-Orleans pricescurrent, but I presume the following estimate will not be wide of the mark: Drayage, storage, brokerage, and commission of agent or merchant at New-Orleans per bale of 450 pounds, . Insurance on $36 or 8 cents per pound, $1.00 50 3 38 27 $5 15 I might add 1 per cent. loss on exchange, as the cotton is generally paid for by 60-day bills Or 1 14-100 cent per pound, on per ton, Add charges in Boston, Average freight to the mill, Total per ton, $25 80 666 tons required at $25 80 gives $17,182 80 Add saving in capital per annum 3,000 00 Add minimum freight on goods or $30 per ton on 600 tous 18.000 00 Minimum advantage, $38,182 80 But if we add the ordinary freight on the goods, or $60 per ton, we have the maximum advantage of $56,182 80, or an average of $47,182 80 on a capital of $220,000, or near 21 per cent. I say nothing here of the great saving in fuel and in food; to these points, and to giving an aggregate of advantages, I propose to devote another paper. I believe the foregoing estimates are within the truth, and that I have not been able to get at all the items of cost; indeed, many of these are of such a character that they cannot well be specified; such, for instance, as the expenses and time of the merchant who goes abroad to make his purchases, occasional loss on exchange, and all the contingencies to which a trade between distant points is subject. It will be noticed that nothing is said here of disadvantages; there are some, and I will endeavor hereafter to state them fairly, and then perhaps you will be surprised to see how few there are, and how easily these can be surmounted. I have been furnished with the following estimate, which nearly corresponds with the foregoing, and from a source perhaps more reliable than any other in New-England. The comparison is between Massachusetts and Pittsburg: A mill of 10,000 spindles will turn out 4,000,000 yards of No. 14 sheetings or shirtings, and consume 1,400,000 pounds of cotton in one year. The difference in the cost of the raw material and the cost of sending the manufactured goods to the West, including interest, is, as near as can be estimated, one cent per yard, or $40,000 in one year's work. If there is but even 15 per cent. advantage (and I challenge the production of facts to show that there is not 20 per cent.) in this single item of cost of transportation, how long before our men of capital, who, at most, can get 10 or 12 per cent. interest on moneyed loans, will engage in manufacturing? It needs but the establishment of a single mill on the Lowell system and the making of a single dividend, to draw the attention of every man among us who has spare funds sufficient to buy a share of stock. 4. STATISTICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. S. It is impossible to know as minutely as the purposes of trade and legislation require, all the statistics of the states of this Union, from the reports of the general government, however perfect they may be. The home trade can seldom appear in the figures of government, as it is too far removed to collect with facility all the minor details of the movements of states and cities, which make a part of, and influence the commerce of the country. Each state should in fact have its own department of statistics, and it would be very easy from all the reports to make up a general summary at Washington every year. In this view we take pleasure in calling attention to the initiatory movement made in Louisiana, for the establishment of a Bureau of Statistics, and publish, for the information of all, and in the hope of getting returns from some, the circular of the department. BUREAU OF STATISTICS-DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR-A Bureau of Statistics having been established, and the undersigned entrusted with its charge, he begs to invite from citizens in every section of the state, such information as they can impart in regard to its present condition and past history. The appended queries will give an idea of the character of the facts required, and will be suggestive of others. The plan of the Bureau contemplates every kind of information concerning the state, and it will be in the power of most persons to communicate something, upon one or more of the heads. It is of very great importance that the report, contemplated to the next legislature, be complete. The aid of the members of the legislature, editors, public officers, citizens, &c., in all the parishes, is invoked, and will be most gratefully acknowledged. Donations of old files of newspapers, records, etc., to be deposited in the Bureau, will be thankfully received and acknowledged. J. D. B. DE BOW. I. Time of settlement of your parish or town; dates of oldest land grants; number and condition of first settlers; whence emigrating; other facts relating to settlement and history. II. Indian names in your vicinity; what tribes originally; what relics or monuments of them; if Indians still, in what condition? III. Biography, anecdotes, &c., of individuals distinguished in your vicinity in the past for ingenuity, enterprise, literature, talents, civil or military, &c. IV. Topographical description of your parish, mountains, rivers, ponds, animals, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, &c., vegetable growths, rocks, minerals, sand clays, chalk, flint, marble, pit coal, pigments, medicinal and poisonous substances, elevation above the sea, nature of surface, forests, or undergrowth, what wells and quality of well water, nature of coasts, does the water make inroads, mineral springs, caves, etc. V. Agricultural description of parish; former and present state of cultivation; changes taking place; introduction of cotton, sugar, rice, indigo, tobacco, grains, fruits, vines, &c. &c.; present products; lands occupied and unoccupied, and character of soils; value of lands; state of improvement; value of agricultural products; horses, cattle, mules, hogs, and whence supplied; profits of agriculture, prices of products; new estates opening; improvements suggested in cultivation, and new growths; improvements in communication, roads, bridges, canals, &c.; kind and quantity of timber, fuel, &c.; state of the roads, summer and winter; kinds of enclosures, and of what timber; manures; natural and artificial pastures; agricultural implements used; fruit trees, vines, and orchards; modes of transportation; extent of internal navigation; levees, &c.; modes of cultivating and manufacturing sugar in use. VI. Instances of longevity and fecundity; observations on diseases in your section; locations, healthful or otherwise; statistics of diseases; deaths; summer seats, &c. VII. Population of your parish; increase and progress, distinguishing white and black; Spanish, French, American, or German origin; foreigners; classes of population; number in towns; growth of towns and villages, etc.; condition, employment, ages; comparative value of free and slave labor; comparative tables of increase; marriages, births, &c.; meteorological tables of temperature, weather, rains, &c. VIII. Education and Religion-Advantages of schools, colleges, libraries enjoyed; proportion educated at home and abroad; expense of education; school returns; churches or chapels in parish, when and by whom erected; how supplied with clergy; how supported and attended; oldest interments; church vaults, &c. IX. Products in Manufactures and the Arts-Kinds of manufactures in parish; persons employed; kind of power; capital; wages; per centum profit; raw material; sugar and cotton machinery and improvements; kind and value; manufacturing sites, &c. X. Commercial Statistics-Value of the imports and exports of Louisiana with each of the other states of the Union, as far as any approximation may be made, or data given; growth and condition of towns; increase in towns, &c. XI. General Statistics-Embracing banking, railroads, insurances, navigation, intercommunication; learned and scientific societies; crime, pauperism, charities, public and benevolent institutions; militia, newspapers, &c.; application of parish taxes; expenses of roads, levees, &c.; number of suits decided in different courts; expenses and perfection of justice; number of parish officers, lawyers, physicians, &c. XII. Date, extent, consequences, and other circumstances of droughts, freshets, whirlwinds, storms, lightnings, hurricanes, or other remarkable physical events, in your section from remote periods; other meteorological phenomena; changes in climate, &c. XIII. Literary productions emanating from your neighborhood; your associations, if any; what manuscripts, public or private records, letters, journals, &c., or rare old books, interesting in their relation to the history of Louisiana, are possessed by individuals within your knowledge. State any other matters of interest. Our book table is much neglected this month. Our advertisements are left out, for which due atonement shall be made to the parties. The article on silk will be continued in our next. We have several other valuable papers on the table for publication. Hon. H. Johnson and Hon. S. Downs will receive acknowledgments for important Congressional papers. There are several books and pamphlets on our table, of which notices shall appear in the August number. It pleases us to inform our subscribers that with this number we begin a new era in the publication of the Review. There shall be no more delays, but the utmost regularity, and an improved monthly issue. Let our friends show themselves by extending the circulation and increasing the income of the work. We pray for prompt and punctual remittances from all.-[Editor. Several lamentable typographical blunders were permitted in consequence of the Editor's ab. sence, in the April number, particularly in the article by our friend J. P. Benjamin, on the Saccharometer. We almost determine to republish his valuable paper. Similar errors are found in the article on Silk, |