USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 40
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"Until we manufacture more it is absurd to celebrate the Fourth of July as the birth-day of our independence. We are still a dependent people; and what is worse, after the blood and treasure we have ex- pended, we are actually taxed by Great Britain. Our imports help to fill her revenue and pay the interest of a debt contracted in an attempt to enslave us."
Arguments such as these could not fail to have their effect upon a people who had so dearly purchased the liberty they possessed. In 1784 the manufacturers of Boston petitioned the General Court for legisla- tion to protect their products. To Governor Bowdoin and the manu- facturers of Boston also belong the credit of first agitating the question of calling a convention of delegates from all the States for the purpose of deliberating upon the state of trade and manufactures. This con- vention grew out of the industrial condition of Boston, and out of this convention grew the one which framed the new constitution. The petition of the Boston manufacturers to the General Court resulted in the passage of various laws imposing a tax upon certain imported arti- cles. These laws were consolidated and amended by extending the list, by an Act passed July 2, 1785, by which an import duty was laid upon most of the goods made at this time in and around Boston. The articles named were as follows: Wrought pewter, leather, books, nails, boots and shoes, plated ware, soap, candles, glue, carriages, harness, whip canes, carriage trimming, copper plate, furniture, umbrellas, muffs, tippets, combs, beer, ale, porter, clothing (excepting leather), woolen cloth, linen cloth, stockings, anchors, carpenters' tools, knives, bits for boring of pumps, carriage hoops and tire, mill saws, scale beams, steelyards, spades and shovels, hoes, wrought iron handirons, cast iron ware, shovels and tongs, crows, picks, tackle, hooks, thimbles, scrapers, marline-spikes, pumps and whaling-gear, wrought copper, worms for stills, hats, loaf sugar, cordage, cables, yarns, wrought iron and silver, cotton cards, buckskin breeches, leather breeches, leather gloves, wash leather, painters' colors, playing cards, tobacco (manufac- tured), paper hangings, clocks, house jacks, spirits, wines, watches, gold and silver, jewelry and paste work, gauzes and lawns, cambrics,
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muslins, silks, hose, mitts, gloves, handkerchiefs, velvet flowers, feath- ers, shawls, ribbons, sarcenet, wigs, and hair work, tinware, starch, hair powder, toys, marble and china tile, linseeed oil. The articles mentioned will give a fair index to the manufactured products of Boston in 1785.
Manufacturing, however, revived slowly after the war. The new constitution which had been submitted to the people contained provisions for the regulations of commerce. The representative manufacturers of Boston, in 1788, believing that the industrial interest of the country should be protected by the imposition of duty on imported goods, issued the following circular letter, which not only clearly illustrates the spirit of the time, but the condition of manufacturing in Boston at this early period :
BOSTON, August 20, 1788.
GENTLEMEN,-We being appointed by an association of tradesmen and manufac- turers of Boston to write to our brethren throughout the several States, do now ad- dress you on the very important and interesting subject of our own manufactures.
The late system of commerce pursued since the peace of importing such articles as can be manufactured among ourselves, tends to discourage the whole body of our tradesmen and manufacturers of these States, who depend for the support of them- selves and families on their various occupations, and this practice, unless speedily checked by the prudent exertions of those who are more particulary interested, must eventually prove ruinous to every mechanical branch in America.
Impressed with these sentiments, and finding the evils daily increasing, the trades- men and manufacturers of the town of Boston, awakened by the sense of danger which threatened then, assembled to deliberate on measures to relieve themselves from the destructive tendency of such importations.
An association was accordingly formed, consisting of a representation from each branch, and in this body the whole manufacturing interest of this town becomes an object of general attention.
The first measure adopted by this association was to pass resolves respecting the importation of certain articles from Europe by our merchants and numbers of Brit- ish agents residing among us; but knowing that nothing could be effected to any radical purpose unless we had the authority of the laws, we petitioned the Legisla- ture of this State, praying that duties might be laid on the several articles enumerated in our petition. In consequence of which application our Legislature complied in a great measure with our request, by enacting laws for the encouragement of industry and for promoting our own manufactures.
However, as we are sensible that our present situation requires an extensive co- operation to complete the purposes we wish, we take this method to bring forward a confederated exertion and doubt not from a union of sentiment, the most permanent benefits may arise.
We, therefore, apply to you, gentlemen, to lend us your assistance; and like a band of brothers whose interests are connected, we beg you to join in such measures to advance the general good as your conscience shall suggest and your wisdom dictate.
van cro MM Breed
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We would, with submission, recommend an association of your tradesmen and manufacturers, formed upon the most extensive basis and supported upon the most liberal principles ; we may then hope the manufacturers of this country will flourish, when each man becomes interested not only in his own branch, but in those of his brethren. Encouraged by such extensive patronage, each individual will be ani- mated to pursue his business with alacrity, knowing that he acts in concert with those on whose friendship he can with confidence rely.
An association being established in your State, we shall be happy to correspond with, and we flatter ourselves from this social intercourse a general harmony will prevail throughout the whole manufacturing interest of this country.
As we hope to experience the good effects of the late acts of our General Court, we should recommend a petition for a similar purpose to your legislature; and from the known disposition of your State to promote the welfare of America, we doubt not some plan will be devised by your General Assembly to prevent the importation of such species of articles as are commonly manufactured in America.
We need not urge the necessity of some measures being immediately taken by the whole Confederacy. The embarrassments of our navigation, the large debts con- tracted in Britain, and the remittances of our currency-all serve to put every real friend to his country upon serious attention; and any mode that can be adopted to remedy these evils, we are convinced no American will be backward in espousing, but will join heart and hand to promote the desirable purposes.
The means we propose, we conceive, are calculated to put each State upon delib- erating on a subject highly important to the manufacturing interests; and we cannot but hope that some lasting benefits will accrue from the united voice of the tradesmen and manufacturers of America.
The States are so extensive in their boundaries, so various in their climate, and so connected in their national interests, that if a plan should be adopted throughout the Confederation for the exchange of the produce and manufactures of each State, we conceive it would serve to cement a general union, and prove a means to promote the interest of the whole.
The Northern States might furnish many articles of manufacture which are now imported from Europe, and in return might receive those supplies peculiar to the growth and climate of the Southern.
An association formed throughout the States upon so liberal a plan, would estab- lish many extensive branches of manufactures; and if prosecuted with spirit would put this country above the humiliating state of lavishing her stores of wealth to pro- mote the manufactures of Europe.
We wish to communicate this letter to such towns of your State as you shall think proper.
We are, gentlemen, with every sentiment of respect,
Your most obedient servants,
JOHN GRAY, GIBBINS SHARP, BENJAMIN AUSTIN, JR., SARSON BELCHER, WILLIAM HAWES, JOSHUA WITHIELE.
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This appeal on behalf of Boston men did not fail to arouse the atten- tion of the merchants and manufacturers throughout the country, and upon the assembling of the first Congress under the new Constitution, in 198, the protection of American manufactures was among the first questions considered. Indeed, the second act passed by Congress was one relating to the levying of a duty on "goods, wares and merchan- dises imported into the United States."
For a decade after the Revolution there was a natural decline in manufactures. It was not barren, however, of industrial enterprises and undertakings which gave life and impetus to affairs. In the con- struction and adaptation of those labor saving methods and instruments by which iron and other materials are wrought up with facility into the varied forms which now employ so much of the industry of the State, rapid progress was made after the Revolution. Boston men especially at this period contributed their full share to the reputation for inge- nuity, dexterity and versatility in the mechanical arts which is charac- teristic of the American artisan. The city had quite a body of skillful mechanics, who in 1785 were united in an association of tradesmen and manufacturers. Among examples of the practical skill of this class, involving the uses of metals, may be mentioned the following: At a fire as early as 1765 a fire engine of home construction was used and " found to perform extremely well." It was made by David Wheeler, a blacksmith in Newbury street, who announced his intention to man- ufacture fire engines as good as any imported. Wheeler at the same time prepared to " make and fix iron rods with points upon houses and other eminences for prevention from the effects of lightning." This was probably the first practical application in his native town of the grand theoretical and practical discoveries of Franklin. Dr. William King, of Boston, is said to have introduced, many years after, the use of rods with many points along them. Some improvements in the forcing-pump and its adaptation to the hydraulic mechanism of the fire engine, were made and patented some years after by Benjamin Dear- borne, of Boston, the inventor of the patent balance, and numerous improvements in other articles. In 1768 Garven Browne, also a native of Boston, exhibited the frame and principal movements of a new and curious town clock, which he had manufactured. The two great wheels, it was said, "took near 90 1bs. weight of cast brass. It was calculated for eight days and to show the hours and minutes; to have three dials and a mechanical lever to preserve the motion during the
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winding up; the pendulum wheel and plate to perform the dead beat; its 'mathematical pendulum ' was so contrived that it could be altered the 35-100th part of an inch while the clock was going." In the second volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is also a description of the orrery or planetarium constructed by Joseph Pope, an ingenious clockmaker of Boston, made without previous acquaintance with such a machine, and pronounced by Dr. Wright to be, except in size and durability, "probably inferior to none in the world." It was purchased by the State for Harvard University. The inventor was also the author of an ingenious theory of gravitation, and the inventor of a threshing-machine, patented in 1802, and also an im- proved windmill. As early as 1:35, Howland Houghton, a merchant of Boston, was the inventor of an instrument for surveying land, which he called " The New Theodolite." He obtained exclusive privileges for seven years for making and selling it, by an act of the General Court, which declared that " land could be surveyed with greater ease and despatch than by any surveying instrument heretofore projected or made within this Province."
After the peace, at Paul Revere's foundry on Lynn street, previously mentioned, cannon and balls were made. Neat brass cannon were cast at this foundry, and many iron articles, such as cabooses, stoves, clothier's plates, chimney hearths, anvils, and forge hammers.
The manufacture of wool cards by hand was commenced in Boston before the Revolution. In 1788 Giles Richards formed a company to carry on the business by newly invented and improved machinery of American invention, which it is very probable was mainly that invented several years before by Oliver Evans for cutting and binding card teeth and piercing the leathers. A factory was established near Windmill Bridge, where the card boards were cut by wind power, one man at a machine being able to cut and bend in twelve hours sufficient wire for twenty dozen cards, at a saving of one-half of the labor of any previous method. This factory was visited in the following year by General Washington, who was informed that about 900 hands were employed in it and 63,000 pairs of cards (of all kinds) had been made in a year. They undersold the imported and had even been smuggled into England. The business was also carried on by Mark Richards & Co., near Faneuil Hall market, in 1792, and the manufacture then employed about 1,200 persons (chiefly women and children) in sticking the teeth. Four-fifths of the cards used in the State were made by these factories, and they were largely imported into the Southern States.
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In 197 Amos Whittemore, an ingenious gunsmith, who, with his brother William, had been connected with Giles Richards & Co., and the previous year had taken out three patents, including one for cutting nails, received letters patent for his card cutting machinery. Previous to this the Whittemores had established a third card factory in Boston, in which the old machinery was employed. The three factories at this time manufactured about 12,000 dozen of cotton and wool cards, which consumed nearly 200 casks of wire, averaging $130 per cask, 35,000 tanned sheep and calf skins, and employed nearly 2,000 children and 60 men. There were three smaller factories in Boston, and 2,000 to 3,000 dozen cards were made yearly in other parts of the State. The wire consumed by them was made at Dedham, where a wire mill was erected at considerable expense for the use of the card and fish-hook makers of Boston. The wonderful piece of mechanism invented by Amos Whittemore created a complete revolution in the business in Eng- land and America.
An important enterprise undertaken in 1287 was the building of the Charles River bridge. Its successful carrying out forms an index not only of the spirit and resources of the town, but throws a strong light upon the advance made in the mechanic arts. It was considered at the time one of the greatest enterprises ever undertaken in the country. It was 1,503 feet long, 42 feet wide, and had a 30 feet draw. Its cost was $50,000. It was undertaken by a private corporation, of which John Hancock was a leading member.
In 1787 a spirited effort was made in Boston to revive the manufact- ure of glass. A company was formed, and in July, 1787, received a charter from the Legislature of the State with the exclusive right of manufacturing glass for fifteen years. A penalty of £500 was attached to any infringment of their rights by making glass in the town, to be levied for each offense. The capital stock was exempted from taxes for five years, and the workmen employed were exempt from all military duties. A pyramidal factory of brick was erected on a large scale at the foot of Essex street. Being found illy adapted to the purpose, it was afterwards taken down and a wooden one lined with brick differ- ently constructed was put up in its place. Its dimensions were 100 feet in length and 60 feet in width. On account of difficulties in procuring workmen and other embarrassments, operations were not fully com- menced until November, 1292. The corporation commenced with the manufacture of crown window glass, which they produced of a quality
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equal or superior to any imported. Materials were found to be abun- dant, and some six years later they produced about 900 sheets per week, worth $1.75 per sheet, or $76,000 per annum.
The manufacture of paper-hangings grew to be quite an extensive industry in Boston after the close of the war of the Revolution. Before the war large importations of the article were made from England, and after the war from France, so much so from the latter country that, in 1787, the French government removed the export duty upon paper- hangings, on account of the great consumption of its manufacture in the United States. The great cost of the imported article led to the establishment of several American factories, one of which was in Bos- ton. This was soon followed by others, and when the first secretary of the treasury made his report, was among the well established branches of home production. Three years later, the manufactories of stained paper in Boston were sufficient not only to supply the State, but furnished considerable quantities to other States. Boston at this period produced annually twenty-four thousand pieces of paper-hang- ings.
In 1789 a large manufactory of sail duck was established in Boston in Frog Lane, where a building, one hundred and eighty feet long and two stories high, was erected for the purpose. The company was in- corporated by the General Court and encouraged by a bounty upon its manufactures. The duck made at the establishment was said to be the best ever seen in America and sold lower than imported sail cloth. In 1790 the ship Massachusetts had her sails and cordage made wholly of Boston manufacture. The factory in 1792 produced two thousand yards of duck weekly and employed four hundred hands. Its annual produc- tion for a number of years after was between two and three thousand batts of forty yards each. This factory affords an early instance of a workmen's union for mutual protection and improvement. The weavers and spinners were formed into a society with a system of laws for its guidance. Quarrels, profanity or other misconduct were im- mediately adjudged on the spot by a jury of the weavers, and a fine, deducted from the wages of the offenders, went into a common fund for the relief of sick members. Careless workmanship was punished in the same manner, and goods, if unsalable, were to be made good. The spinners admitted none into their company except by vote, and through the measures adopted to promote industry and self-government, were highly successful. President Washington visited the duck factory
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at Boston, and under the date of October, 1789, thus speaks of it: " They have 28 looms at work and 14 girls spinning with both hands (the flax being fastened to the waist). Children (girls) turn the wheels for them, and with this assistance each spinner can turn out 14 pounds of thread per day, when they stick to it; but as they are paid by the piece, or work they do. there is no other restraint upon them but to come at eight o'clock in the morning and return at 6 in the evening. They are daughters of decayed families and are girls of character; none others are admitted." From the duck factory Presi- dent Washington made a visit to the card factory, where he was in- formed 900 hands were employed. Of this industry he observes: " All kinds of cards are made ; and there are machines for executing every part of the work in a new and expeditous manner, especially the cutting and bending of teeth, which is done at one stroke. They have made 63,000 pairs of cards in a year, and can undersell the imported cards-nay, cards of this manufactory have been smuggled into England." At this time there were three quite extensive manufactories of cotton and wool cards in Boston.
In 1793 Arthur Scholfield, with John Scholfield and his family, ar- rived in Boston from England. They settled in Charlestown. Here they built a hand loom, a spinning jenny of forty spindles and a card machine. The latter was the first carding machine for wool made in the United States, and upon this machine were made the first spinning rolls carded by machinery. It was afterward set up in the factory es- tablished by the Scholfield brothers at Newburyport, Conn.
The following account of the industrial condition of Boston, published in 1794, in a work entitled "A Typographical and Historical Descrip- tion of Boston," and reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, gives a fair idea of the extent and character of the manufacturing interest of the city at that time:
Boston, although denominated a commercial town, has a variety of manufactures carried on within its limits, among which are the following: Soap, candles. rum, loaf sugar, cordage, duck, twine and lines, cards, fish hooks, combs, stained paper, stoneware, chocolate, glass, etc.
In some of these great improvements have been made since the Revolution, not only in the quality of the articles, but also in the facility of making them. Soap, hard and soft, has been manufactured here for a number of years, and tallow candles. By newly invented American machines the work is greatly expedited in the latter manufacture, and great savings made in the article of cotton. Spermaceti candles are made here of a superior quality as to clearness and whiteness. Large quantities
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have been exported. This business is now carried on at four manufactories in the town.
There are upwards of thirty distill houses in the town, at which New England rum has been made. Twenty-seven of them were occupied in 1792, but they turned out on an average two-thirds less quantities of gallons than they did before the disturb- ances in the French West Indies, and the excise levied by Congress. The revenue, according to our information, arising from New England rum at the above mentioned period, may be computed at the rate of one thousand dollars on an average quarterly from each distillery, from which, if we deduct one-third part for drawback, it will leave a very large sum net revenue. At present eighteen distill houses are at work. These distill not one-half so much as they could. The causes hinted at above, to- gether with the demand for New England rum for exportation being lessened, have occasioned the decline of this business. The latter cause probably arises from the large quantities of fruit and grain spirit distilled in the Southern States.
In the town of Boston are seven sugar refining houses. At five of them the busi- ness is now carried on ; they can manufacture annually, on an average, one hundred thousand weight. A large duty on clayed sugars of the second quality, as well as the new excise law on loaf sugar, operates against this manufacture.
Cordage is made at fourteen rope walks. The largest are at West Boston ; one of them one hundred and sixty fathoms long, and can turn out a cable of about one hundred and forty fathoms in length. Hemp and yarns used in making ropes are by far the greater part imported from Europe. It is hoped that the bounty on hemp raised in this Commonwealth, and continued for two years by an Act of the General Court at their session in June last, though the sum is reduced from twelve pounds to nine per ton, will not operate to discourage the culture of this useful article, but that the present bounty, together with the communications and encouragements held out by the Agricultural Society, will stimulate the husbandman to pursue and increase its cultivation.
Twine and lines. For manufacturing these a company erected a large wooden fac- tory. Various sizes of twines and lines from a mackerel to a codline were made and approved. More than forty persons were employed in it in 1792, and some score tons of hemp worked up. The sail makers were supplied from this factory. It might probably have answered the demand of the cod fishery, and the lines made at it equalled, if not surpassed in quality, the noted Bridport codlines imported from England. The bounty at first granted having ceased, the proprietors of the building contemplete employing it some other way. Twine and lines are now made at some of the ropewalks.
The duck manufacture was set up by a company in buildings which they erected in Frog lane, near the Common. They were incorporated by an act of the General Court. The sail cloth made here has obtained great credit. Certificates from mer- chants and sail makers testify its quality to be superior to the canvas imported from Europe. It will last longer, is not subject to mildew, and is sold at a lower rate than imported duck. This manufacture employs a number of females in spinning, and was encouraged by a bounty from the government. In 1792 four hundred hands were employed by it, and turned out not less than fifty pieces a week.
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