USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati in 1841 : its early annals and future prospects > Part 19
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approved patterns and models, and in the course of a few years, by the time our boys became journeymen, or went into business themselves, we accomplished our purpose, and there is now not five dollars' worth of work brought out here, where a thousand dollars' worth was imported ten years ago. In- deed, excepting carriages and pianos, I do not know any east- ern articles brought here now, and these will not long contin- ue to come.
But this is not the half of it. A stronger reason why we make a better article is, that while our work has been improv- ing for years, theirs has been the whole time getting worse. I speak of the goods they send off, which is the great body made ; for they may still make good work for their own cus- tomers at home, who will pay a fair price, and can not be put off with an inferior article. So great has been the competi- tion among mechanics in New York and Philadelphia, to sup- ply a foreign demand, decreasing under the operation of the causes I have stated, that the struggle is, who shall make the article cheapest ; the effect of this kind of strife is to deterio- rate the quality, both of the raw material and of the manufac- ture. This fact is now thorougly understood to the south and south-west, and the consequence is, that the Philadelphia and New York mechanics have lost their customers, abroad, for fine work, and only find a market for their low priced and in- ferior goods in our newer settlements, and probably Texas, and the South American and West Indies' markets ; and the character of their manufactures is becoming such, that if this state of things continues, before long they will be destitute of the workman, who can make a better article.
In Cincinnati, on the contrary, we have had from Missouri, Mississipi, Alabama and Louisiana, as customers, men who are first rate judges of goods-say saddles, for instance. When they come to this place to buy, if they go from shop to shop, it is to find the best goods ; they never ask prices un- til they see the article they like and want, and they pay the proper price for it. They know its value, and never go to
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the second place to get it at a lower price. What is the con- sequence ? The whole competition here is, who can make the best piece of goods, not who will make the cheapest one. Of such importance has the character of doing so, been felt here, before individuals had time to establish a reputation abroad by their own work, and name; that until we succeed- ed in raising workmen of the right stamp for ourselves, we were obliged to submit to the caprices, the extortions, the bad tempers, or worse habits, of such first rate workmen in our shops, as annoyed us in these respects. I have known jour- neymen of this kind, who would work, when they took a no- tion-perhaps but three days in the week, or even less. I could tell of cases where a journeyman, who got two dollars a piece for saddles more than any other workman in the city, told his employer he must give him three dollars in addition, or he should leave ; the employer was obliged to submit, for he knew it would not do to let the man go, upon any account: of others who got into quarrels in the shop from their bad temper, and kept the boss continually in hot water, to settle the difficulty. We were obliged to bear all these things, and more, at the time; while now we should send such fellows, in short order, about their business.
The upshot of all this is, you cannot get in the city, if you wanted it, the low priced articles of the east. If they were made here, they could not be sold, however low priced, to any amount. The day of cheap goods has gone by ; the customer wants an article that will do him justice. But we could not make inferior articles at any rate, for they require inferior workmen, and ours are not such; and it as much labor, or more so, for a good workman to make a bad piece of goods, as for a bad workman to make a good one. These kind of goods were sent out from the east on consignment, for a while, and proved a losing concern, which had to be closed at auction. 'They won't do here at any price. Even our coun- try mechanics make better goods, that is, more substantial work.
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I could reply nothing to all this, for it did not require a me- chanic to understand and feel the force of this statement.
The prejudice in favor of work made in our eastern cities, or in foreign countries, is remarkably obstinate. The same feeling existed, within my knowledge, in Philadelphia as late as 1806, in favor of London goods. My employer there, a respectable hardware merchant, imported the very boots he wore-Hoby, I think, was the maker's name-his hats, too, were made in the same place. It was the case, also, with his brother merchants. The same spirit eventually drove out these goods from Philadelphia, which has shut out the eastern article from this place.
At a factory on the Miami canal I was shown what may be termed, a plantation cotton-spinning machine, one of a large number finishing for the south, and designed to furnish cotton yarn, at a single operation, from the raw material in the pod. This machine incloses in a frame, less in size than a common breakfast table, folded down, a cotton gin, carding roller, and spinning shafts, running six parallel threads, which may be worked with such ease that one ordinary hand, in one day, performs the usual labor of ten, on the old fashioned system. These machines are distributed all over the south- west, the proprietors keeping four members of their establish- ment at various points throughout the lower Mississipi valley, to see them started, and instruct the working part of that com- munity in their use. They have already supplied that coun- try, during the last ten years, with fifteen hundred of these machines, at one hundred and fifty dollars each, their value, when set up at the place of destination. The great peculiarity of this invention is, that, as it takes the cotton from the stalk and puts it into yarn, without going through the usual detach- ed processes, which always impair the beauty and strength of the cotton fibre, it furnishes the planter with an article alto- gether different from, and superior to, the cotton ginned and pressed into bales. I saw specimens of yarn made by this machine, and cloth, woven from the same kind of yarn. The
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yarn was of uncommon strength, and appeared, at a distance, rather to resemble woollen than cotton, in its filature; and the cloth, which was not fine, being designed merely for plantation wear, was remarkable for its evenness and firmness, being of durability which no factory could impart to its goods. It will readily be perceived of what consequence such a labor-sav- ing implement must be to the lower Mississipi valley, sup- plying them with yarns, at their own doors, of a quality bet- ter, and at an expense less than any they can get from a dis- tance. This machine, I was pleased to learn, in its present character, is a Cincinnati invention, and the use of it rapidly spreading throughout the south and south-west.
In a separate department of this establishment, every varie- ty of machinery is manufactured, for the hemp and cotton bagging works of Kentucky and Tennessee. The Louisville and Maysville establishments have all been supplied from this factory. On one side of it, and set in motion by the same water-power, is a pearl barley mill, just going into operation, at which fifty bushels will be pearled in a day; and a corn mill and chopped feed mill, which will turn out two hundred bushels of corn meal in the same space of time. There is also, in the lower story, a tool grinding establishment, of such extensive business as to have used up, in the course of last year, one hundred grindstones, each four feet in diameter, and eight inches in thickness.
We have articles of minor consequence made here, whose manufactures, after supplying the city market, and that of the great west, are beginning to dispose of a surplus to New York and Philadelphia. Of these I only recollect, at present, two items-ivory black, and button moulds. The raw materials, useless for any thing else, are abundant here, and ought, at their low prices, to furnish the manufacturers means to com- pete, eastward, with rival articles, even under the drawback of cost of carriage. - At the ivory black establishment, boxes are made for the supply of all the blacking factories through- out the west. Combs are also made here, to an extent limit-
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ed only by the supply of horns, of which as many as nine- teen hundred a week, for four months together, have been worked up in this establishment. The parts which are too small for combs are then used up in the button mould busi- 'ness.
This reminds me of another business, lately established here, which consumes old hats and shoes, the waste blood, bones, and other animal substances, in various valuable chemical pre- parations, employing what usually goes to waste, and keep- ing money at home which has heretofore gone east for pur- chases.
Steam-vessels.
The. steam-vessels on the western waters have, within the last few years, been much improved, both in their external appearance, and their internal arrangements. The berths, stretching the whole length of the cabin, have disappeared, and their places have been supplied by elegant and commo- dious state-rooms. This arrangement gives to passengers greater privacy, and much more comfort. On some of the boats, state-rooms are provided for families. The engines, boilers, and the apparatus necessary for navigation, have un- dergone great alterations. The engines occupy much less space than formerly, are of higher finish, and on the larger class of boats, two engines are used instead of one. The number of boilers have been reduced : it having been discover- ed, that the old boats were provided with the means of pro- ducing more steam than was needed for the propelling of the vessel-hence the reduction. This is a great saving ; besides, the weight displaced gives the vessel a greater capacity for carrying. The science of boat-building has also improved in a corresponding degree. The clumsy boat of 1832 has been replaced by those of finer model for speed, capacity, and du- rability. In these changes, the vessels which have been built at Cincinnati have no superiors in the valley of the Missis- sipi. In fact, we may safely say, that these steam-vessels, for speed, safety, elegance and accommodation, have no rivals.
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The steam-boat Chieftain, captain Myers-the Ben Frank- lin, captain Summons-the Ohio Belle, captain Jones-the Queen of the West, captain Green-the President, captain Eckert-the Swallow, captain Anders-the Commodore, cap- tain Ellis-the New Orleans, captain Love-the Maid of Kentucky, captain Lillard-and numerous others, which my limits forbid enumerating-are all vessels of admirable con- struction, evincing the skill of our artizans, and the enterprise of their owners.
There has been a change, too, in the officers and men em- ployed in navigating steam-vessels. The explosions and other disasters, which so frequently occurred in years gone by, were too frequently the result of recklessness, or a vain desire for distinction, even at the frightful risks which have so fatally, in many cases, been run. Now, officers are employed of respectability and worth-men who live amongst us, and who are our neighbors-men whom we can safely trust; and who are appreciated for their correct deportment. It follows as a matter of course, that this mode of traveling is every day becoming safer and much more convenient than formerly. Owners and commanders of steam-boats have discovered, that the safety of passengers and the preservation of their own property is most secure when in the hands of judicious men ; and the recklessness, once so prevalent on steam-boats, has nearly disappeared.
The average cost of a vessel of three hundred tons is about thirty-five thousand dollars. The Chieftain cost forty thou- sand dollars, and, although only measuring three hundred and twenty-two tons, will carry down stream over five hundred tons. The New Orleans is a vessel of great capacity for her measurement, carrying nearly four hundred and fifty tons, while she measures only three hundred and five tons. The President cost twenty thousand dollars, and is a boat of very superior accommodations. All of them are fitted up with / taste ; and the traveler may wend his way on any of these no- ble vessels down " la belle riviere," or, on the bosom of the
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mighty Father-of-Waters, enjoying all the comforts and con- veniences of home.
The average expense of a boat of three hundred tons, the Ohio Belle for example, is about two hundred dollars per day -that is, during the time they are running. A trip to New Orleans and back, is made in about twenty days. In a good stage of water, and when freight is plenty, the trips are made somewhat quicker. Immense cargoes are sometimes taken down by steam-boats, towing the dismantled hulls of old steam-vessels. In such cases, the hull, from its great buoyan- cy and space-having no upper works to sink her in the wa- ter, and destitute of the weight of engine, &c., will carry enor- mous quantities of produce. The Mediator lately towed the hull of the Splendid, the two boats having on board a freight of more than one thousand tons.
The wonderful improvements which have been made in steam navigation in the west, are but an augury of still more wonderful improvements. Art, science, and enterprise have achieved much; but we are still upon the threshold. We look with astonishment upon the rapid progress which steam has made, within the last few years, in developing the resour- ces of the earth, and the genius of man ; but those individuals are born, who will gaze with wonder upon what they will term our limited knowledge of the capacity of this boundless agent. The river-the forest-the prairie-the mountain-all our vast continent must eventually be subjugated to this migh- ty power. The car, and the vessel, driven or propelled by its irresistible impetus, will carry intelligence, whether of weal or woe, to the many millions who shall yet people this great west. The products of the south will fly as by magic to the north, while the east and the west will be joined together by bars of iron. The artisans of the noble city we inhabit will contribute their full share in the triumphs of art, and the con- sequent glory of the age.
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Steam-boats built at Cincinnati, in 1840.
Names.
Tons.
Cost.
Joan of Arc
343
$32,000
Chieftain
322
40,000
Ben. Franklin
312
40,000
New Orleans
305
25,000
Ohio Belle
294
35,000
Queen of the West
291
30,000
General Pike
234
18,000
Maid of Arkansas
214
18,000
President
210
20,000
Tschula
204
18,000
Southerner
201
20,000
Scioto Valley-finished here
195
16,000
Maid of Kentucky
192
20,000
Pre-emption ยท
181
30,000
Flying Dutchman
169
25,000
Canebrake
162
16,000
Patrick Henry
161
20,000
Vienna
155
20,000
Mail .
148
20,000
Zephyr
110
15,000
Oriole
110
12,000
Governor Morehead
99
12,000
Mechanic
98
8,000
Swan
94
12,000
Otter
92
15,000
Relief
90
10,000
Levi Welch
80
20,000
Picayune
79
10,000
Freedom
38
3,000
Vesta
35
5,000
Dove
34
1,500
Ellen
33
3,500
Hornet-schooner
76
2,500
Thirty-three boats of 5,361 tons, at a cost of $592,500.
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Our Schools.
The subject of education has always received that attention in Cincinnati, which its importance to the community claims. As far back as that period in our city history, when men cul- tivated their crops in the lots and out-lots here, with their ri- fles at their elbows, and sentinels stationed on the look-out for the savages,-even under such discouraging circumstances, the school master was in the midst of us, literally and figura- tively ; and the advantages of education were as widely diffus- ed among the inhabitants of Cincinnati at that day, as at any era since, until the establishment of our free schools; and to an extent in means of imparting and acquiring knowledge, which might compare to advantage with any part of the Uni- ted States, at the same period of time. The men and women of mature life of the present day, who were born here, or brought as children to the place, are living witnesses of the truth of these assertions. At the much later date of 1824, the private schools of Cincinnati had rendered the place advan- tageously known abroad, as furnishing uncommon facilities for acquiring education of an order unsurpassed in the west. At that period, we had a variety of male, and particularly female schools, whose reputation was known far and wide. Many of these still exist under the same teachers, and maintain their standing and patronage, even under the rival influence of the public schools since established, which furnish the means of education to the community, without expense. Nearly one half the children of our city resort to private schools,-a fact which, under attendant circumstances, is the best evidence of their efficiency and excellence. That we should have more than forty private schools here, surrounded as they are, by free schools on the one side, and the Cincinnati College and Woodward High School on the other, is a remarkable fact.
Our free schools date from 1830-31. These are the pride and glory of the place, and are always the first objects point- ed out as worthy of notice, to the stranger who visits the city. Every thing connected with these institutions is calculated
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to exhibit their importance and value. The school-houses, whose exterior is sufficiently illustrated by one of the plates in this publication, are edifices which, from their appearance, are frequently mistaken for churches. The inside is construct- ed and arranged entirely in reference to educational purposes, and so exclusively dedicated to those uses, that they are never permitted to be occupied for other objects, either in or out of tuition hours. These schools are founded not merely on the principle that all men are free and equal, but that all men's children are so likewise, and that, as it is our duty to love our neighbor as ourselves, it is our duty to provide the same ben- efits and blessings to his children as to our own, and thus pre- pare the way to perpetuate those glorious truths from age to age. These establishments result from the recognition of the fact, also, that we have all a common interest-moral, political and pecuniary-in the education of the whole community. For, if facilities are not afforded to those, who from various circumstances are tempted to neglect the education of their children, and the influence of good teaching and example which exist in our public schools do not supply the deficien- cy, all experience shews that a class of society is reared up every where-in large cities especially-which is continually disturbing the peace, and periling the safety of the community.
This system, then, encourages the parent to send his chil- dren to the school he is taxed to support, and he feels that he possesses, with all his neighbors, a common right to its bene- fits, and a common interest in its success. In these schools, the children of every class of society meet and are taught, and by affording the means of mental and moral improvement to those who would probably be otherwise destitute, the commu- nity is prepared to advantage for those new combinations in the elements of society, which are continually bringing forward into influence the talented children of the obscure; and for that change of individuals in its ranks, which is at once the dis- tinctive character and conservative principle of our political institutions.
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While these schools furnish the means of instruction to a very desirable extent already, I look forward to the period- not far distant-when the living languages will form a distinct and prominent feature of instruction. To what extent the ad- vantages of a knowledge of the dead languages repay the la- bor of mind and memory, consumption of time, and expense of money devoted to their acquisition, is not for me to say : but of the value of many modern languages there can be no room for doubt. Under the constant increase of communica- tion between ourselves and foreigners, which the advancement of society is promoting, the knowledge of French, Spanish and German-already highly desirable here, and found to be a source of convenience and pecuniary advantage,-will soon become a necessary feature in education for practical purposes.
By way of illustrating the spirit which first established and still animates these institutions, I deem it only necessary to say, that after affording the necessary facilities for progress in knowledge in our free schools during the usual tuition hours, evening schools for the winter months have been established, in which the same course of instruction, under the same class of teachers, is provided for those who are engaged as appren- tices, or in day labor, at various employments. Many of these have been born and brought up at other places, where suitable instruction has not been within their reach; and the importance and value of this means of their improvement, will be readily understood and felt.
But this is not the only remedy provided for this difficulty : the trustees of the Woodward College and High School, also, in order to meet the wants of young men whose employments do not permit them to attend a day school, have opened even- ing schools in the college rooms, in which are taught mercan- tile arithmetic, book-keeping, algebra, geometry, architectural drawing, plane trigonometry with its applications, surveying ; mensuration of planes and solids, particularly of carpenters'. painters', masons' and bricklayers' work, &c.
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Nearly eighty young men are thus accommodated, and no charge made to those who are engaged in labor or business, during the day. They add, in the prospectus from which I make this statement :- " If there should not be a sufficient number of applicants for gratuitous instruction, we shall re- ceive such others as may desire to attend, on payment of the usual charges elsewhere. We especially invite those who de- sire to prepare themselves for future usefulness, to devote the long evenings and leisure hours to the acquisition of know- ledge," &c.
I cannot extend my extracts, which would show, if made to greater length, an anxiety to press the acceptance of these facilities and privileges that is very remarkable. It will pro- bably appear an inverted order of things, as the world usually acts, that individuals should be first sought out as beneficia- ries, and if such cannot be found in numbers sufficient, pay- pupils to be admitted, afterwards. What a contrast to the worldly spirit, which seeks, first to make money by teaching, and then affords admittance gratuitously to such as cannot find the means to pay !
It may be easily conceived, that the opportunities thus af-' forded by a residence in the city, to educate their children, is a great inducement for many persons to settle here, and, con- sequently, has served to enlarge the population and increase the prosperity of Cincinnati. I found individuals, who stated that they could have done as well, or better, in a pecuniary respect, at St. Louis or New Orleans, but that the considera- tion I have referred to, outweighed all such motives. One man, who was on a visit to this place on business, was so for- cibly impressed with the advantages the place presented for the education of his children, that on his return home, he sold off every thing and came out with his whole family, without any calculation as to what business he could undertake .- " I have," said he, " what will support us all a year, and I am determined on the removal, if I cannot get into any thing to do for one twelvemonth."
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It will be seen by these statements, that our various schools and public lectures are under such regulations and arrange- ments, as to afford every facility to the aspirant after know- ledge. Most of them are free of expense, and the residue within the reach of very limited means.
Although the manufacturing and commercial business of Cincinnati, are its most important direct pecuniary interest, a powerful indirect impulse is given to business in various ways, from our educational advantages, and to a greater extent than many persons would suppose. But if it did not contribute one dollar to the wealth of Cincinnati, the value it confers on a residence here, the elevation of character which it creates, at home and abroad, amply repay the expenditure of time, of labor, and pecuniary efforts which have been made in the great cause, by the public spirited men who have built it up to its present eminence.
Some of the gentlemen who act as trustees and visiters to the common schools, and are from Boston-one of them quite recently-have assured me, that the duties of the station are very different here, from those of the corresponding office at that place, and, as far as they can judge, any where else at the east; amounting, there, to occasional supervision and an annual examination of the schools, closed with a gala dinner for the occasion, the whole completed in one day. " Here," re- marked one of these trustees to me, " an amount of time is devoted to the duties of my office, which it would astonish my Boston friends to learn, and I know that there are some of my colleagues who make still greater sacrifices to the cause."
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