USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 24
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42,600
2 Woolen inanufactories
30
17,000
I Wiredrawer.
12
6,000
I White-lead factory.
6
40,000
I,II2
$1,855,464
(e) Gazette, October 6, 1818.
43
40,000
I10,000
3 Green-glass manufactories
25,000
21I
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
In addition to the above the following were reported by the committee, to which no estimates were given: 3 chairmakers, 2 cabinet-makers, I cotton- carder, I combmaker, I coachmaker, 2 copper-plate printers, 3 bookbinders, 4 hatters, I gilder, 2 machine and pattern makers, 5 nailers, 6 printers, I plane- maker, 2 saddlers, I silk-dyer, 6 stonecutters, 3 tallow-chandlers, 5 tanners, 15 weavers, I wireworker and I coffee-maker, all of which were supposed by the committee to employ 357 hands and turn out annually products to the amount of $370,000; making thus, in January, 1818, a total of 1,469 hands and $2,225,464 products. In addition to the above there were started up in 1818 a rolling and slitting mill by William Robinson, Jr., John Malin and others, to make bar, rolled and sheet iron; a typefoundry by Mr. Lothian; two large paper-hanging establishments; one whip and cane manufactory, and one copperas factory by J. Gibb, who made alum, copperas and oil of vitriol. There were, also, many smaller establishments, regardless of the hard times (f).
Henry Baldwin, for his party, advocated the removal of taxation from the necessaries of life, such as tea, coffee, sugar, salt, etc., and of increasing the same on pleasure carriages, bank stock, licenses of dealers in liquors, retailers of foreign merchandise, etc. He denounced as unwise the levy of seven and a half per cent on jewelry, gold lace, watches, diamonds, precious stones, etc., while at the same time there was a levy of fifty per cent. on coffee, seventy-five per cent. on tea, one hundred per cent. on salt and pepper, and from thirty to forty per cent. on sugar. He denounced a high tax on necessaries and a low tax on luxuries, such as were put in force after the war. When the war began importa- tions ceased, and in selecting the articles for taxation Congress judiciously chose articles of luxury, excepting salt and domestic manufactures. But in 1816 this policy was reversed and the following schedule adopted: Twenty cents per bushel on salt, fifty per cent. on coffee, thirty to forty per cent. on brown sugar, seventy-five per cent. on tea, one hundred per cent. on pepper, fifteen per cent. on indigo. The following was repealed: Six cents per gallon on whisky, five per cent. on coaches and pleasure carriages, two per cent. on auctions of foreign goods, one-ninth of one per cent. on bank stock (which equaled one and one-half per cent. on dividends), one-fifteenth of one per cent. on notes discounted at bank and on bills of exchange, four cents per pound on loaf sugar, one-half of one per cent. on licenses to retailers of spirits and foreign merchandise. In 1817 and 1818 the three newspapers here, Gazette, Mercury and Statesman, favored a strong protective tariff and supported Mr. Baldwin for Congress.
To the exertions of Henry Baldwin was due largely the increased duty on cottons, woolens, iron, nails and cut glass, at the close of the war. But the dis- tress of 1818 demanded something more than moderate tariff laws, and the result was the formation of strong political factions to advocate the election of representatives who would secure the passage of higher duties and protective laws. Mr. Baldwin advocated such measures. As a result the duties on cottons and woolens had been raised twenty-five per cent., on iron sixty-six per cent., on nails a considerable per cent., and on cut glass thirty per cent. (g)
"The commercial interests of the East and the planters of the South were both opposed to that system on which our welfare depends. Manufactures are evidently the soul of Pittsburg, and consequently of all that portion of country of which she may be viewed as the center. To establish them and to give them an impulse sufficient to carry them on required measures that threatened to curtail the enormous profits of the nabobs of the South and that would probably check the great mercantile monopoly which is destroying our country, of the East, more than by inches. We ask the farmer whose land four
(f) Gazette, March 5, 1819.
(g) Mercury, October 9, 1818.
212
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
years ago, when manufactures flourished, was worth $50 an acre, but which now will not command $30, if he thinks there is not something more important to attend to at the next election than the supporting of a party; we ask the mechanic of this city who, out of a claim of $2,000, is thankful if he can procure enough for his weekly marketing, if this is a moment for mad party considera- tions; and we call upon the once prosperous manufacturer who can scarcely pay his regular discount, much less his reduction, if this is a time to descend to trifling intrigue. As for Henry Baldwin, he has been their warm friend; as for manufacturers, he is their ablest advocate, and of Western improvements in gen- eral he is the firmest supporter" (h).
"The Western country has risen to a certain eminence solely by expedi- ents. Emigration has been sufficient to keep us in a kind of lingering existence. The Indian war kept us from expiring until the insurrection gave us a lift. The beneficial effects of the wealth introduced by this circumstance were fast decreas- ing when the non-intercourse and embargo suggested to us our true policy, which the late war realized by the establishment of an extensive system of manu- factures. Our hopes were raised to an exalted height by a temporary success; wealth, standing and prosperity glittered in the perspective, and in the hour of pride we almost viewed ourselves as the metropolis of a new and brilliant empire. The treaty of Ghent has destroyed the charm; the peace has glutted our country with English goods, even to loathing, and the importation of British manufac- tures has affected our Western establishments with a deadly palsy. Our capital is rushing in floods to the seaboard to satisfy European claims; we are bleeding at every pore and we can look to but two sources for relief from evil: To a constant state of war, or to a systematic encouragement of manufactures" (i).
The congressional campaign in this district in 1818 between Henry Bald- win, candidate of the Federalists, and Samuel Douglas, candidate of the Republi- cans (afterward Democrats), was based principally upon the question of protec- tion to manufactures, the former affirming and the latter denying. Much the same arguments, pro and con, were employed then as now. Mr. Baldwin. pointed to the ruined or suspended manufactures of this place; while Mr. Douglas showed that all the advance in duty went into the pockets of the manufacturers, declaring that for every dollar paid for domestic cloth, twenty-five cents was clear gain to the manufacturer.
Abner Lacock, senator of the United States and resident of Beaver County, opposed a strong protective tariff, and declared that "our manufacturers ought to be content with the present duties on cottons and woolens," and that "it is worse than idle to talk of prohibiting the importation of foreign goods by high duties," and that "the measure is impracticable and known to be so by the experi- ence of every statesman." The fight between the merchants of the Atlantic cities and the Southern States on the one hand, and the infant manufactories on the other, had commenced (j).
In the autumn of 1818 Bakewell, Page & Bakewell made for President Monroe an elegant table set of cut glass. Others were urged to be like the President-"practical encouragers of domestic industry." They were told "never to buy a foreign article if you can obtain a domestic one that is in reality as good." It seems that Anglomaniacs existed then as well as now. People bought goods of English make in order to display their wealth, not because the quality was better, but in order to assume a social superiority. Anshutz & Rahm conducted a large general store in 1818 and imported heavily.
"It is time to awake from our dream. When the flood of commerce rcached
(h) Gazette, September 4, 1818.
(i) Gazette, September II, 1818. , (j) Mercury, October 19, 1818.
213
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
our doors we fancied it the fertilizing Nile, and sported on it with our pleasure- boats; but the receding surge is now sweeping to the seaboard, and bears on its angry and agitated bosom everything that can be lifted from the soil. Its vestiges are to be traced on naked walls, in the dreary aspect of everything around us and in the subdued and heartbroken feelings of our manufacturers brooding over the ruins of their hopes and prospects. The least unfortunate and involved only fold their arms and look with fearful forebodings upon the general distress" (k).
"As to the moneyed affairs of the country, nothing will be due; things will be left to regulate themselves. There will be no law to prevent the exportation of specie nor to permit the Bank of the United States to suspend specie payments. I think the present state of things is the only thing which will bring the people to their senses about manufactories. It will be a dreadful struggle, but it will in the end produce incalculable good" (1).
"The general pressure seems to increase; the gloom which overhangs us becomes darker and darker; the mechanical and manufacturing community is languishing into annihilation; the cloud, which is probably charged with materials for our ruin, is almost bursting, and yet not one individual of eminence or stand- ing has stepped forward to'suggest a plan by which even temporary relief can be procured. Is there any reason to suppose that our present exports are to increase, and, if so, of what will they consist? We have heard of but two cargoes of flour which have left our country this season, and a whole region has been ransacked to procure this. As to agriculture, we asserted at the outset, and we assert again, we have no pretensions to it abstracted from manufactures. Without them Pittsburg must dwindle into the mere source for supplying the neighboring towns and villages" (m).
In April, 1819, John Gibb of Bayardstown was engaged in manufacturing oil of vitriol, aquafortis, spirit of salt, hartshorn, copperas, ivory black, neatsfoot oil, fire bricks, white soap for fullers, rosin soap, soft soap and candles.
On the 9th of October, 1819, pursuant to a previous meeting, a general assemblage of the citizens was held in the courthouse, on which occasion John Darragh presided and James S. Craft served as secretary. Mr. Forward reported a memorial on the subject of domestic manufactures, designed to be sent to Con- gress, whereupon the following set of resolutions was adopted:
"Resolved, That this meeting approve the principles of the foregoing memorial and adopt the same.
"Resolved, That John Johnston, Ephraim Pentland (postmaster), John Spear, J. Lea, Henry Baldwin, William McCandless, Morgan Neville, Walter Forward, William Wilkins, James S. Craft, Alexander Brackenridge, Joseph McClurg, John M. Snowden, J. H. Walker, N. Richardson, George Cochran, Mathew B. Lowrie, Benjamin Bakewell, George Evans and Lewis Peterson be appointed a committee, with instructions to procure three hundred copies of the memorial, to be printed and circulated in all the counties of Western Pennsylvania, for the purpose of obtaining signatures.
"Resolved, That Benjamin Bakewell, George Evans, Richard Brown, George Cochran, Lewis Peterson, George Sutton, Mathew B. Lowrie, James Arthurs, James Morford, William Leckey and Edward Patchell be appointed a committee for obtaining signatures to the memorial in the city of Pittsburg and its vicinity.
"Resolved, That the Select and Common Councils of the city of Pittsburg be requested to defray the expense of printing the said memorial from the city treasury.
"Resolved, That George Sutton, Henry Doane and Rev. Robert Patterson
(k) Writer in Gazette, October 6, 1818.
(1) Correspondent from Washington, D. C., to Gazette, December 28, 1818.
(m) Gazette, February 5, 1819.
214
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
be appointed a committee to collect such information as will show the relative state of the inanufactories of this city at the present time and in the fall of 1815" (n).
The memorial recited that the people of the Western country, who suffered under "great and numerous evils," believed the same resulted from the erroneous policy of the Government in relation to domestic manufactures; that the pre- dictions of the friends of heavier duties at the time the last tariff was laid were more than verified; that it was impossible to depict the distress in the Western country, the sacrifice of estates, the ruin of families and the complicated iniseries of private suffering; that foreign goods had banished the precious metals from the land; that domestic manufactures, the greatest resource of the wealth and pros- perity of Pittsburg, were in the last struggle of dissolution; that establishments which had given employment to thousands were idle; that an immense capital, invested in more auspicious days, was dormant, and the whole country was over- spread with despondency and gloom.
The committee appointed under the last resolution made a report, dated December 24, 1819, to a public meeting, of which John Darragh was president and Mathew B. Lowrie secretary. It appeared from this report that the reduction in the production of flint glass alone amounted to $75,000. The meeting approved of the report of the committee and unanimously adopted the following resolutions :
"Whereas, While we compare the present languishing of our manufactures with what they have lately been, we regret to find, on an examination of the facts here exhibited, that in the last four years a decrease of more than two- thirds has taken place; therefore,
"Resolved, That one hundred copies of the foregoing report, together with the proceedings of this meeting, be printed in handbills, and that one copy be sent to each of our representatives in Congress and our State Legislature, with an earnest request that they will zealously endeavor to have such measures adopted as will best secure, encourage and protect our domestic manufactures.
"Resolved, That the editors of newspapers in this city be requested to pub- lish this statement, that these facts, being known to the community at large, may have some tendency to cause them to abandon the use of foreign goods of every kind which we must consider as a principal cause of our present embar- rassments."
The following tabulated statement, showing the comparative condition of manufactures for the years 1815 and 1819, was embodied in the report and pub- lished for special circulation :
Number of hands em- ployed in 1815.
Number of bands em- ployed in 1819.
Value of Manufactures in 1815.
Value of Manufactures in 1819.
Steain-engine factories
290
24
$300,000
$ 40,000
Foundries and iron castings
163
40
190,000
80,000
Iron and nail factories.
65
30
241,200
40,500
Blacksmiths and whitesmiths.
90
39
90,000
40,000
Glass manufactories and glass-cutting
169
40
235,000
35,100
Hat manufactories.
69
30
I22,000
50,200
Woolen factories and hosiery
63
I6
48,500
16,150
Saddlers
68
28
90,100
36,000
Breweries
28
I8
91,050
35,000
White and red lead factories.
25
9
I10,000
35,000
Tobacconists.
48
27
45,850
27,550
(n) Mercury, October, 1819.
-
G. G. Hewsony
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
217
Number of hands em- ployed in 1815.
Number of hands em- ployed in 1819.
Value of Manufactures in 1815.
Value of Manufactures in 1819.
Brass-foundries
35
I2
$ 49,633
$ 11,700
Ropemaking.
I8
I5
30,000
15,000
Saddletree factories.
28
I2
29,900
14,000
Tin factories and coppersmiths.
IO0
40
200,000
45,000
Chair factories and cabinet-making .. Silver-plating.
30
8
32,450
8,500
Cotton factories.
42
O
42,000
O
Planemaking
20
IO
25,000
9,500
Wire-weaving
IO
7
12,000
6,000
Wiremaking.
8
O
21,000
0
Button-making
6
3
6,250
2,100
Umbrella-making
2
O
1,600
O
Pianoforte-making
4
I
2,000
700
Tailors. .
66
29
65,000
28,500
Shoemakers.
140
50
125,500
49,000
Patent balances, scales and steelyards
IO
4
10,000
3,500
Yellow queensware
9
O
10,000
O
Pipemaking
3
0
1,800
O
Linen factory .
20
0
25,000
O
Wagon-making and wheelwriglits.
40
20
40,000
18,500
Paper-making.
50
30
40,000
30,000
Makersof augers, bellows, brushes, cot-
ton spinners, weavers, curriers, cut-
ters, locksmiths, spinning-machine makers, tanners, tallow-chandlers, pattern-makers, silversmiths, gun-
smiths, soap boilers, etc.
175
90
195,000
130,000
1,960
672
$2,617,833
$832,000
66
40
90,000
24,500
By comparing the condition of the business of 1815 with that of 1819, and both of these with that of 1817 (on a previous page), the extraordinary depression of this memorable period will be understood. The total business in 1815 amounted to $2,617,833, with 1,960 hands employed. By 1817 it had fallen to $2,225,464, with 1,469 hands employed. By 1819 the amount had sunk to $832,000, with 672 hands employed. As the years 1820 and 1821 are famous in history for a continuation of this extraordinary industrial depression, it may be presumed that the amount of business sank to a still lower figure. No statistics for those years can be found. So strongly imbued was all the Western country with the idea of the importance of manufactures, that the subject was brought forward and advocated and espoused on all suitable occasions. On July 4, 1819, one of the toasts was, "Mechanics and Manufacturers, the Keystone of the Arch of Western Prosperity." Another, to which William Leckey responded, was, "The Manufacturers of the United States. May the time soon arrive when every American shall be clothed in the manufacture of his country." This exhibited the prevailing hostility to English importations. Another, to which Alexander Brackenridge responded, was, "Domestic Manufactures and Internal Improvement: The period of their encouragement will be the epoch of American greatness." Another was, "Domestic Manufacturers-the best prevention of hard times." The number and prominence given to these toasts to manufactures show how firmly the policy had taken root in this vicinity.
12
218
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
One of the strongest arguments used by the enemies of a protective tariff in 1819 was the extortion practiced by domestic manufacturers during the war of 1812. It was admitted that the argument was good so long as manufactures were in their infancy; but it was declared that the very extortion complained of would create a competition which would relieve the situation.
"Many persons, too, during the war were detcrred from investing their idle funds in manufactures, lest Congress should withhold protection, and their pros- perity, like a palace of ice, would be dissolved when the sun of peace should once more shine out on us. There was not, therefore, that active, bustling, ardent competition which is necessary to keep down the market. Cut off sud- denly from accustomed supplies, we experience a temporary famine, and our manufacturers did not, it must be confessed, act toward their brethren with the magnanimity of the patriarch Joseph of old. Nor was this to be expected. We are all anxious to make money as fast as possible, and why should not the manufacturers avail themselves of their day, like other people? Self-interest is the spirit of trade; and when we see so many cheats and frauds daily practiced it does really seem childish to get into a passion so easily with our fellow- citizens of the loom and spindle. The British manufacturers have glutted our market with their goods, which are daily sacrificed at auction below the first cost, and have become so cheap as to cause a loud cry against their exclusion. The people of Birmingham and Manchester are right; they may sustain a tem- porary loss, but eventually they will be gaincrs. They will secure our custom. They know that this is the crisis of their fate. They know that the United States never had such motives, and never had such facilities, as at present, to furnish their own supplies. Should they succeed in killing off our domestic establishments, should they paralyze the impulse given to our manufactures during the last war by creating a delusive prejudice in favor of their depre- ciated fabrics, they will have accomplished an important object. Our manu- factures must die and 'darkness be the burier of the dead.' All that is wanting is an assurance to our men of capital that the nation is clear-sighted enough to be in favor of manufactures, and that there is no danger that public protection will be capriciously withdrawn. There will quickly be a sufficient number of individuals engaged in them to secure us from extortion" (o).
"The crisis is approaching. Bankruptcy stares us in the face. Perhaps it is not too much to say that half of the Western towns belong already to Eastern creditors. We rely upon our representatives in Congress to relieve the country from its embarrassments. Should they not encourage our manufac- tures, every American should assist in the work. Let them form themselves into an association in the different towns, resolved to wear nothing but domestic articles, and let their representatives be pledged to support the manufacturing interests of the country. Cloth of Western manufacture of an excellent quality can be bought. Our Western manufactures can better come in competition with foreign fabrications, because the latter are charged in our market with the additional expense of carriage, exchange and the shopkeepers' profits. Besides which we all derive a benefit from the money being retained among ourselves" (p).
"Perhaps there is now sufficient excitement in this place for the formation of a society for the very purpose of introducing domestic apparel-a society that would do something in favor of economy by making home-made articles of dress fashionable. Such societies are now forming in different parts of the Western country. And shall Pittsburg, whose wealth and boast are in her
(o) Gazette, July 30, 1819.
(p) Correspondent Gazette, August 17, 1819.
219
HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.
manufactures, be the last to set our country an example on a subject of such vital importance? Something must be done" (q).
The important question at this time (1819) concerning manufactures was "whether it was practicable in the present situation of the United States to introduce into them a sudden and general system of manufacturing." Many arguments pro and con were advanced. Pittsburg was torn by these discus- sions, but a clear majority favored a tariff that would foster domestic manufac- turing institutions. William Wilkins, as a friend of manufactures, was a candi- date for the lower house of the State Legislature, and John Scull and Samuel Power for the upper house, short and long terms (r).
A large meeting of the citizens of Philadelphia in the early autumn of 1819 passed resolutions to support no candidate for Congress who was not friendly to the American system, and sent a memorial to Congress favoring laws to sustain domestic manufactures.
"The fallacy of buying at the cheapest market no longer stands in our way, nor will Congress be again alarmed with the danger of imposing regulations upon trade. We have practical lessons on these subjects, infinitely more instruc- tive than the dreams of political economists. Men whose fortunes are staked upon the ruin of manufactures have essayed to keep in repute the old illusion of a foreign market for the productions of agriculture, and have ascribed our embar- rassment to the great number of ephemeral banks and the inundation of spurious paper. Experience has tested this reasoning also and fixed upon it the seal of refutation. The power of the national government is alone ade- quate to the crisis. Partial restrictions, or expedients calculated for a temporary relief, will but protract the mischief. It is hoped that the arm of the government will be outstretched, so that every species of manufacture of which the raw material is produced at home will received immediate, decided and permanent protection. We disdain all narrow views. Reposing the highest confidence in the wisdom of Congress, we ask them to protect the whole people, to foster every branch of the national industry, and especially to guard the infancy of our manu- factures from the baneful competition of foreign nations" (s).
On December 10, 1819, William Wilkins, member of the Legislature, pre- sented a petition from manufacturers and others of Pittsburg, praying for the incorporation of the Pittsburg Manufacturing Association.
On the 17th of January, 1820, at an adjourned meeting, of which John Hannen served as chairman and Alexander McClurg as secretary, a committee of seven persons (J. H. Walker, John Darragh, Walter Forward, Charles Shaler, Joshua Mahlon, John Spear and Alexander McClurg) was appointed to pre- pare a constitution for a society for the promotion of domestic economy, the granting of premiums to persons excelling in agriculture and manufactures, etc., which constitution, it was provided, should be submitted to a meeting called later to consider its measures. On February 3, 1820, such meeting was formally convened. Charles Shaler was made chairman and Alexander McClurg secretary. A committee was then appointed to circulate subscription papers in order to enlarge the membership, the following being on the committee from Pittsburg: Walter Forward, John Arthurs, William Porter, Lewis Peterson, Ross Wilkins, Andrew Scott, William Eichbaum, Jr., William Blair, Alexander McClurg and Thomas Bakewell. At this meeting a resolution was passed to memorialize Congress to extend aid and protection to the manufacturers of the United States. This action was taken with the particular view of counteracting certain petitions emanating from Virginia, inimical to the enactment of protective
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