To this purpose an augmentation of the duties on importation is the obvious expedient which in regard to certain articles appears to be recommended by sufficient reasons.
The principal of these articles is sailcloth, one intimately connected with navigation and defense, and of which a flourishing manufactory is established at Boston and very promising ones at several other places.
It is presumed to be both safe and advisable to place this in the class of articles rated at 10 per cent. A strong reason for it results from the consideration that a bounty of 2 pence sterling per ell is allowed in Great Britain upon the exportation of the sailcloth, manufactured in that Kingdom.
It would likewise appear to be good policy to raise the duty to 7½ per cent on the following articles: Drillings, osnaburgs, ticklenburgs, dowlas, canvas, brown rolls, bagging, and upon all other linens the first cost of which at the place of exportation does not exceed 35 cents per yard. A bounty of 12½ per cent upon an average on the exportation of such or similar linens from Great Britain encourages the manufacture of them in that country and increases the obstacles to a successful competition in the countries to which they are sent.
The quantities of tow and other household linens manufactured in different parts of the United States and the expectations which are derived from some late experiments of being able to extend the use of labor-saving machines in the coarser fabrics of linen obviate the danger of inconvenience from an increase of the duty upon such articles and authorize a hope of speedy and complete success to the endeavors which may be used for procuring an internal supply.
Thirdly. As to direct bounties or premiums upon the manufactured articles.
To afford more effectual encouragement to the manufacture and at the same time to promote the cheapness of the article, for the benefit of navigation, it will be of great use to allow a bounty of 2 cents per yard on all sailcloth which is made in the United States from materials of their own growth. This would also assist the culture of those materials. An encouragement of this kind, if adopted, ought to be established for a moderate term of years, to invite to new undertakings and to an extension of the old. This is an article of importance enough to warrant the employment of extraordinary means in its favor.
COTTON.
There is something in the texture of this material which adapts it in a peculiar degree to the application of machines. The signal utility of the mill for spinning of cotton, not long since invented in England, has been noticed in another place; but there are other machines, scarcely inferior in utility, which, in the different manufactories of this article, are employed, either exclusively or with more than ordinary effect. This very important circumstance recommends the fabrics of cotton in a more particular manner to a country in which a defect of hands constitutes the greatest obstacle to success.
