Virginia Free Press

IMPROVEMENT

MEETING

The friends of the improvement of the County

by

increasing capital

for by

(4

1:

mentioned, yet we must, it is equally

m)

( Could

improvement

Remarks

on

Manufact:

various arrangements,--it is not my

intention

before

this assembly

:and I propose

.41

1.s

we will answer new

it: we

. Nor would I

discoveries

follow

You

of

human

Tr

views

above

d know, and

I remark and feel,

no

you

will think.

and.

we

Have

The idea

of

judges

you

Say

Essential to decency'

4.9

well at the (cost

you wipe your

all attack, not

; necessity in ordinary

architecture, and

your homes:

Necessary

for

The

people.: :

But we have other

items

of

necessity house

and

Farm implements,

and mechanical

able the

use

of

minerals, -

for the over

x

use

And we have further-

the boy learning

trades

through

all, his

upward

; through Newton's

laws

.and

then

for his daily

use

re

Constantly

turn

and

Your

legal writing

in

Public documents, are

all

c

Handbills,' account

books,

letters,

notes,

are all

of

paper.

Pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers,

literature,

, all

your libraries

through

mail bags

into every, nook

and

corner

Country, are filled; with

paper, and

the very

Your

. rooms are

lined

with

paper:

sc of manufactures have spread

through

chamber

gur

bow

41

, ' out

dining

rooms, :enwrapped

themselves

I encircled us from head to

We

walk

upon

them, sleep upon them, eat

all

past ages into review, as potent--hold

, clothe the fields of science

with each

c

them.

all

the, winged heralds of fame and

'light and

blessings to the

We all

enjoy--and

,no man lives without

, and to your families as jury. : .4

them

, to the decision of yourselves

But

'if these

are

, got in its present state exist,

essential

requisites, without

we must have manufactories somewhere, and these

essential as the products of our farms. : Those

a.

require. a prodigious amount of

paper to

proper

operatives must be fed and paid for their labor in

Linen

skill to direct them;'and vast numbers

q

conducting them.. Our Valley may

furnish

Cotton

wall nor prua- part of these articles.,.We

must pay abroad for the sustenance of the oper-

the cost their labor, pay the manufacturer for

wheat, for the use of his capital

and his skill, and his profits besides -and then the

mercantile profits of large cities--warehousing,

perhaps, on many of them, custom-house duties,

and the cost of transportation. ' And though

we must have these articles, the money is drawn

from our doors never, to return, while we have

abundance of power, abundance of capital, and

abundance of unemployed labor, and our valley

yielding abundance to sustain, that labor, which

it is too expensive or too perishable to add to

distant market. -

Now suppose. We turn the tables, and that for

every dollar thus sent out of the Valley ten were

brought in and distributed amongst us. Would

not our comforts and conveniences, and our

wealth, be greatly increased thereby ? Would

not a family be more benefitted in receiving a

hundred dollars than in paying out ten to be sent

from his own door never to return I y s

But you will answer this question by asking

another. Can this be done, and how ? This

brings us to the very gist of the matter. Here,

perhaps,-having passed most of my time during

the last thirty years, in the very midst 'of

manufactories and manufacturing operations, and

populations, I may be better informed than many

of you; and may trust to your candor to examine

and weigh well the facts I am about to state ..

The natural and artificial advantages we have

are constancy and cheapness of power, cheap-

ness of living, and easy transportation.

The water power of the Shenandoah at the

Great Falls and above, is passing uselessly by

in quantity sufficient for the manufacture of thirty

or forty, million worth of goods annually, and

may. be improved at a cost one-fifth the amount,

or five hundred per cent less than the cost of water

power at Lowell, or other large manufacturing

districts in the country--or, than the cost of steam

power in the large cities. Ripka, at Manayunk,

(Pa.,) pays about 6,000 water rent annually, for

the power to drive his mills.,, Jamieson at Nor-

ristown, (Pa.,) pays over $5,000 for fuel and ex-

pense of running his steam engines to drive his

factory. Drake of Philadelphia, consumes about

10 tons of coal per day in his factories, which at

three dollars per ton, would be 30,000 per an.

num. The power of the Washington Manufac-

turing Company, at Kaighn's Point, New Jersey

costs them 10 to $12,000 a year for fuel., And

yet the Water Power at the Gulf Mills, passing

uselessly by, may be improved to do more work

than the whole of these combined.

Again, many of the manufactories in, the East-

ern and Middle States are on inconstant streams

where they often are compelled either partial-

ly or wholly to suspend operations some months in

a year. The machinery and operative conse-

quently are compelled to remain idle--unem-

ployed earning nothing. While here the con-

stancy of power would give constant employment

for all. And were factory buildings and dwell-

ings erected, the machinery and operations would

soon be removed here and pay, high rents, rather

than be subject to so much loss, of employment

every year; for. with the operatives. loss of em-

ployment is loss of bread; and suspension to the

manufacturer, may often compel him to lose his

most reliable customers.

Here, too, we have cheapness of living., Eve-

ry article of living which is consumed by the

operators is precisely as much cheaper here than

at Lowell or Philadelphia, as the cost of trans-

portation from here to those places, Your breadstuffs

beef and pork pass from here to them in prodi-

gious quantities but there is much which they

consume which may be produced here almost

spontaneously, too perishable to send to their

markets, which they consume in quantities,--and

for which they pay good prices, tra.

Here too we have easy communication with

Baltimore, Alexandria, Georgetown and Wash-

ington, either by railroad or canal and the lines

must and will be shortly, completed through to

the Ohio River. giving us the most central point

of distribution in the Union and every great ad-

vantage over Lowell and the Eastern States. in

this respect

But the most interesting question with you is

will this pay?. How wil this affect the pocket ?

This is easily answered. We can erect mills for

fifty thousand dollars capable of manufacturing

$200,000 worth of goods annually and none of

you will say that we will run mills and machine-

ry, and conduct the business of manufacturing

for a profit of less than ten per cent, on the goods