AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE COLUMBUS. 465 



ton, woolen, silk, or linen manufacture/' Another statute, even 

 more stringent, was enacted in 1781, by which a year's imprison- 

 ment was added to the penalties of forfeiture and the fine of 200 

 previously imposed. This policy was rigorously enforced, not- 

 withstanding some modifications of the law in 1825, and again in 

 1833, until the year 1845, when machinery for the textile manu- 

 factures was for the first time omitted from the list of prohibited 

 exports. 



No known instance occurred during the earlier decades of the 

 enforcement of these laws in which a perfect textile machine was 

 smuggled into this country. Some few models were clandestinely 

 introduced, but they were of so imperfect a character that it may 

 literally be said that the United States was compelled to invent 

 anew the machinery with which, gradually, and after a most try- 

 ing probation, her textile industries were finally established. The 

 more remarkable is it, therefore, that this country learned so 

 quickly how to clothe itself, and maintained and developed a great 

 woolen industry in the face of a nation which had such a tremen- 

 dous start in the race. 



No circumstances could have afforded a greater incentive to 

 the inventive faculty of a young and ambitious people. Very 

 soon it was at work ; very rapidly it traversed the ground already 

 covered in England ; and very naturally it has happened that the 

 inventors of the United States have supplied the world with many 

 of the most important of the inventions which have accelerated 

 the development of the textile arts. 



For many years the carding machines formed an important 

 part of the fulling-mills of the clothiers of the early part of the 

 century. As late as 1810 the trade of the clothier was as distinct 

 as that of the hatter, although both have nearly disappeared. In 

 New England nearly every township had its carding and fulling- 

 mill, the machinery being moved by power. The wool was carded 

 into rolls, to be spun in the household, at a cost of about seven 

 cents a pound, and the cloth, after having been woven in the 

 families, was fulled and dressed by the clothier.* In Vermont, in 



* This was not always the case, however. Judge Johnston, of Cincinnati, in his address 

 before the Pioneer Society of that city in 18*70, gives the following graphic picture of a 

 method of home-fulling which, he says, prevailed throughout Ohio early in the century : 

 " When the wool became abundant the method of scouring and fulling blankets, flannels, 

 cassinets, and even cloths, was simple. Every house had hand-cards, and as many spin- 

 ning-wheels as spinners, and no respectable house was without a loom. When the goods 

 were carded, spun, and woven, then came the kicking frolic. Half a dozen young men and 

 as many young women [to make the balance true] were invited. The floor was cleared 

 for action, and in the middle was a circle of six stout splint-bottom chairs, connected by 

 a cord to prevent recoil. On these sat six young men with shoes and stockings off and 

 trousers rolled above the knee. In the center the goods were placed, wetted with warm 

 soap-suds, and then the kicking commenced by measured steps, driving the bundle of goods 

 vol. xxxix. 32 



