PENSYLVANIA 117 



of them are preferred to those of other regions. The 

 chief products are, wheat, flour and biscuit, peas, 

 beans, Indian corn, salted meats, bacon and hams, 

 tongues, dried and smoked game, salted and dried fish 

 (shad and herring), honey and wax, hides and skins, 

 iron, masts, timber, boards, rafters, shingles, stoves, and 

 ready-built ships. Of this domestic produce, the 

 greater part was formerly sent to the British West 

 Indies, whence was brought back sugar, brandy, cotton, 

 coffee, cacao, mahogany, and silver part for use in 

 the country and part exported to other colonies and to 

 Europe. There was formerly a trade in wheat to the 

 south of Europe, to Spain and Portugal ; and to Eng- 

 land there was sent iron, hemp and flaxseed, leather, 

 skins, ships, and ships' supplies, and profitably, be- 

 cause on certain of these articles the Americans were 

 paid a premium by the English government ; others, 

 however, could be furnished cheaper than it was pos- 

 sible for England to find them elsewhere, because the 

 Americans took back manufactured articles, indeed 

 were obliged to. For Pensylvania and America at 

 large had not then, nor have they now, considerable 

 manufactures of their own, and for this reason will 

 long be dependent on Europe. Several obstacles stand 

 in the way of manufactures. Lack of the necessary 

 workmen, able on the whole to do better at farming, 

 and for that reason the English government was care- 

 ful rather to keep back manufactures than to encourage 

 them. So long as land is to be had there will be few 

 persons willing to subject themselves to the heavy, 

 tedious, and regular labor necessary for manufactures, 

 when by farming they may earn their bread with more 

 freedom and on the whole with less work. Another 



