624 [Senate 



The low price of cotton has compelled them to introduce labor saving 

 machinery, and to employ their labor to better advantage than former- 

 ly ; 6,8 and 10 cents are the present prices ; it has sold as high as 37 

 and 40 cents ; hence the impossibility of raising it to advantage, and 

 hence too the feeling fast extending itself throughout the South, that 

 other pursuits must be substituted. Mr. H. had been familiar with 

 the business from its infancy. He descended the Mississippi river with 

 the first bale of cotton or hemp, the first hogshead of tobacco, barrel 

 of pork, and bag of saltpetre, that came out of that river. 



One of the substitutes contemplated to supply the place of cotton, 

 was silk, in the culture of which he was prepared to embark to a con- 

 siderable extent, and for producing which he considered Louisiana pe- 

 culiarly adapted. He was satisfied from what he had seen, that the 

 worms could there be fed without a loss of 1 per cent, and was confi- 

 dent that, with proper exertion, the South could clothe its negroes 

 cheaper in silk than with wool or cotton. (Cheers.) 



The President called the attention of the convention to some beauti- 

 ful specimens of domestic sewing silk manufactured, and sent to the 

 fair by several young ladies in South Carolina. 



John S. Pierce, of Burlington Vt., now rose and spoke of his own 

 State as well adapted to the cultivation of silk. There was no difficul- 

 ty whatever in any department of the work. They could raise the 

 worm, reel the silk, and manufacture it too ! (Applause.) Then with 

 a glow of real pride and independence he exclaimed ! And here Mr. 

 President, is a proof of it ! I am clothed throughout in silk manufac- 

 tured entirely by my wife, and that too with no better machinery than 

 a common wheel and loom, such as are used in working flax. (Loud 

 and continued applause.) 



The President here very humorously remarked, " here, do you see 

 him ? is a gentleman too poor to wear British broadcloth, but wears 

 silk of his own production." 



Mr. Pierce further stated, that his family had no experience save 

 what they had acquired by practice, and that his lady had become sat- 

 isfied that she could make a yard of silk cloth easier than of flax or 

 wool. The suit in which he was clad was made of perforated cocoons. 

 (It was a most beautiful and substantial article, and called forth great 

 applause from the crowd who surrounded him for some time, to exam- 

 ine its texture, and to grasp the hand of a man whose independence and 

 patriotism, not his poverty, compelled him to appear m the product of 

 his own hands, in preference to " British broadcloth, " or any other fo- 

 reign fabric. 



Colonel Clark remarked that the culture of cotton had become so 

 exceedingly unprofitable, that the South must inevitably be driven into 

 other pursuits. Wool offered one, and men are now traversing the 

 Northern States, collecting droves to stock their plantations. The 

 South presents an immense field for men of mind to occupy and culti- 

 vate ; and it is likely to become by far the most important part of this 



