WHAT SHALL WE RAISE ? 7 



monopoly in manufoctiires. A very slight difference in the 

 cost of mannfactiiri ng will in the end compel those against 

 whom the difference exists, from the market. If in one sec- 

 tion or belt of the country sufficient to supply the whole, any 

 staple production of agriculture can be raised cheaper than in 

 the others, including the cost of transporting it to the market, 

 even if the difference is small, inevitably, in time, that section 

 or belt of the country will have the control of the market in 

 that staple. So, if in one section or belt of the country, under 

 the same conditions, manufacturing can be carried on cheaper 

 than in the other parts, even if the difference is small, as 

 surely that section or l3elt of the country will control the 

 market in manufactured articles. 



At a very early period in their history, the people of New 

 England commenced the erection of mills and the manu- 

 facture of the coarser varieties of articles needed by the 

 people of the several colonies. Although the amount they 

 manufactured was small, it was sufficient to attract the atten- 

 tion of the manufficturers in the parent country, who claimed 

 an exclusive monopoly in the colonial markets for their own 

 goods. L^pon representations made by them, Parliament 

 passed a law as early as in 1699, forbidding the transporta- 

 tion of goods of American manufacture, with a view to pre- 

 vent the people of New England from supplying the people of 

 the other colonies with their manufactured goods. In 1731, 

 commissioners of the Board of Trade considered and made a 

 report to the House of Commons on the subject of American 

 manufactures, in the conclusion of which they say : "From 

 the foregoing statement, it is observable that there are more 

 trades carried on and manufactures set up, in the provinces 

 on the continent of America to the northward of Virginia, 

 prejudicial to the trade and manufactures of Great Britain, 

 particularly in New England, than in any other of the British 

 colonies ; which is not to be wondered at, for their soil, 

 climate and produce being pretty nearly the same with ours, 

 they have no staple commodities of their own growth to ex- 

 change for our manufactures ; which puts them under greater 

 necessity, as well as under greater temptations, for providing 

 for themselves at home." And in 1750, Parliament declared 

 mills for certain kinds of mauufactui'es in the colonies common 



