1 68 Early History of American Auctions 



its gold and silver by export.^" The commercial disadvantage 

 of high exchange premium was, however, partly compensated for 

 by the rapid turn-over made possible by more regular and speedy 

 packet service. ^^ 



By 1823 dumping had done its worst and those manufactures 

 which remained were thought to be on a sound economic footing 

 or at least sufficiently protected by existing tariffs.^® The cotton 

 manufactures w^ere in prosperous condition^" ; even protectionists 

 ascribed the prosperity to the extensive use of labor-saving 

 machinery rather than the tariff.^^ It is probable that the 

 exhausted purchasing power and low state of credit and high 

 exchange rates were strong factors in reducing foreign importa- 

 tions and in giving our manufactures a second wind. The 

 winter of 1823-4 witnessed a reaction and Niles published a 

 "view of the calamitous situation of the United States."-- This 

 time the British woolen manufacturers in particular flooded our 

 markets through the auction method at prices alleged to be below 

 cost, and our woolen manufacturers called for government help 

 lest they be swamped as quickly as the first set had been in 1817.-^ 

 The third period of dumping was 1827-8 and was occasioned by 

 over-production of woolens, and of cottons to a less degree, in 

 England and an unprecedented stagnation in trade and fall in 

 prices. Large quantities of surplus woolens, some not suited to 

 the home-market or made of inferior materials, were sacrificed 

 on the American market at prices dictated by the desperate state 

 of trade.-* The next period when auction dumping hurt again 

 was when the tariff was reduced between 1833 and 1842.^^ 

 Thereafter auctions declined. 



"Niles, 22: 17; 23, 132; 23: 147. 



^® Niles, 19: 424. 



^^ Niles, 24: 67, gives extensive list of manufactures exported, made 

 from both domestic and foreign materials, in 1822. 



""Niles, 24: 103, 117; 21: 4, 39, 148, 163; 18: 266; Gallatin, Memorial 

 of The Free Trade Convention, 1831 ; Tudor, Letters on the Eastern States 

 (1819), 253-266; Holmes, An Account of the United States of America 

 (1823), 201-8. 



" Niles, 21 : 4, 199. 



" Niles, 25 : 179. 



== Bolles, I, 367. 



" Bolles, T, 384-5; N. Hale, American System, 41-2. 



" Bolles, I, 427. 



