EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 105 



and a combination of buckskin and other leather could be found in the 

 wardrobes of many of the most wealthy and noted men of the day. 

 >'or was the use of this material confined to the men. The women 

 wore leather jerkins and petticoats very largely, and in some of the 

 colonies the clothing of ttie bed was almost entirely of leather. 



Towards the year 1730 the colonists again began to attempt some 

 rude manufactures of linen and woolen cloths, iron, paper, hats, etc., for 

 their own use, but the British manufacturers and merchants again com- 

 plained, and in consequence of their representations the House of Com- 

 mons, in 1731, directed the Board of Trade and Plantations to make 

 inquiry and report " with respect to laws, manufactures set up, or trade 

 carried on by the colonies, detrimental to the trade, navigation, or man- 

 ufactures of Great Britain." The report made in response to this order, 

 February, 1731- 7 32, furnishes the fullest particulars extant respecting 

 the manufacture of cloth at that period : 



In New England, Xew York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and in the 

 county of Somerset, in Maryland, they have fallen into the manufacture of woolen 

 cloth and linen cloth for the use of their own families only ; for the product of these 

 colonies being chiefly cattle and grain, the estates of the inhabitants depended 

 wholly on farming, which could not be managed without a certain quantity of sheep, 

 and their wool would be entirely lost were not their servants employed during the 

 winter in manufacturing it for the use of their families. Flax and hemp being like- 

 wise easily raised, the inhabitants manufactured them into a coarse sort of cloth, 

 bags, traces, and halters for their horses, which they found did more service than 

 those they had from any part of Europe. However, the high price of labor in 

 America rendered it impracticable for people there to manufacture their linen cloth 

 at less than 20 per cent dearer than that which is exported from home for sale. It 

 were to be wished that some expedient might be fallen upon to direct their, thoughts 

 from undertakings of this nature; so much the rather because these manufactures, 

 in process of time, may be carried on in greater degree, unless an early stop be put 

 to their progress by employing them in naval stores. Wherefore we take leave to 

 renew our repeated proposals that reasonable encouragement be given to the same. 

 Moreover, we find that certain trades carried on and manufactures set up there are 

 detrimental to the trade, navigation, and manufacture of Great Britain.' For the 

 state of these plantations varying almost every year, more or less so in their trade 

 and manufactures, as well as in other particulars, we thought it necessary for His 

 Majesty's service and for the discharge of our trust from time to time to send gen- 

 eral queries to the several governors in America, that we might be the more exactly 

 informed of the condition of the plantation, among which were several that related 

 to their trade and manufactures, to which we received the following returns, viz : 



The governor of New Hampshire, in his answer, said that there were no settled 

 manufactures in that province, and that their trade principally consisted in lumber 

 and fish. 



The governor of Massachusetts Bay informed us that in some parts of this province 

 the inhabitants worked up their wool and flax into an ordinary coarse cloth for their 

 own use, but did not export any. That the greatest part of the woolen and linen 

 clothing worn in this province was imported from Great Britain, and sometimes from 

 Ireland ; but considering the excessive price of labor in New England, the merchant 

 could afford what was imported cheaper than what was made in the country. There 

 were also a few hat makers in the maritime towns, and that the greater part of the 

 leather used in that country was manufactured among themselves, etc. 



They had no manufactures in the province of New York that deserve mentioning ; 



