43 [Senate 



450,000 pairs, American manufacture, say 150,000 pairs, making an 

 aggregate for the consumption of the iJnited States of 600,000 pairs 

 annually. 



There is a protective tariff duty on all articles of manufactured India 

 rubber, of thirty per cent ad valorem, being of vast importance to 

 the American manufacturer. 



The article of India rubber has been successfully introduced into 

 the army and navy of the United States, During the Florida war, 

 the General Government had manufactured by the Roxbury India 

 Rubber Company, an air bridge, composed of large air cylinders, made 

 of heavy duck, saturated with India rubber, which was thrown across 

 the Talapoosa river, 350 feet wide, remaining as a permanent bridge 

 some months, the army passing and repassing with their guns, mounted 

 troops, baggage wagons, &c. , &c. , with the utmost safety.* It is also 

 used in our army for tents, beds, army boats, wagon covers, bathing 

 tubs, horse covers, and various other purposes. The same company 

 manufactured for the Government ari army boat weighing 110 pounds, 

 by which they could transport easily over streams, fifty soldiers with 

 their travelling baggage in perfect safety. These boats were tested 

 by actual experiment at the arsenal in Washington city, in presence 

 of the Secretary of War and the foreign ministers. A report being 

 made by order of the Secretary of War, approving of the boats, and 

 giving them a decided preference over the tin, copper or wooden 

 boats generally used in our army, the Russian minister was so well 

 pleased with them, and satisfied ot their utility for the use of the army, 

 that he ordered a number made and sent to his government.! Con- 

 sequently this branch of the India rubber trade is of vast importance 

 to the country in case of a war. 



Therefore we give it as our opinion, that the manufacture of India 

 rubber goods ere long is to be classed with the staple manufactures 

 of our country. 



(Signed,) HENRY L. NORRIS, 



J. T. ARMSTRONG, 

 Judges on India rubber goods. 



Report on the Household Manufactures of Mrs. Voorhees. 



Mrs. Betsey R. Voorhees, of Amsterdam, Montgomery county, 

 N. Y., exhibits a trunk and case of household manufactured articles, 

 about fifty in number, of exquisite workmanship in every respect. 



They consist of blankets, bedspreads, shawls, gloves, mittens, slip- 

 pers, reticules, fans, thread, sewing silk, linen shirts and pillow cases, 

 table linen, linen handkerchiefs with thread lace borders; linen, 

 cotton, silk and woollen hose and half-hose ; needle cases ; work 

 boxes supplied with every necessary article ; and a variety of other 



• See Army and Navy Chronicle, vol. 3i1, pp. 264, 273 and 281. 



f See report of Col. Vose, Major Seaborn, and Major McKay, to the Adjutant-General, 

 2d and 3d of August, 1839, marked A., and the report of Capt. W- H. Bell, Oct. 19th, 1839, 

 to Col. Talcott, Com. Ordnance Dep., marked B. 



