SHEEP HUSBANDRY I.\ THE SOUTH. 



139 



You ask, " Is the present home demand snppHed ?" There is uot enough annually raised 

 ill the country by 10,000,000 lbs. to meet the demand of the manufactories. 



You ask, " What countries we can export wool to. &c. ?" This countiy will not export 

 wool regularly for fifteen years, for the reason that the consumption icill increase as rapidly 

 as the production. I can point out articles made of wool now imported, which will require 

 thirty millions of pounds of that of a medium and fine quality, to supply the consump- 

 Hon 



The business of manufacturing wool in this country is on a better basis than ever before, 

 inasmuch as the character, skill and capital engaged in it are such that foreign competi- 

 tion IS DEFIED. A very few years and all articles of wool used here will be of home manu- 

 facture. 



Now I beg of you to keep the wool-growers steady to the mark. Let them aim to excel 

 in the blood and condition of their flocks, and the day is not distant when they will be amply 

 remunerated. I shall always have great pleasure in hearing from you, and remain 



Yours most truly, SAM. LAWRENCE. 



Mr, Lawrence has certainly got the annual deficit of home wools low 

 enough. Table 10 shows that it was upward of 16,000,000 lbs. during the 

 last fiscal year, 1846. This, of itself, is something of a margin for the 

 South, or some other new domestic producer, to fill ! 



Hitherto we have simply considered the amount of wool necessary to 

 supply our manufactories. But these establishments fall very far short of 

 ■working up all the wool consumed in the United States, even exclusive of 

 home-made fabrics. The following Table* will show the value of the 

 woolens imported for twenty-five years, up to and including 1845 : 



TABLE No. 11. 



Here is another and still broader " margin^^ for both the American 

 "Wool -Grower and the American Manvfacturcr to fill ! 



With a country well adapted to the production of wool as any the sun 

 shines on — which, all things considered, can produce it more chcajthj than 

 any extended portion of any trans-Atlantic country — shall we continue to 

 import raw wool ] 



Whether we should continue to import woolens is sufficiently answered 

 by the last paragraph but one of Mr. Lawrence's letter, fully sustained as 

 the facts therein set forth are by those infallible tests — the dividcvds of our 

 manufacturing establishments. The minimum of these, in xcell managed, 

 establishments, has already been stated to be about ten per centum per 

 annum,t and in Mr. Lawrence's own great establishment the dividend of 

 1846 was fifteen per cent. Does any one suppose that the manufacturers 

 of England, with all the advantage they can derive from cheaper labor J — 

 (but with vastly higher prices for suitable sites and buildings — land taxes, 

 parochial taxes, income taxe.s — freights and duties on imported wools, 

 etc. etc.) — do or can make dividends touching even the lowest rate above 

 stated] They caw7^o^ II 



' Kcport of the Secrelnrj- of the Trenniry, 1845. t Sec Letter VFI. 



t lliouijh not diructly adviieil on the poiut, I take it for granted that the cost of machinery, also, i« aome- 

 what If«s in Knglnnd. 



II It may be said that the two last-named expense! fall on the consumer. They doubtless would, but the 

 English mnnufncturer has to compete with those of Frsnce and the United States, n much larger propor- 

 tion of whose stock is of home growth— the latter rntirely, in line fabrics. The abrogation of the Corn-Laws 

 will be of immense advantage to the English mnnufarturer, and enable him to better compete with other 

 countries. But while the Bank of England ordinarily discounts paper at from 3 to 4 per cent., and while 

 this is the common rate of interest in that country, it could not be expected that manufacturing capittU 

 would be allowed to draw 8 or 10, and much less 15 per cent. Such dividends, in a country whose 

 uninvesfrd capital, or that drawing so low n rate of interest, is so superabundant, would at once invite a 

 competition which would speedily bring the profits of nianufacttiring capital down to a level with those of 

 Other commercial capital. We may, iherelbre conclude that no such dividends uie made 

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