144 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March, 



the skill and beauty of their silk fabrics. Yet, I have it from 

 the unquestionable testimony of a gentleman long a resident at 

 Canton, that no class of manufacturers is to be found more se- 

 verely tasked or more wretchedly sustained. The products of 

 this labor therefore, unless prohibited by the government, must 

 come into our markets at the very lowest prices. 



That silk fabrics, being altogether an article of luxury, should 

 pay a duty for revenue, would seem to be dictated by a wise 

 policy, placing articles of necessity, which we cannot produce 

 ourselves, for such tea and coffee have become almost as much 

 as bread, within reach of the great mass of the people, bur- 

 dened as little with expense as possible. To attempt by heavy 

 impositions to prohibit silk fabrics, and so force the manufacture 

 of silk among us, would be a mistaken policy. It would present 

 in the first place, from the facilities of unlawful introduction, 

 strong temptations to smuggling. It would withdraw from pur- 

 suits of primary importance labor that is now well applied, and 

 direct it to a business, which, if it should pay well at first,, 

 would, just in proportion as the manufacture should become 

 extended, decline in value. 



We hear, continually, of the immense importations of silk 

 into the country, involving us in a heavy debt to Europe. 

 This creates an enormous drain upon the country, and is 

 perfectly wasteful and prodigal. But would the production 

 and manufacture of silk among ourselves, remedy this evil ? 

 If the persons, who mainly consume these articles, would 

 themselves produce them, no one could doubt the immense 

 saving and gain to the country. But who is insane enough to 

 expect this ? The persons, who must produce the silk, if it 

 is produced at all, belong to that industrious portion of the 

 community, who are now fully employed ; and whose labor, if 

 it is used at all in the manufacture of silk, must be abstracted 

 from employments where it is now much needed. But as to those 

 who merely flaunt in silks and satins, the children of mere lux- 

 ury and fashion, the gay birds of paradise, we must be satisfied 

 with the ornament and embellishment, which their graces and 

 elegancies give to society, without expecting from them any 

 more substantial contribution. Happy will the farmer be if 



