38 Industrial Experiments in Colonial America. 



But there were other and more important grounds of oppo- 

 sition brought forward by the merchants, both in London and 

 New England. The chief fear of the New England traders was 

 that so large a corporation would monopolize trade and drive 

 them out altogether. The company, they reasoned, would buy 

 up English goods and sell them from their New England 

 warehouse at less than cost, so as to ruin small traders. When 

 this had been accomplished, they would be free to set whatever 

 price they chose, which would end in forcing the inhabitants to 

 manufacture their own linen and woolen, — a result as calam- 

 itous for England as for the colonies. The petitioners an- 

 swered that, on the contrary, it was the few traders, who were 

 then monopolizing trade, that set arbitrary prices. In the pro- 

 posed scheme, the trade would be "dispersed into many hands." 

 Moreover, the small traders who feared lest they should be 

 crowded out were quite welcome to join the company. The 

 government utterly refused to grant Dudley a monopoly, and 

 Byfield never even asked for an exclusive charter. 



During the first ten years of the Dudley case, the Board of 

 Trade had, on the whole, favored the project in their reports; 

 but they hesitated to give a decided answer. They wished to 

 be perfectly sure that the accounts of the resources of New 

 England had not been exaggerated; and Ashurst's specimens 

 had not confirmed these reports. The Board sent over a com- 

 mission to investigate the matter, and put ofif all the petitioners 

 until the result of this inquiry should be known. The reports 

 which came over were encouraging, and the specimens, though 

 costly, on the whole met the approval of the ship-builders at 

 Deptford. 



The Navy preserved throughout a conservative attitude. 

 They had no idea of serving the interest of any merchant or 

 corporation; their business was to get the very best materials 

 for the equipment of the roA^al navy in sufficient quantities and 

 at the cheapest rates. They were responsible for the expend- 

 iture of public money, and it was a matter of indifference to 

 them whether the stores came from Norway or New England, 

 provided they were the best and the cheapest to be bought. 



