320 [Assembly 



Cocoons "Will be diminished in value, we are told, 15 per cent., and 

 were it not for the bounty paid by Massachusetts, New-York and 

 Louisiana, it might be totally abandoned. And why, let us ask, are 

 the enterprising citizens of this republic, who have been induced to 

 embark in the culture of silk, to be compelled to lay aside their ma- 

 terials, plough up their fields, and pocket their losses? Is it because 

 it can be produced at the North as well as at the South ? or is it be- 

 cause the claims of the foreign importers in New-York, who consti- 

 tute 90 per cent, of all engaged in the trade in that city, have been 

 preferred? Must the monopoly be continued in their hands, at a 

 cost to the nation of seven or eight millions per annum? The 

 acts of your legislators affirm it to be so. Whilst you have the 

 privilege of cultivating potatoes, amid the ravages which assail 

 that inestimable root, and ascertaining the cause of its disease, for 

 the benefit of your transatlantic brethren, the cultivation and manu- 

 facture of silk is perhaps deemed too delicate for your habits. 



There are other branches of industry which might be introduced 

 into our country, attended with an immense saving of wealth, diver- 

 sifying the employment of our citizens, and contributing largely to 

 sustain and augment our internal commerce, which stretches now 

 along twenty thousand miles of navigable waterj but they must be 

 deferred until wiser counsels prevail. Foreign commerce, which is 

 almcst entirely in the hands of foreigners and aliens, is made an es- 

 pecial object of legislation, under the delusive nonsense of free trade, 

 whilst appropriations, designed to facilitate the internal commerce of 

 the country, which is entirely in the hands of our own citizens, meets 

 with an executive veto! 



It is not our intention to speak in terms of reproach of the for- 

 eigners and aliens who embrace the advantages which our legislation 

 enables them to enjoy. On the contrary, we commend them for their 

 enterprise. We design merely to state the facts, for th's information 

 of our own people; being free to admit, that if France or England 

 held out the same inducements to us, we should not fail to embrace 

 them. 



Many of you have stopped, on the entrance to this saloon, to exa- 

 mine the railroad iron from the iron works of Peter Cooper, Esq., of 

 Trenton, New-Jersey. This is the first specimen of the article which 

 has made its appearance at these fairs, and we welcome it with joy. 

 We proclaim, from authority not to be disputed, that we can now 

 produce railroad iron at $72 . 50 per ton, in quality 10 to 20 per 

 cent, better than any which has ever been imported. The present 



