362 [Assembly 



1849, was 596,370,322 yards, of which the greater quantity came to 

 this country. 



There is, however, some comfort exhibited by the returns of the 

 last twenty years : from these it appears that the imports now of plain 

 calicoes are one-half what they were in 1830, and in printed calicoes 

 between one-half and one-third ; so that our cotton manufactures are 

 gradually increasing, and at the present time represent one-fifth the 

 value of all manufactured goods. 



The exports of cotton manufacture are small, not having increased 

 of late years, standing nearly at the same figure as in 1829 ; so that 

 our increased supply has been for home consumption, an increasing 

 population demanding it. 



The materials for iron manufacture are abundant in this country, 

 and there is sufficient skill and energy to develop it to any extent. 

 Yet iron manufacture is, like that of cotton, a small business as yet. 



The first manufacture of bar iron in Pennsylvania, with anthracite, 

 was in 1845. It flourished amazingly for the first sixteen months, 

 but the tonnage has since gradually decreased every year, and at pre- 

 sent is a an all fraction of what it was. 



The iron manufacture is a most important one, employing such a 

 vast number of hands. The Mount Savage works, in Maryland, em- 

 ployed forty thousand men when in full work. This and most other 

 furnaces are out of blast, owing to the importation of English iron, 

 at such low prices, that the home manufacturer cannot produce his 

 iron for the same price at which it is landed on the quay in any oceanic 

 city here. For want of other markets,. English iron has, within the 

 last few years, being coming down, and the ad valorem duty facili- 

 tates its admission. It is conceded by all manufacturers, that a spe- 

 cific duty replacing the ad valorem, would at once allow all the fur- 

 naces of the country to go into operation. 



In the exhibition, the manufacture of fine cutlery, and that of cot- 

 ton goods, do not bear that proportion to the other articles exhibited) 



