CAPITAL. 151 



CAPITAL. 



It is often a matter of inquiry, what amount of capital is neces- 

 sary to establish this manufacture. Owing to the plastic nature 

 of the gum, and the simple construction of the machinery with 

 which it may be worked, it can be conducted with a very small 

 amount of capital. The Indian carries it on with the capital 

 which nature affords him. Although the process of vulcanizing 

 renders it somewhat more complicated, it may be prosecuted on 

 a small scale to some advantage. Extensive water and steam 

 power, with a large amount of capital, have been, however, 

 recommended in other parts of this volome, as absolutely neces- 

 sary for the most advantageous and profitable prosecution of this 

 business. When the manufacture is favored with these advan- 

 tages, the inducement to engage in it on a small scale will hardly 

 exist. A more definite answer may, however, be made to the 

 inquiry, upon which further estimates may be formed by any one, 

 by taking the cost of a single set of machinery, the labor it per- 

 forms, and the room it will occupy. The existing state of things 

 is a suitable one upon which to make these estimates. A full 

 set of machinery, such as is now employed for coating cloths, 

 or manufacturing the fibrous fabrics, sufficient to turn off from 

 one thousand to fifteen hundred yards per day, will cost, when 

 put in working condition, about three thousand dollars. A base- 

 ment, or a building of one story, thirty by twenty feet, is ample 

 room for this purpose. Where the fabrics are made up into arti- 

 cles, (especially if a variety of articles are made up at the same 

 establishment,) more room is necessary than is needed to make 

 the same articles of other materials, on account of the adhesive- 

 ness of the fabrics. There are two advantages pertaining to 

 this manufacture, that can hardly be said to exist in any other 

 mechanical or manufacturing branches to the same extent. 

 The first is, that there is not necessarily a particle of waste of 

 materials ; all the cuttings, and even the sweepings of the fac- 



