influence of the variations of the temperature, &c., the cylinders are frequently found to go off the truth, notwithstanding all the care that may be taken to prevent it; when this takes place, the only remedy is to strip them of their sheets, and turn them anew, until they are perfectly just; for to work with card cylinders off the truth is attended with the most injurious effects upon the cotton. Seeing it is an object of some importance to keep card cylinders from going off the truth, to which they have a great tendency, particular care should be taken to have the wood well seasoned before it is made into cylinders. New carding engines should also be allowed to stand at least two months in their place, exposed to the heat of the mill, before they commence operations, during which they should be turned and adjusted several times.

The following letter refers to the first yarn that Mr. Slater made on his machinery: it is rather singular that Moses Brown should not name him, but speak of him "as an English workman from Arkwright's works," when at the time he was proprietor of one half of the machinery, while Almy and Brown had only a quarter each:

PROVIDENCE, 19th of 4th mo. 1791.

Esteemed Friend,-I have for some time thought of addressing the Beverly manufacturers on the subject of an application to Congress for some encouragement to the cotton manufactory, by an additional duty on the cotton goods imported, and the applying such duty as a bounty, partly for raising and saving of cotton in the southern states, of a quality and cleanness suitable to be wrought with machines, and partly as a bounty on cotton goods of the same kind manufactured in the United States, or in some other manner, as may be thought advisable. It is thought that the interest of all the cotton manufacturers who work with carding and other machines, united, would effect such encouragement as would effectually prevent the English manufacturers from sending in such increased or large quantities as has been of late, and establish the business advantageously to this country. Thy sentiments, with those of the concerned, would be acceptable, and it is the desire of those concerned, this way, that you, being the first and largest, would take the lead, and devise such plan as may be most eligible to effect the purpose.

My son-in-law, William Almy, has handed me three sizes of cotton yarn a lay of each I enclose for your inspecton. Almy and Brown, who conduct the business of the cotton manufactory, with an English workman from Arkwright's works, have often fourteen labourers of the various mechanics necessary, completed the water spinning machines to the perfection as to make the inclosed yarn, the former mills which I had purchased, made from the state's model at Bridgewater, proving not to answer. The weavers inform me the yarn works better than any linen they have had, and takes less trouble to warp and weave it. As the doubling and twisting mill, by water, is not yet ready, Almy & Brown have had a number of pieces

of thicksets and fancy goods, made of single warps, which appear much superior to any linen warp. The two coarsest enclosed answer this purpose, the finest would answer for cords, velvets, &c., when doubled and twisted. If you should incline to try some warps, they can supply you with almost any size, weekly, monthly, or quarterly; that of abont 12 skeins to the pound at 6d per skein, of 1200 yards. Coarser or finer, will vary some. As we find that warps cannot be made equally as good on jennies, and apprehending that you wish to perfect the cotton manufactures, so as to preclude foreign importation, induces us to make the offer of supplying you in preference to any other works. Thy or the company's answer will be attended to by Almy & Brown, and by thy friend,

MOSES BROWN.

P. S. I have heard that I was censured by some of the concerned, as being suspected of having enticed away your workmen, but as I knew myself clear, I did not write you. But if any thing of that kind remains, and I could know what it is, I doubt not I can remove every suspicion to your satisfaction, and will endeavour to do it on notice; as I went to Beverly disapproving such conduct, I acted on the same principles, and now disavow any such conduct. I mention this, as I wish to live in harmony with all men, and especially with those in the same line of business.

Moses Brown,

To be communicated to the proprietors of the Beverly Factory.

In a letter to John Dexter, Moses Brown gives the following account, October 15, 1791:

"In the spring of the year 1789, some persons in Providence had procured to be made a carding machine, a jenny and a spinning frame, to work by hand after the manner of Arkwright's invention, taken principally from models belonging to the state of Massachusetts, which were made at their expense, by two persons from Scotland, who took their ideas from observation, and not from experience in the business. These machines made here not answering the purpose and expectation of the proprietors, and I being desirous of perfecting them, if possible, and the business of the cotton manufactures, so as to be useful to the country, I purchased them; and, by great alterations, the carding machine and jenny were made to answer. The frame, with one other on nearly the same construction, made from the same model, and tried without success at East Greenwich, which I also purchased, I attempted to set to work by water, and made a little yarn, so as to answer for warps; but being so imperfect, both as to the quality and quantity of the yarn, that their progress was suspended till I could procure a person who had wrought or seen them wrought in Europe, for as yet we had not. Late in the fall I received a letter from a young man, then lately arrived at New York, from Arkwright's works in England, informing me, his situation, that he could hear of no perpetual spinning mills on the continent but mine, and proposed to come and work them. I wrote him and he came accordingly; but on viewing the mills he declined doing any thing with them, and proposed making a new one, using such parts of the old as would answer. We had by this time got several jennies, and some weavers at work on linen warps, but had not been able to get cotton warps to a useful degree of per

fection on the jennies; and although I had found the undertaking much more arduous than I expected, both as to the attention necessary, and the expense, being necessitated to employ workmen of the most transient kind, and on whom little dependenee could be placed, and to collect materials to complete the various machines from distant parts of the continent. However, we (I say we, because I had committed the immediate management of the business to my son-in-law William Almy, and kinsman Smith Brown, under the firm of Almy & Brown), contracted with the young man from England, to direct and make a mill in his own way, which he did, and it answered a much better purpose than the former; but still imperfect, for want of other machines; such as cards of a different construction from those already made and re-made over; with various other machines preparatory to the spinning. All which, with the necessary appendages, the mechanics skilled in working of wood, iron, brass, &c. &c., were more than a twelve-month completing, before we could get a single warp of cotton perfected. During this time, linen warps were wove, and the jenny spinning was performed in different cellars of dwelling houses. But finding the inconvenience of this, we have now a factory house and dye shop erected, and occupy other buildings for the singeing, callendering, and other machines. There being a variety of branches in the perfecting of the cotton business, as the picking, soaping, stoning or dyeing the cotton: roping it, by hand or on machines, spinning, bobbin winding, weaving, cutting for velvets or other cut goods, singeing or dressing, bleaching, dyeing, and finishing, renders it more difficult, and requires longer time to perfect than many other branches of business, in a country where there are very few acquainted with it; but when each branch is learned, it may be extended to any length necessary, by means of the great advantage of the machines, in the saving of labour. There are also several other persons who manufacture cotton and linen by the carding machines and jennies, but when they make all cotton goods, they have the warps from Almy & Brown's mills,-Samuel Slater, the young man from England, being also concerned therein."

To this advantage, arising from the introduction of the Arkwright Patent, Alexander Hamilton refers, in his report, as secretary of the treasury, made December 5, 1791, on the subject of manufactures :-"The manufactory at Providence has the merit of being the first in introducing into the United States the celebrated cotton mill (meaning Arkwright's patent) which, not only furnishes materials for that manufactory itself, but for the supply of private families, for household manufacture."

In allusion to this notice, Mr. Hunter, in his address before the Rhode Island Agricultural Society, speaks very eloquently :-" On an altar raised in decoration of manufactures, we would transfer one from a fact recorded on a more imperishable monument than the altar and temple itself,-Hamilton's report on manufactures, in 1791, in which the introduction of the first cotton mill (meaning the series of machines patented in England) in this country is mentioned, and the introducer was-Slater." The claim, which

I have therefore made, is only an echo of public acclamation, issuing from the first secretary of the treasury of the United States.*

Hamilton recommends, "the encouragement of new inventions and discoveries at home, and the introduction into the United States of such as may have been made in other countries, particularly those which relate to machinery. This is among the most useful and unexceptionable of the aids which can be given to manufactures. The usual means of that encouragement are pecuniary rewards, and, for a time, exclusive privileges. The first must be employed according to the occasion, and the utility of the invention or discovery. For the last, so far as respects ' authors and inventors,' provision has been made by law. But it is desirable, in regard to improvements and secrets of extraordinary value, to be able to extend the same benefit to introducers, as well as authors and inventors, a policy which has been practised with advantage in other countries. If the legislature of the Union cannot do all the good that might be wished, it is at least desirable that all may be done which is practicable. Means for promoting the introduction of foreign improvements, though less efficaciously

*The spinning machines of Arkwright and others had not been long in operation in England, until they attracted the notice of traders in Scotland, who soon attempted what was then, to many, a most lucrative branch of manufacture. But it is difficult to plant a manufacture in a new country, even where there is no secret in the process; and the difficulty was still greater in this instance, where pains were taken to keep the business involved in mystery. Many, who had been employed in the works of Arkwright, left his service, pretending to a knowledge of the business, which they did not possess; and those men were eagerly sought after by new adventurers in both kingdoms. But, in most cases, those adventurers were no gainers by the acquisition. This may easily be conceived, when we consider how very little a great proportion of the people now employed in cotton mills know, and how much less they can communicate of the construction of the machinery, or the general system of the business; and, if such be the case at present, what must it have been at the period and place of which we are speaking. It is supposed that the first cotton spun by water, in Scotland, was in the island of Bute, in what had been a lint mill, and was afterwards, for some time, the corn mill of Rothsay. But this was only by way of trial, and before the completion of the larger cotton mill.

In the year 1782 a large mill, of six stories, was erected at Johnson; there is reason to suppose this was the first in Scotland that was productive of much profit to the proprietors. Originally, it was managed by people from England, but they proved of the description alluded to above; and the proprietors were indebted to the discernment, perseverance, and mechanical genius of Mr. Robert Burns, for rescuing the concern from ruin, and rendering the business a source of affluence.

than might be accomplished with more adequate authority, will form a plan intended to be submitted in the close of this report. It is customary with manufacturing nations to prohibit, under severe penalties, the exportation of implements and machines, which they have either invented or improved. There is something in the texture of cotton, which adapts it in a peculiar degree to the application of machines. The cotton mill (the Arkwright patent) invented in England, within the last twenty years, is a signal illustration of the general proposition which has just been advanced. In consequence of it all the different processes for spinning cotton are performed by means of machines, which are put in motion by water, and attended chiefly by women and children, and by a smaller number of persons, in the whole, than are necessary in the ordinary mode of spinning. This very important circumstance recommends the fabrics of cotton, in a more particular manner, to a country in which a defect of hands constitutes the greatest obstacle to success. Among the most useful and unexceptionable of the aids which can be given to manufactures, is the encouragement of new inventions and discoveries at home, and of the introduction into the United States of such as may have been made in other countries, particularly those which relate to machinery.

"Manufactories of cotton goods, not long since established at Beverly, in Massachusetts, and at Providence in the state of Rhode Island, and conducted with a perseverance corresponding with the patriotic motives which began them, seem to have overcome the first obstacles to success, producing corduroys, velverets, fustians, jeans, and other similar articles, of a quality which will bear a comparison with the like articles brought from Manchester. Other manufactories of the same material, as regular business, have also been begun at different places in the state of Connecticut, but all upon a smaller scale than those above mentioned. Some essays are also making in the printing and staining of cotton goods. There are several small establishments of this kind already on foot. The printing and staining of cotton goods is known to be a distinct business from the fabrication of them. It is one easily accomplished, and which, as it adds materially to the value of the article in its white state, and prepares it for a variety of new uses, is of importance to be promoted."

Connected with the above report, Moses Brown states :-"The public spirit of the Massachusetts legislature on this subject, as well as Pennsylvania, are to be applauded, and in justice to the latter I mention this circumstance:--The publication of their