Question.  Do you happen to know anything of an opposition from calicoprinters to the repeal of the tax on printed calicoes?

Answer.  I have certainly heard of such an opposition, and am not surprised at it.  There are very few individuals who are, in fact, interested in the nonrepeal of the tax; there are two classes of calico-printers; one, who print their own cloth, send their goods into the market, and sell them on their own account; they frequently advance the duty to government, and pay it in cash before their goods are sold, but generally before the goods are paid for, being most commonly sold on a credit of six months:  they are of course interested on that account, as well as on others that have been stated, in the repeal of the tax.  The other class of calico-printers print the cloth of other people; they print for hire, and on re-delivery of the cloth when printed, they receive the amount of the duty, which they are not called upon to pay to government sooner, on an average, than nine weeks from the stamping of the goods.  Where the business is carried on upon a large scale, the arrears of duty due to government often amount to eight, or even ten thousand pounds, and furnish a capital with which these gentlemen carry on their business; it is not, therefore, to be wondered at that they should be opposed to the prayer of our petition.

423.  The policy of giving bounties upon home productions, and of enforcing restrictions against those which can be produced more cheaply in other countries, is of a very questionable nature:  and, except for the purpose of introducing a new manufacture, in a country where there is not much commercial or manufacturing spirit, is scarcely to be defended.  All incidental modes of taxing one class of the community, the consumers, to an unknown extent, for the sake of supporting another class, the manufacturers, who would otherwise abandon that mode of employing their capital, are highly objectionable.  One part of the price of any article produced under such circumstances, consists of the expenditure, together with the ordinary profits of capital:  the other part of its price may be looked upon as charity, given to induce the manufacturer to continue an unprofitable use of his capital, in order to give employment to his workmen.  If the sum of what the consumers are thus forced to pay, merely on account of these artificial restrictions, where generally known, its amount would astonish even those who advocate them; and it would be evident to both parties, that the employment of capital in those branches of trade ought to be abandoned.

424.  The restriction of articles produced in a manufactory to certain sizes, is attended with some good effect in an economical view, arising chiefly from the smaller number of different tools required in making them, as well as from less frequent change in the adjustment of those tools.  A similar source of economy is employed in the Navy:  by having ships divided into a certain number of classes, each of which comprises vessels of the same dimensions, the rigging made for one vessel will fit any other of its class; a circumstance which renders the supply of distant stations more easy.