Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/296

facture, which the country was not yet ſo ripe for as to encourage private perſons to ſet it up; labour being generally too dear there, and hands difficult to be kept together, every one deſiring to be a maſter, and the cheapneſs of land inclining many to leave trades for agriculture. Some indeed have met with ſucceſs, and are carried on to advantage; but they are generally ſuch as require only a few hands, or wherein great part of the work is performed by machines. Goods that are bulky, and of ſo ſmall value as not well to bear the expence of freight, may often be made cheaper in the country than they can be imported; and the manufacture of ſuch goods will be profitable wherever there is a ſufficient demand. The farmers in America produce indeed a good deal of wool and flax; and none is exported, it is all worked up; but it is in the way of domeſtic manufacture, for the uſe of the family. The buying up quantities of wool and flax, with the deſign to employ ſpinners, weavers, &c. and form great eſtabliſhments, producing quantities of linen and woollen goods for ſale, has been ſeveral times attempted in different provinces; but thoſe projects have generally failed, goods of equal value being imported cheaper. And when the governments have been ſolicited to ſupport ſuch ſchemes by encouragements, in money, or by impoſing duties on importation of ſuch goods, it has been generally refuſed, on this principle, that if the country is ripe for the manufacture, it may be carried on by private perſons to advantage; and if not, it is a folly to think of forcing nature. Great eſtabliſhments of manufacture, require great numbers of poor to do the work for ſmall wages; thoſe poor are to be found in Europe, but will not be found in America, till the lands are all taken up and cultivated, and the