Chapter XIII - Calumnious clamour against the manufacturers on the ground of extortion. Destitute of the shadow of foundation. Take the beam out of thine own eye. Rise of merino wool 400 per cent. Great rise of the price of merchandize after the declaration of war.

Summary

The most plausible argument used to defeat the applications of the manufacturers for relief, and to consign those that have hitherto escaped ruin, to the fate that has befallen so many of their brethren, is the “extortion” they are said to have practised during the late war, which, if they have an opportunity, they will, it is asserted, repeat. The justice of this accusation is as firmly believed by a large portion of the people of the United States, as if it were supported by “proofs from holy writ.” Great zeal and address have been employed by persons whose interests are subserved by exciting hostility against the manufacturers, to disseminate this prejudice. Unfortunately their efforts have been crowned with success. The accusation, it is true, has been refuted times without number; but, regardless of the refutation, it is still advanced with as much confidence as if disproof had never been attempted, and, indeed, as if it were impossible.

This reproachful charge has been recently advanced by a respectable body of planters, whose opportunities and situation in life should have shielded them from falling into such an error. The general meeting of delegates of the United Agricultural Societies of Virginia, in a memorial adopted on the 10th of January, deprecate the idea of being placed

“At the mercy of an association, who, competition being remo will no longer consider the intrinsic value of an article, or what price would afford a fair profit to the manufacturer, but how much the necessities of the consumer would enable them to extort”.