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The Fleece and the Loom: Wool Growers and Wool Manufacturers during the Civil War Decade
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
Abstract
Almost by definition American wool manufacturers and wool growers stood on opposite sides of any question relating to tariffs. Yet the Wool and Woolens Act of 1867 served the interests of both groups and was pushed through Congress and across the desk of a reluctant President by their determined joint efforts. The circumstances surrounding this historic episode of commercial alliance are revealing as to the forces that have shaped American tariff policy and provide an insight into incipient efforts on the part of the businessman to control his environment by co-operative as well as by competitive means.
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- Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1955
References
1 Report of the Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates from the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, and from the Several Organizations of the Wool Growers of the United States at Syracuse, New York, Dec. 13, 1865 (Boston, 1866), 11Google Scholar. Hereafter cited as Report of the Syracuse Convention.
2 This includes about a million and a half estimated but not enumerated in 1860. See Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, Agriculture (Washington, 1902), I, ccxiii–ccxivGoogle Scholar. The figure for the wool clip is that of Wright, Chester W., presented in Wool Growing and the Tariff; A Study in the Economic History of the United States (Boston, 1910), 176Google Scholar. Wright's estimate is midway between the census figure and an estimate of about 100,000,000 pounds made by George William Bond, a nineteenth-century Boston wool dealer.
3 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 21 May 1864.
4 Kendall to Henry S. Randall, 23 June 1867, New-York Historical Society. His remark refers to the years 1856 to 1861. In 1867 his flocks were roaming over about 15,000 acres of land, only one-third of which belonged to him.
5 Computed from the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Manufactures (Washington, 1865)Google Scholar.
6 Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Special Report on Wool and the Manufactures of Wool (Washington, 1887), 14Google Scholar.
7 Hayes, John L., The Fleece and the Loom, An Address before the National Association of Wool Manufacturers at the First Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Sept. 6, 1865 (Boston, 1866), 46.Google Scholar
8 United States Department of Agriculture, Special Report on the History and Present Condition of the Sheep Industry of the United States (Washington, 1892), 574.Google Scholar
9 Census of the State of New York for 1865 (Albany, 1867), 403Google Scholar, reports that 3,781,995 sheep were shorn in that state in 1865.
10 Wool and Manufactures of Wool, 14.
11 See a letter from Ammi Willard, a wool agent, in Moore's Rural New Yorker, 1 June 1861, and an article by H. D. Tellkampf, a prominent New York wool merchant, in the same paper for 2 Dec. 1865. See also Report of the Syracuse Convention, 57.
12 Country Gentleman, 5 Oct. 1865; Moore's Rural New Yorker, 18 June 1864, 14 Oct. 1865, 25 Nov. 1865.
13 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 4 Aug. 1860.
14 Ibid., 15 June 1861.
15 Ibid., 5 Jan. 1861.
16 Randall to Erastus Bigelow, 8 Feb. 1868, Bigelow Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
17 Published in Rochester in 1863.
18 Ohio Weekly Farmer, 17 Sept. 1864.
19 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 18 June 1864.
20 Ibid., 30 April 1864.
21 Randall to Morrill, 23 May 1862, Morrill Papers, Library of Congress.
22 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 15 Oct. 1864. This was written after Randall heard that the manufacturers proposed to organize.
23 Ibid., 1 Oct. 1864.
24 Ibid., 21 Nov. 1863.
25 Ibid., 7 Nov. 1863; Country Gentleman, 15 Oct. 1863.
26 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 26 March 1864.
27 Country Gentleman, 28 April 1864.
28 Ibid., 31 March 1864.
29 Meriam to Morrill, 9 April 1864, Morrill Papers, Library of Congress.
30 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 15 Oct. 1864.
31 Pomeroy to Henry L. Dawes, 22 March 1860, Dawes Papers, Library of Congress.
32 Bigelow to George Lyman, a Massachusetts carpet manufacturer, 26 March 1861, copy in Bigelow Papers.
33 Published in Boston, 1862. At the outset Bigelow indicated to George Lyman that he would write the book if others would pay the costs. Lyman lined up New England manufacturers behind the scheme. The costs amounted to over $8,000.
34 Bigelow to Morrill, 23 April 1864, copy in Bigelow Papers.
35 Bigelow sent the carpet to Washington for the instruction of the Committee on Ways and Means. Later, when Morrill proposed to buy it, Bigelow presented it to Mrs. Morrill. Bigelow to Morrill, 8 March 1864 and 17 March 1864, copies in Bigelow Papers. Two months later Bigelow informed Morrill that he was sending specimens of carpets concerning which further questions might arise. Bigelow to Morrill, 23 May 1864, draft in Bigelow Papers.
36 The Morrill Papers, Library of Congress, include several letters written to Morrill during the period of his candidacy by Vermonters interested both in wool and his success. For example, Charles Marsh reported on 4 March 1866 that there was a strong feeling among growers that the tariff treated them unfairly. He added: “And I am sorry to see that there is a disposition to hold you in a measure accountable for the existing state of things.” Another Vermonter, J. W. Colburn, in a letter dated 22 Feb. 1866, told Morrill that the rumor was afloat that Morrill could not be relied on by the wool interest because of ownership of manufacturing stock. Morrill replied — 28 Feb. 1866 — that all his woolen stock would not bribe a decent fence-viewer. He indicated that his investments in real estate, railroads, banks, and cotton mills exceeded those in woolen establishments.
37 Report of the Syracuse Convention, 42. This conversation was reported at the Convention by J. W. Colburn.
38 Erastus Bigelow in a speech at the wool trade dinner in Boston, 10 April 1877, Bulletin of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, VII, 182. Hereafter cited as Bulletin.
39 Ibid., XIX, 242.
40 Ms Minute Book, 1864-1891, in the Boston office of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers. Membership was not limited to those actually engaged in the manufacture of wool.
41 The pamphlet, published in Boston, was apparently designed to correct the views of some who were already members, to attract new members by overcoming suspicion and indifference, and to reassure other interests.
42 Ms Minute Book, 1864-1891.
43 Ms Minute Book, meetings of the Government, 1864-1870, in the Boston office of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers. All three men accepted.
44 Objects and Plan, 10.
45 Hayes was chief clerk in the Patent Office at the time of his appointment. Bigelow, an inventor, had made his acquaintance there. The Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1863 (38th Cong., 1st Sess., House Exec. Doc. No. 60)Google Scholar, written by Hayes, contains a defense of the patent system, instancing the beneficent results which flowed from Erastus Bigelow's invention of the power loom for weaving ingrain carpets.
46 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 15 Oct. 1864.
47 Ibid., 22 Oct. 1864.
48 Ibid., 17 Dec. 1864.
49 Hayes, The Fleece and the Loom, 63.
50 Bulletin, IX, 235.
51 Bulletin, II, 345.
52 Ibid., Hayes, John L., Second Annual Report (Boston, 1866), 4.Google Scholar
53 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 25 Nov. 1865.
54 Ms Minute Book, meetings of the Government, 1864-1870.
55 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 25 Nov. 1865.
56 Ibid. Randall's account of the meeting is much more detailed than the association's official record.
57 Ms Minute Book, meetings of the Government, 1864-1870.
58 Ibid. Randall's letter was copied into the association's records.
59 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 6 Jan. 1866.
60 Ms Minute Book, meetings of the Government, 1864-1870.
61 Ibid. Randall also sent a confidential letter to each president “urging them still more pointedly to send the right kind of delegates.” Randall to Bigelow, 17 Nov. 1865, Ms Minute Book, meetings of the Government, 1864-1870.
62 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 6 Jan. 1866.
63 The New York Weekly Tribune, 23 Dec. 1865, is the authority for the figure 100. The Report of the Syracuse Convention lists only 49 delegates from growers' organizations.
64 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 6 Jan. 1866.
65 Ibid.; Bulletin, IX, 236.
66 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 6 Jan. 1866.
67 The meeting is reported in fufi in Report of the Syracuse Convention.
68 Randall to Bigelow, 20 Dec. 1865, Bigelow Papers.
69 Report of the Syracuse Convention, 37-38.
70 Randall to Bigelow, 20 Dec. 1865, Bigelow Papers.
71 Colwell to Hayes, 22 Dec. [1865], probably a copy, Colwell Papers, Library, University of Pennsylvania. This is wrongly dated 1864. It is unsigned, and may be incomplete.
72 Bulletin, IX, 237.
73 Randall to D. D. T. Moore, 12 Feb. 1866, in Moore's Rural New Yorker, 24 Feb. 1866. Although this letter was not meant for publication, Moore printed it when illness prevented Randall's writing a more formal report.
74 Ms Minute Book, meetings of the Government, 1864-1870.
75 Bulletin, IX, 237-8.
76 As the meetings got under way, Randall, overcome by excitement and fatigue, was seized with a serious illness and had to withdraw and go to bed. But the meetings went on, the other members of his committee working, as he said, “like heroes.” He himself was able to be back again before many sessions were held. Randall had ample reason for being tired. In his letter to Moore he mentions having written over 1,200 letters since the negotiations with the manufacturers had begun. He seems never to have fully recovered from the illness which began in New York. His subsequent activities in behalf of the wool growers had necessarily to be somewhat restricted.
77 Hayes, Second Annual Report, 6-7; Moore's Rural New Yorker, 24 Feb. 1866.
78 Hayes, Second Annual Report, 7.
79 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 24 Feb. 1866.
80 Randall to Morrill, 29 Jan. 1866 [incorrectly dated 1865], and 30 Jan. 1866, Morrill Papers. Randall wanted a letter that could be shown to the growers to counteract efforts being made in Vermont to undermine Morrill's support among the growers. It is evident, however, that he also used the letter to good purpose in the discussions with the manufacturers.
81 Randall to Morrill, 12 Feb. 1866, Morrill Papers.
82 Morrill to Randall, 3 Feb. 1866, copy, Morrill Papers.
83 Hayes, Second Annual Report, 8.
84 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 24 Feb. 1866.
85 Joint Report of the Executive Committee of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, and of the Executive Committee of the National Wool Growers' Association, Addressed to the United States Revenue Commission, Feb. 9, 1866 (Boston, 1866), 22–23.Google Scholar
86 For example, see a letter from Slater, H. N. in the Nation, XXVI, 14 March 1878Google Scholar. The feeling that users of clothing wools did not get a fair deal caused many manufacturers to withdraw from the National Association of Wool Manufacturers and kept others from joining.
87 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 24 Feb. 1866.
88 “Report of the executive committee of the National Wool-growers' Association …,” in Reports of the Revenue Commission, 430-41.
89 Ibid., 440-1.
90 Bulletin, IX, 239-40.
91 “Statement of the executive committee of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers…,” in Reports of the Revenue Commission, 441-54.
92 Wool and Manufactures of Wool, lx.
93 “Special Report No. 13,” in Reports of the Revenue Commission, 353.
94 The nature of Bigelow's letter, which has not come to light, is inferred from Randall's reply, 23 July 1866, Bigelow Papers.
95 Hayes, Second Annual Report has a full account of the campaign. For an interesting sidelight on Hayes as a lobbyist see a letter from him to his wife, written 17 June 1866, quoted in Hayes, , “General Garfield and His Services to the National Wool Industry,” Bulletin, XI, 283–4Google Scholar.
96 Congressional Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., 28 June 1866, 3,466.
97 Hayes, Second Annual Report.
98 Ms Minute Book, meetings of the Government, 1864-1870.
99 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 8 Dec. 1866.
100 Hayes, Second Annual Report, 16.
101 Hayes, John L., Third Annual Report … (Boston, 1867)Google Scholar; Moore's Rural New Yorker, 19 Jan. 1867, 30 March 1867.
102 Hayes, Third Annual Report, 5.
103 U. S. Senate, 39th Cong., 2nd Sess., Exec. Doc. No. 2, Special Commissioner of the Revenue, Report (Washington, 1867), 50–60.
104 Senator E. D. Morgan to Randall, 23 Jan. 1867, New-York Historical Society; Hayes, Third Annual Report, 7.
105 Hayes, Third Annual Report, 7.
106 Hayes, John L., Considerations in Favor of the Provisions of House Bill No. 718, Respecting the Duties on Wool and the Manufactures of Wool … Accompanied by a Statement in Behalf of the National Wool Growers' Association (Washington, 1867)Google Scholar.
107 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 30 March 1867.
108 Ibid.
109 Hayes, Third Annual Report, 9-10.
110 Hayes, Third Annual Report, 10-12, details the steps taken.
111 Congressional Globe, 39th Cong., 2nd Sess., 2 March 1867, 1,958.
112 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 30 March 1867.
113 Hayes, Third Annual Report, 12.
114 Wells to Edward Atkinson, 6 March 1867, Atkinson Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
115 Ibid.
116 Wells to Atkinson, 5 March 1867, Atkinson Papers.
117 Boston Daily Advertiser, 5 March 1867. In his 5 March letter to Atkinson, Wells remarked: “The Iron and other interests are a good deal dissatisfied, and say that the two best horses have been taken out of the tariff team — which will make the road the harder to travel.”
118 Hayes, Third Annual Report, 13; National Wool Growers' Association, Secretary's Report, January, 1879 (1879), 8.
119 Boston Daily Advertiser, 5 March 1867.
120 Moore's Rural New Yorker, 30 March 1867.
121 Hayes, Third Annual Report, 27-28.
122 Ibid 17.
123 Ibid., 8.
124 Congressional Globe, 39th Cong., 2nd Sess., 13 Feb. 1867, 1,218. The following year the National Association of Wool Manufacturers participated in a movement which led to the repeal of the remaining tax on the woolen industry, as well as that on other industries.
125 Randall to McCulloch, 23 March 1867, in Moore's Rural New Yorker, 20 April 1867.
126 Morrill to Randall, 29 March 1867, New-York Historical Society.
127 Ibid.; McCulloch to Randall, 8 April 1867, New-York Historical Society.
128 Hayes, Third Annual Report, 21.
129 19 Sept. 1868, 10 Oct. 1868.
130 Randall to Bigelow, 1 Oct. 1868, Bigelow Papers.
131 Bulletin, I, 19-20.
132 Hugh McCulloch to William H. Seward, 22 Jan. 1869, New-York Historical Society.