During the period immediately following the war with Great Britain the importation of for eign goods increased so enormously that the market was not only glutted, but both the cotton and the woolen industries were paralyzed. In fact, so great was the fall in prices that many of the leading importers were almost ruined, while. there were but few merchants who were not seriously handicapped by the general stagna tion in nearly every line of trade. While this condition of affairs was partly due to the result of the war and the sudden reopening of our ports to foreign trade, this was by no means only or most serious influence which was at work. To tell the truth it is necessary to admit that the business woes of the republic were largely the result of a combined effort on the part of the foreign manufacturers to gain con trol of our markets. The reopening of Ameri-. can ports had given them the opportunity for which they had long been making preparations. The ad valorem .rates of duty which then pre vailed were low, and they seized the chance to unload the surplus stocks, which they had been quietly accumulating, upon the markets of the United States, with a view to crippling its tex tile mills and thus securing the trade of the country. The plot, serious as its effect was upon, American business affairs, was successful, not only for the time, but for several years suc ceeding 1815.
The census reports for the decades ending with 1820, 1830, 1840 and 1850, give little useful evidence respecting the advancement in the tex tile industries. We may judge that it was both steady and gradual by the record given of the increased production of the spindles and looms of the country, especially so far as cotton and woolen products were concerned, but it was not until the year 1850 that these manufactures reached the point at which it was possible to plan for a broader national and industrial de velopment. Many important processes and in ventions were also perfected during this time. Among these innovations there was the sewing machine, the power-loom, the knitting machine, and several other labor-saving devices which had a marvelous effect upon the future growth of the textile interests.
The history of American industries during the first half of the 18th century is a record of almost countless vicissitudes for which such events as wars, panics, financial depressions, conflagrations, and other adverse conditions were responsible, but, instead of being discour aged by such experiences with unavoidable misfortunes they seem to have had a tendency to spur the manufacturers and merchants to more united efforts. In the latter years of this period the inauguration of improved methods, not only in the matter of manufacture, but also in the distribution and sale of all products, tended to bring about a finer classification of goods than had hitherto been carried out, and, for the first time in the history of trade in this country, both the wholesale and the retail dealer began to make more or less separate distinctions in the goods which they sold. Importers and
wholesale dealers began to handle special or distinct lines, such as silks and dress-goods; cloths, coatings and cashmeres; notions and small wares; hosiery, underwear and gloves; laces and embroideries; white goods and linens; or hats and caps. Gradually, moreover, the same well-defined distinctions came to be rec ognized by the retail trade in the cities, al though the stores in the various towns and vil lages throughout the country continued to fol low their original policy of carrying a miscel laneous stock of merchandise. The inception of the clothing trade, and, later, of the ready made articles for women's and children's wear, helped to make the classification still more minute, while the inauguration of the commer cial traveler system, and the general utilization of the commercial agency which followed, were important factors in helping to bring about the new conditions, the dawn of which was heralded in 1850. In this year the value of our cotton and woolen products amounted to fully $112, 000,000, while the total output of our combined textile interests aggregated $129,000,000. At this time our imports of foreign ap proximated $59,000,000.
There were, of course, several factors which played a part in that betterment of conditions that began to be apparent about the middle of the century. The opening of the South and West, the establishment of new towns occa sioned by the institution of new industries, and other evidences of prosperity, resulted in a larger and more diversified demand upon the manufacturers. Prior to 1850, practically no domestic commission business had been done in New York. Transactions of this kind had been confined to Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia. The bulk of the product of the New England mills went to Boston. Philadelphia, which had some 20 commission houses engaged in the sale of domestic goods, was the chief market for that product which was then, designated as 'blue and which included denims, checks, stripes, etc. At this time large quantities of dry-goods were also sold at Hartford, Conn., but New York, which had always been the centre for imported was not recognized by the domestic commission houses until the early fifties, when some of the Boston estab lishments opened branch offices in that city. Immediately, however, these offices sprang into such importance that it was not long before they were doing a greater bulk of business than the parent houses, and it was due to this reason that, one by one, the great Eastern mills began to open regular agencies in New York. In those days New York was so confined as to area that there were no retail houses above Howard street, and all the wholesale and jobbing busi ness was conducted further down town, largely on lower Broadway, Cedar, Pine, Liberty, and Broad streets.