A letter to the citizens of Pennsylvania, on the necessity of promoting agriculture, manufactures, and the useful arts. By George Logan, M.D. Logan, George, 1753-1821. Approx. 27 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 27 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI : 2005-10. N28400 N28400 Evans 37840 APW7352 37840 99013506

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 Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 37840. (Evans-TCP ; no. N28400) Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 37840) Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 37840) A letter to the citizens of Pennsylvania, on the necessity of promoting agriculture, manufactures, and the useful arts. By George Logan, M.D. Logan, George, 1753-1821. Lancaster County Society, for Promoting of Agriculture, Manufactures and the Useful Arts. 28 p. ; 20 cm. (8vo) Printed by W. & R. Dickson, North Queenstreet., Lancaster [Pa.], : March 14, 1800. "The Constitution of the Lancaster County Society, for Promoting of Agriculture, Manufactures, and the Useful Arts."--p. [13]-21. "An act for the promotion of agriculture, manufactures, and the useful arts."--p. 22-28; "... read in the House of Representatives of this state ..."

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 eng Agriculture -- Societies, etc. -- Pennsylvania -- Lancaster County. Pennsylvania -- Economic conditions. 2004-11 Assigned for keying and markup 2004-12 Keyed and coded from Readex/Newsbank page images 2005-02 Sampled and proofread 2005-02 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion

A LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA, ON THE NECESSITY OF PROMOTING Agriculture, Manufactures, and the useful Arts.

BY GEORGE LOGAN, M. D.

LANCASTER, Printed by W. & R. DICKSON, north Queenstreet. MARCH 14, 1800.
A LETTER, &c. TO THE CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Fellow citizens,

THE following plan of an association, intended to promote Agriculture, Manufactures, and the useful Arts, has been adopted by a large number of respectable Citizens at the Seat of Government. Should it meet with your approbation; your countenance and support to establish similar Societies, within the several Counties of this Commonwealth, will undoubtedly contribute to the Happiness and Prosperity of our common Country.

It is more than twenty years since Pennsylvania has taken her station among the Nations of the Earth, as a free, sovereign, and independent Republic. Our political existence commenced in a manner that reflected on us the greatest glory; and the first dawnings of the American Empire seemed to presage its future greatness. Our Country possessed every thing necessary to constitute a truly independent and happy People. No Country ever enjoyed these requisites in a higher degree. Such were our prospects; but we have tarnished the rising glory of our Country, and involved it in difficulties and distress. We have wantonly sported with the fair portion allotted to us by Heaven. We have departed from those plain and simple manners, and that frugal mode of living, which are absolutely necessary in the infant state of our Country, and best suited to our Republican form of Government.

A vast work remains to be done, that requires all the Virtues and Abilities of every individual Citizen to accomplish. The World expects measures to evince, that our contest with Great Britain was for a noble opportunity of promoting the general good of our Country; and not for the poor purpose of gratifying inferior designs. Guided by these laudable views, you will generously disdain any other conduct, than that of diffusing benefits to your Fellow-citizens. Your enlightened minds will readily determine, that he is an Enemy to the State, who treats his Fellow-citizens with neglect.

In a State of civil Society, man must be considered as a Member of a great political Family. He is connected with his Fellow-citizens, by ties of interest and benevolent attachment; and his social affections must extend to the whole Community of which he is a Member. He should feel the Safety, and the common Welfare, intimately connected with his own; and he should think nothing unimportant to himself, which concerns the welfare of his Country. This it is that constitutes what is called Patriotism, a principle that excites and cherishes every generous sentiment we possess. Since then, it is equally our interest as duty to promote the Welfare and Honor of our Country, we should make every possible exertion to establish and maintain both. The public Good and our own, are, with respect to their ultimate effects, closely united; for which reason it is incumbent on us to do every thing in our power to enrich our Courtry, and to prevent its disgrace.

Upon the Citizens of Pennsylvania is turned the attention of Europe, observing, whether we know how to use, as well as how to acquire, Empire; whether we are to be admired, or despised; in fine, whether, left as we are to ourselves, upon this fair and solemn trial, before the Nations of the Earth, the cause of Republican Liberty shall be justified by its effects, or shall be condemned as the introducer of more Calamities than it removes. With you is the sacred Trust of realizing the Blessing of Freedom, and of improving, to the best advantage, the signal favors which our Country now enjoys. But, solid advantages can never be attained in a Commonweatlth, unless the Members of the Community are impressed with an affectionate regard for each other. Every individual should constantly remember that he is a Citizen; that Heaven itself has formed the Relationship, with all its obligations, by endowing man with Reason, and framing his nature for civil Society: That, of course, he ought to love his Companions, and be as anxious and active for their combined Happiness and Honor, as for his own Welfare; and he should firmly believe that this is his true Interest, as well as his inviolable Duty.

It was by thinking and acting in this manner, that the Citizens of Greece and Rome, in their better days, elevated those Republics to the eminent rank in Fame, which, even at this distant period of time, engages the universal applause of Mankind. Nor should it be forgot, that it was ceasing thus to think and act, that their degenerate Posterity resigned themselves to feuds and discords; and, with mutual malice, undermined that strength, which all their foreign Foes could not conquer. At length they sunk together into irrecoverable confusion and utter destruction. More recent, and equally mournful, examples of this political Truth, might be adduced.

The same vices produce, 〈◊〉 different regions and ages, the same consequences; and the factions and Divisions among Citizens, are still found to change the enraged Adversaries, blindly intent only on the success of their own ignoble quarrels, into the humble Slaves of a Tyrant.

Let us not, with presumptuous rashness, suppose that we can imitate their Faults, without experiencing their Fate. Their Misfortunes, and the causes of them, have been providentially transmitted to us, as faithful Warnings. All the succeeding improvements of the human mind, are presented to us for our use, inviting to an observance of them by the most sublime considerations. To offend against such knowledge, thus munificently offered to our use, is despitefully to reprobate the best Gifts of the bountiful Creator, and impiously to renounce that kind and social temper, which his immutable Law makes the foundation of all private Happiness. May the People of Pennsylvania be governed by better Principles, so that, whilst every Citizen is stedfastly seeking to promote the best interests of his Country, the collected force of the whole may be uniformly exerted to supply that common fund of Prosperirity, from which every individual must draw his share. May no contention remain among us, but who shall best serve his Country.

Let Pennsylvania not only exhibit flourishing Inclosures and Harvests, but the comfortable Houses of industrious Artists and Manufacturers. It is impossible to contemplate the progress which we have already made, without inspiring a desire to progress in every useful Occupation. The certainty of its being possible, affords sufficient encouragement to persevere with Ardor and Enthusiasm.

In an age, also, when Philosophical Inquiries have universally pervaded the civilized World, and when human researches have been directed to the attainment of useful knowledge; the Arts and Sciences have arrived to a degree of improvement, that justly distinguishes the present Century, as the aera of refined Genius and Learning; Objects of Science are, however, continually acquiring new Lights, and the Arts are still advancing towards he highest perfection, of which they are susceptible; Perseverance in the investigation of the nature, properties, and the uses of things must necessarily lead to further attainments in useful knowledge.

For your encouragement in this patriotic undertaking, it may be observed, that the greatest part of the establishments which have taken place in the World, calculated to promote the useful Arts, have been brought about by the exertions of private Citizens: Yet, notwithstanding a degree of presumptuous confidence, which always accompanies grand and useful undertakings; we must not disguise the Opposition and Difficulties you will meet with, from interested Foreigners, who have been too long in the habit of furnishing our Country with those articles, which we now desire to have supplied by the Ingenuity and Industry of our own Citizens. It is high time, that the influx of foreign Manufactures and the adoption of foreign Fashions, should not destroy our National Character, or impede our progress to a situation truly independent.

Proud of the Advantages which our own Country will afford, and which our own Labour will procure; let us disdain to be the servile Imitators of other Nations, or to adopt foreign manners inconsistent with our Republican form of Government. The smallness of your numbers, in any particular District, should not discourage you from establishing patriotic Societies: In small Societies, men are encouraged to communicate their sentiments freely; and there is scarcely any man whose Communications will not, on some occasions, be of use. Nor should slight difficulties in the undertaking be any obstacle to your perseverance. Make but a sincere beginning, and the immediate Advantages, that will result from your Associations, will stimulate to a laudable perseverance.

The breast of every Republican Citizen will glow with the importance of the cause in which he is engaged. No man deserves Confidence, who is shaken by every wind, or who can endure no Adversities in the cause in which he may be engaged.

THE CONSTITUTION OF The Lancaster County Society, For promoting of Agriculture, Manufactures, and the useful Arts.
PREAMBLE.

INDEPENDENT Communities do not owe their Characters to the Soil which they occupy; but to their Progress in the useful Arts. To those Causes are to be attributed, not only the difference in the Characters and the Manners of Nations, but their Prosperity, Strength, and Happiness. On this account, Political Justice requires, that every Individual, in becoming a Member of a particular Society, should adopt a mode of conduct consistent with his relative situation to such Society. Men would never have associated together, if they had not expected, that, in consequence of such Association, they would mutually conduce to the Advantage and Happiness of each other. This is the real Purpose, the genuine Foundation of civil Society; and, as far as this Purpose is answered, so far does civil Society answer the end of its institution.

Upon the Emancipation of our Country from the Political Yoke of Great Britain, we deemed and called ourselves a free and independent Commonwealth: But there are means of inferior and indirect Subjugation, from which our Country is not yet emancipated.

The Citizens of Pennsylvania are yet beholden to the British, for the determinations of her Courts, for her Maxims of Commercial Policy, and for many Political Prejudices.

We are dependent on Great Britain for almost every Article of Clothing we wear, for a great part of the Furniture of our Houses, for the Instruments of our amusements, and for the means of our Defence.

Nor is it only for Articles of immediate import from that Country, that we are dependent on Great Britain. The dangerous preeminence of her Navy: A Navy that Domineers, with impunity, on the Ocean; that incessantly threatens the Peace of the Earth; that carries the devastations of War, upon every pretended insult, from the Shores of that Island, to the remotest parts of the Globe; that imperiously forces every Maritime Country to take part in, or suffer by her quarrels; and prohibits, at pleasure, the Commercial Intercourse of the World. From the dangerous preeminence of this Navy we, also, are perpetually liable to be interdicted from those Articles of Consumption, which Expedience or Necessity have induced us to seek for from other Countries: And yet our Clothing, imported from Great Britain, is made tributary to support this very Navy; which is daily committing the most wanton Depredations on our Commerce. Nor is it an Evil of trifling magnitude, that the Credit, almost forced upon our Merchants by the cupidity of the British Traders, has overwhelmed our Country with British Merchandize, far beyond the real Wants of the Consumer. It has excited our Farmers to needless Expense, and involved them in Difficulties, for Articles of mere Luxury: It has rendered the plain, but comfortable, Manufactures, which employed the leisure hours of their Wives and Daughters, disreputable, because unfashionable. It has made the Farmer tributary to the Storekeeper; the Storekeeper, to the Merchant of Philadelphia; the Merchant of Philadelphia, to the Merchant of Great Britain. The Credit thus given, can, at any time, be withdrawn; the Debts thus contracted, can, at any time, be demanded; and the Peace and Comfort of a numerous Body of American Citizens are now, and have long been, at the Mercy of British Merchants, and of the British Court. Hence are our Commercial Towns filled with British Subjects, who conduct our Trade; with British Agents, who drain our Wealth; with British Politics, British Interests, and British Influence. To lessen, in part, these enormous Evils; to render our Citizens, in their private as well as in their public Capacities, really as they ought to be, independent of Foreign Countries, for Articles which the Necessities, or the Comforts, of Life require; and to suppress the Temptations to improvident Expense; We propose a general encouragement to Agriculture, Manufactures, and the useful Arts. An encouragement that shall make the use of our own Productions and Manufactures the fashionable Articles of Consumption; at least in every Circle of American Republicans.

Not that it is our Desire to make this, in the common acceptation of the Word, a Manufacturing Country: Nor do we contemplate any Manufactured Article for an export Trade; nor any Manufacture among ourselves, which the natural Resources of our Country may not make profitable.

Still less are we desirous of introducing in this happy Country, that baneful system of European Management which dooms the human Faculties to be smothered, and Man to be converted into a Machine. We want not that unfeeling plan of Manufacturing Policy, which has debilitated the Bodies, and debased the Minds, of so large a Class of People as the Manufacturers of Europe.

Nor are we ambitious to see a Manufacturing Capitalist, as in the great Manufacturing Towns of Europe, enjoy his Luxuries, or fill his Coffers, by paring down the hard-earned Wages of the laborious Artists he employs.

But the Object of our Association is, to procure, from the fertile Soil of Pennsyvania, every Production it is capable of affording; and, from the Labour and ingenuity of independent Citizens, every Article of Manufacture and of the useful Arts, necessary to render our Country happy, prosperous, and truly independent.

ARTICLE I.

The Society shall be called The Lancaster County Society, for promoting Agriculture, Manufactures, and the useful Arts.

ART. II.

The Society shall hold monthly Meetings on the first Wednesday of every Month.

ART. III.

The first Wednesday in September, in every Year, shall be the Annual Meeting of the Society; at which Meeting a President, a Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer, and a Committee of Correspondence shall be elected, by Ballot.

ART. IV.

The President shall preside at all the Meetings of the Society, regulate the Debates, determine Questions of Order; and, in case of an equality of Voices in any Business, he shall have a casting Vote. He shall subscribe all Acts of the Society; and may call Special Meetings.

ART. V.

The Vice-president, in absence of the President, shall have all the Powers and Authorities of the President. If the President and Vice-presiden be absent at any Meeting of the Society, a Chairman may be elected, pro tem. by a majority of the Members present.

ART. VI.

The Secretary shall keep fair and regular Entries of the proceedings of the Society at their several Meetings, register the names of Members, and give Public Notice of the Time and Place of the Meetings of the Society.

ART. VII.

The Committee of Correspondence shall consist of twelve Members, who shall be Agents of Information; four for Agriculture, four for Manufacture, and four for the useful Arts; and whose Duty it shall be, jointly or severally, to correspond with similar Institutions, or with Individuals on the several Objects of the Society: And they shall, at every monthly Meeting of the Society, communicate such Information as they may have received or acquired, tending to improve the Agriculture, Manufactures, and useful Arts.

ART. VIII.

As the most unequivocal manner of giving Encouragement to American Manufactures, consists in making use of them, and by that mean creating a demand for them; it is expected, that every Member of the Society shall be clothed, at their Annual Meeting, in the Manufactures of his Country.

ART. IX.

Every Member of similar Societies shall be regarded as an honorary Member of this Society.

ART. X.

The Society shall engage a Storekeeper to receive and sell, on Commission, any Thread, Woollen, Linen, or any other domestic Manufacture brought to him; by which means every Member of this Society may have a safe Deposit for the Produce of his Industry and Ingenuity; and persons, wishing to be supplied with American Manufactures, may know where to apply.

ART. XI.

Every Member of the Society shall subscribe this Constitution; at which time he shall pay to the Treasurer, not less than one Dollar; and he shall also pay a monthly contribution of one-eighth of a Dollar, towards supporting the Funds of the Society.

ART. XII.

The Funds of the Society shall be distributed to the Citizens of Lancaster County, in Premiums, in such Manner and on such Occasions as a Majority of the Society may direct.

ART. XIII.

The Treasurer shall be responsible for all Monies he may receive on account of the Society: And he shall pay no money, belonging to the Society, except by an Order of the President, signed by the Secretary.

The following Bill was read in the House of Representatives of this States a few Days previous to their Adjournment; and is now submitted to the Consideration of the Public. An Act for the Promotion of Agriculture, Manufactures, and the useful Arts.

Sect. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That so soon as fifty Freeholders, or more, in the city of Philadelphia, or any county of this State, shall associate themselves together, under the name of the Society for promoting Agriculture, Manufactures, and the useful Arts, in and for the city or such county; and shall sign a paper, promising to pay to the Treasurer of the said Society, the sum of one dollar, each, or more, annually, for the purposes herein after mentioned; and shall cause such paper to be filed in the Office of the Prothonotary; every such Society shall be, and by force of this Act become, one body politic and corporate, in deed and in law, with perpetual succession, and all the rights, liberties, privileges, and franchises incident to a Corporation, for all and every the purposes of this Act; and to admit new Members upon the terms aforesaid, as often as they please: And thereupon the said Society shall or may meet at the county Town on the Wednesday of the next Court of Common Pleas after the said subscription-paper shall be filed, and choose, by a majority of votes, out of their number, one President, one Vice-president, one Secretary, one Treasurer, and Committee of Correspondence and Information; who shall be willing to contribute their services, and attend to the duties of their Offices, without fee or reward, and who shall be such Officers of the said Society for the year thence next following: And other such Officers shall be chosen at a stated meeting, to be held on the Wednesday of the same term, annually, forever thereafter. And the said Society shall meet on the Wednesday of every term of the County Courts, and at other times when the President and a majority of the Members present shall think proper to summon them, in such manner as shall be by them prescribed, for the purpose of making Bye-laws, and transacting the business to them committed: And they may adjourn from time to time, as they shall see cause.

Sect. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That, at the next assessment of the city and county Rates, after any such Society shall be established or organized, in the city or any county within this State, the county Commissioners shall, and they are hereby enjoined and required to lay and assess, and cause to be levied and collected, in the same manner and by the same persons, as the city and county taxes are laid, assessed, levied, and collected, an additional sum of fifty dollars for every Member which the city or such county is entitled to elect and send to the House of Representatives, in and for this Commonwealth, and to cause the same to be paid to the Treasurer of the said Society; to be expended, together with their annual subscriptions for the uses herein after mentioned.

Sect. 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every such Society, at some general meeting thereof, shall fix and determine upon such articles of Agricultural Production, or improvement in Manufactures or the useful Arts, as, in their judgment, are entitled to encouragement by Rewards; and shall fix, ascertain, and publish, in such manner as shall be directed by their Bye-laws, such Rewards, and the conditions whereupon the same shall become due and payable to the person or persons who shall, by his, her, or their skill or industry, according to such Conditions, become entitled to the same, as they shall think will be beneficial to the county: And the said Society shall, at their stated meetings, or at such time and places as shall be prescribed by the Bye-laws of such Society, meet at the County Town, for the purpose of hearing the Parties applying for such Rewards, and of examining their proofs or specimens; and shall have full power and authority to determine, whether any or either of the Applicants is entitled to the Rewards so advertised, according to the terms and conditions thereto annexed; and to draw Orders, to be signed by the President, on the Treasurer, for the amount of such Rewards, in favor of the person to whom the same shall be adjudged; which Orders the Treasurer shall pay out of the monies in his hands, arising from the said taxes and subscriptions.

Sect. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every Society established by virtue of this Act shall, once in every Year, exhibit to the City and County Courts, an account of the sums by them received from the produce of the said Taxes and subscriptions; and how and in what manner, to what person, and for what Rewards the same hath been paid and expended: And the City and County Courts shall give the said Accounts in charge to the Grand Jury of the City and County, who shall examine the same, and report to the Court their approbation or disapprobation thereof, or of any part thereof; and no Premium or Reward disapproved or reported by the Grand Jury at one Exhibition of the said Accounts, to be improper or not allowable, shall be allowed by the said Society, in the following year, for similar Productions, Manufactures, or Improvements.

Sect. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That each and every Treasurer of any such Society shall give Bond, with one or more Surety or Sureties, and in such penalty as shall be required by the Society, conditioned for the faithful performance of the trust in 〈◊〉 reposed, and for the payment of all Money which shall come into his hands belonging to such Society, from the taxes, or subscriptions aforesaid, to such person or persons as the Society shall order.

Sect. 6. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Rewards for promoting or increasing the Culture of the White or Italian Mulberry-tree; the raising of Silk; the making of Sugar from the Maple-tree; the extraction of Salt from the Ashes of vegitables; the introduction of any new Grass, Grain, or Root into Cultivation; the Invention of any new and useful Instrument in Husbandry; the raising and Manufactoring of Wool, Hemp, or Flax in greater quantities, or improving the value thereof; the making of Butter and Cheese in any given quantities, and of the best qualities; or any improvement in all and every the articles aforesaid, or any other improvement in Manufactures or the useful Arts; shall always be considered by the said Society, and by the Grand Jury of the City and of every County as objects of the Rewards contemplated by this Act: And Rewards allowed in consequence thereof 〈◊〉 be always allowed by Grand Juries, in the accounts of such Society; and shall not be censured, if they use moderation in granting the same.