COPPER.
The manufactures of which this article is susceptible are also of great extent and utility. Under this description those of brass, of which it is the principal ingredient, are intended to be included.
The material is a natural production of the country. Mines of copper have actually been wrought and with profit to the undertakers, though it is not known that any are now in this condition. And nothing is easier than the introduction of it from other countries on moderate terms and in great plenty.
Coppersmiths and brass founders, particularly the former, are numerous in the United States, some of whom carry on business to a respectable extent.
To multiply and extend manufactories of the materials in question is worthy of attention and effort. In order to do this it is desirable to facilitate a plentiful supply of the materials, and a proper means to this end is to place them in the class of free articles. Copper, in plates, and brass, are already in this predicament; but copper, in pigs and bars, is not; neither is lapis calaminaris, which, together with copper and charcoal, constitute the component ingredients of brass. The exemption from duty, by parity of reason, ought to embrace all such of these articles as are objects of importation.
An additional duty on brass wares will tend to the general end in view. These now stand at 5 per cent, while those of tin, pewter, and copper are rated at 7½. There appears to be a propriety in every view in placing brass wares upon the same level with them, and it merits consideration whether the duty upon all of them ought not to be raised to 10 per cent.
LEAD.
There are numerous proofs that this material abounds in the United States and requires little to unfold it to an extent more than equal to every domestic occasion. A prolific mine of it has long been open in the southwestern part of Virginia, and under a public administration during the late war yielded a considerable supply for military use. This is now in the hands of individuals, who not only carry it on with spirit but have established manufactories of it at Richmond, in the same State.
The duties already laid upon the importation of this article, either in its unmanufactured or manufactured state, insure it a decided advantage in the home market, which amounts to considerable encouragement. If the duty on pewter wares should be raised, it would afford a further encouragement. Nothing else occurs as proper to be added.
FOSSIL COAL.
This, as an important instrument of manufactures, may without impropriety be mentioned among the subjects of this report.
A copious supply of it would be of great consequence to the iron branch. As an article of household fuel, also, it is an interesting production, the utility of which must increase in proportion to the decrease of wood by the progress of settlement and cultivation; andS. Doc. 172, 63-1—4
