regulations of his establishment always afford. His machinery and mills,
which constitute a large part of his capital, are in the hands of
persons who, by their skill, are enabled to use them to their utmost
capacity, and to prevent any unnecessary depreciation.

Each operative in a cotton-mill, according to the estimate of Mr. Mills,
may be supposed to represent from one thousand to twelve hundred dollars
of the capital invested in the mill and its machinery. It is only from
the most diligent and economical use of this capital that the proprietor
can expect a profit. A fraction less than one half of the cost of
manufacturing common cotton goods when a mill is in full operation, is
made up of charges which are permanent. If the product is reduced in
the ratio of the capacity of the two classes of operatives mentioned in
this statement, it will be seen that the cost will be increased in a
compound ratio. Mr. Mills expresses the opinion "that the best
cotton-mill in New England, with such operatives only as the forty-five
mentioned above, who are unable to write their names, would never yield
the proprietor a profit; that the machinery would be soon worn out, and
he would be left, in a short time, with a population no better than that
which is represented by the importation from England. I can not imagine
any situation in life," he continues, "where the want of a common school
education would be more severely felt, or be attended with worse
consequences, than in manufacturing villages; nor, on the other hand, is
there any where such advantages can be improved with greater benefit to
all parties. There is more excitement and activity in the minds of
people living in masses, and if this expends itself in any of the
thousand vicious indulgences with which they are sure to be tempted, the
road to destruction is traveled over with a speed exactly corresponding
to the power employed."

H. Bartlett, Esq., of Lowell, who has been engaged ten years in
manufacturing, and has had the constant charge of from four hundred to
nine hundred persons during that time, has come in contact with a very
great variety of character and disposition, and has seen mind applied to
production in the mechanic and manufacturing arts possessing different
degrees of intelligence, from gross ignorance to a high degree of
cultivation, and he has no hesitation in affirming that he finds the
best educated to be the most profitable help. _Even those females w