Extract of a letter form Philadelphia, dated 25th May, 1789.

“I have travelled through several of the States and see no appearance of the poverty which you hear so much boast of in Britain–every where I meet rather with extravagance. Indeed they procure too easily to be frugal in their out-givings. All the manufactured goods imported from Europe are from Britain, and they cannot have goods equal in quality and price from any other place.

“I think I never say so many children as are in this country, every town, village, and farm-house, are full of them.–The people of this country increase like rabbits: It is supposed they double their numbers every fifteen years; but I should think they do it in a shorter period.–What a grand prospect for the sale of British goods, for when so many hundreds of millions of acres of land lye idle to be granted or purchased at a small price, the people of this country never will manufacture ; At present wages are high, and 1000 acres of land in the back settlements may be purchased for as many pence?.”


Citation: Glasgow Advertiser (Glasgow, United Kingdom), 28 August 1789, available at the Scissors and Paste Database, http://www.scissorsandpaste.net/13.