From [Henry Niles.] "Morality of Manufactures," Niles Weekly Register. 25: 637 (November 29, 1823). 195-196.

Many persons apprehend that large manufacturing establishments are the great seats of vice and immorality. Whatever may be the case in Europe, they are not so in the United States, nor will they be, until our population is much more dense than it is, and our immense tracts of vacant lands are occupied: then, if the people shall also have lost the rights and privileges which they at present enjoy, perhaps the manufacturers may become as corrupt as the population of some of our cities is now.

An able correspondent of the New York "Statesman" gives the following account of a visit to the Matteawan Factory, near the Fish-kill mountains, when the proprietor, Mr. Schenck, gave him the following narrative:

"Before I commenced the erection of these works, said Mr. S. and established in this place the branch of cotton manufacture, the process of which you have been just examining, the man who built, and now owns that neat little tenement, had no place to shelter himself and his numerous family, but the wretched hovel which you may observe at a few rods distance from his present abode. At that time, continued my informant, his only occupation was that of fishing or rambling in the mountains in pursuit of such game as chance might throw in his way. Of the little he obtained by this occasional and precarious mode of subsistence, a large proportion was expended in the purchase of rum; in the use of which he indulged to such an extent as to brutalize his faculties, and render him a pest to society, as well as a curse to his family; which he kept in a state of the most deplorable and squalid poverty. Of his children three of four were daughters, of various ages, from seven or eight to fourteen years; these, said Mr. S. on commencing my establishment, I took into the factory; where, from that period to the present time, they have always had constant and regular employment. The proceeds of their first week's labor, amounting to six or seven dollars, when paid and taken home to their parents, was an amount which, it is probable, they never before at any one time possessed. The almost immediate effect on the mind of the father appears to have been a conviction that his children, instead of being a burden which he despaired of supporting, and, therefore, never before made an effort to accomplish, would, on the contrary, by the steady employment now provided for them, be able, by their industry, not only to sustain themselves, but also contribute to the maintenance and support of the other members of the family. From that moment, it would appear, as if he had determined to reform his vicious habits, and to emerge from that state of degradation and wretchedness into which he had plunged himself and family. He has done so, said Mr. S. and, instead of being a pest, he has become a useful member of society; instead of being a curse to his family, and occupying with them that wretched hovel yonder, fit only for swine to wallow in, he has, by his own exertions, aided the industry and good conduct of his children, lately purchased the soil, and erected the comfortable cottage, which said Mr. S. smiling, appears so powerfully to attract your notice."

I have also to relate a case that came under my own personal observation. Some years since, I designed to write for the Register an account of the improvements on the Brandywine, and for that purpose leisurely walked five miles up its banks, accompanied by two gentlemen of refined minds and extensive observation. It was in the month of May or early June, and one of the most delightful days that I ever passed in my life. The scenery is among the most lively, picturesque and romantic, I suppose, in the world, and the improvements have cost millions. I well knew the country when it all was as covered with huge rocks, with here and there only a solitary house or mill squeezed into a small space of cleared land--now there is a continual succession of mills and elegant houses and comfortable cottages, with pretty extensive fields and gardens, wrested from the late rock covered wild, and what remains of the primitive state of the country, always causes one to stop and reflect on the labor bestowed and money expended to bring the major part of it to its present improved condition. . . .

The people who inhabited the borders of this stream, and especially those on the north side of it, were as wild and as rude as the country itself. A good many of them thought that "learning was a dangerous thing" and, in general, they were poor and miserable. They were proverbial for their dissoluteness and profligacy. But they have changed in their manners and habits, almost as much as the shores of their beautiful stream have been changed and comfortable buildings have taken place of wretched huts, that every moment seemed ready to fall down on the heads of their owners, through old age and from want of repair.

These general remarks seemed necessary to lead to the particular thing which I wish to mention. On the Sunday morning after my walk, I visited one of the school houses which the manufacturers have built, and at which they require the attendance of the children employed by them. There were about ninety present, male and female, all dressed in clean clothes, and some of them, especially the girls, very neatly; and they looked hearty and happy. The business of the morning was opened with a prayer, and a hymn was then sung in a very agreeable stile, with much more harmony than could have been expected. The head teacher of the day then struck his desk with his hand, and the classes instantly formed. The Lancasterian system was used, and the monitors were at their posts, at the head of their little squads, in a moment. Not a word was heard, unless it related to the matters of instruction going on. I passed through the school. Some little ones were learning their alphabet, others spelling, reading, writing, cyphering, &c. Several, who then read or wrote pretty well, were pointed out to me as having been utterly destitute of the knowledge of a letter some few months before--others, who read and wrote as well as children of their age generally do, had received all the rudiments of their education at this school! . . . . When I looked at the school and recollected what the poor people of the neighborhood were twenty five or thirty years before--though not used "to the melting mood," I could hardly refrain from shedding tears. And the gentlemen who had lived a long time in those parts, assured me, that, though the population had been so much increased, there was much less of vice and immorality than had heretofore prevailed, and that petty depredations on orchards, &c. were more rare than they had ever known them to be. In short, that the state of society had improved, as well as the face of the country--about which I could not entertain a doubt, for I read the history of it in the people's eyes.