STATEMENT C-Continued.

STATEMENT showing the number and description of naval vessels that have been repaired at each and all the navy yards since the last war with England.

The only cases ascertained by the department, of any vessels, during the period from 1st January, 1815, to the 1st of January, 1832, that arrived at any naval depots, and other ports, to which they were not ordered, and the reasons thereof, are as follows:

The Macedonian, frigate of 36 guns, which had sailed on the 20th September, 1818, for the Pacific ocean, put in to the port of Norfolk, on the 10th October, 1818, in consequence of the damage sustained from a violent gale at sea.

The frigate Constellation, on the 2d August, 1831, was ordered to return to the United States; but not to leave the Mediterranean station until November, in case the commander of the squadron-who was in ill healthdid not himself return in her. She was directed to put in to Portsmouth, N. H., Boston, or New York, as the state of the weather and season, on her arrival off the coast, might render most safe or convenient. She, however, left the Mediterranean early in October, under the command of Captain Wadsworth, who came home in her, and put in to the port of Norfolk, Va. From the letters of Commodore Biddle and Captain Wadsworth, it appears that the orders alluded to had not been received when she sailed.

2

E.

Statement of the length of time a rendezvous has been kept open for the recruiting of seamen, at each naval depot, so far as ascertained: but from the imperfect returns on file, especially before A. D. 1825, the length of time at some of the rendezvous must probably have been somewhat longer.

SIR: The Commissioners of the Navy duly received your letter of the 16th instant.

On the 13th instant, they had the honor of reporting "the number and description of vessels of war built and repaired, since the late war, at each navy yard in the United States;" and as to "the difference in the expenses (if any) which has attended the building and repairing vessels of war at the several naval depots," they would respectfully observe, that, under the system pursued in procuring supplies, it would be extremely difficult, if not impracticable, to state with any precision any differences that may exist in such expenses at the different yards. If the places where vessels are built or repaired furnished all the materials and labor necessary in building or repairing, and the vessels were of the same size, constructed upon the same principle, and required the same degree of repair, then a satisfactory estimate might be formed as to the differences in the expense of building or reparing them at the several navy yards. But when supplies are required for either of these purposes, or indeed for any other navy purpose, the practice has been to advertise for them, and to contract with the lowest bidder, without regard to his residence; hence we have never procured, at any one place, all the materials required in the construction or repair of any one of our vessels.

As to the labor necessary, we should greatly err were we to assume the per diem wages as the criterion by which to judge of the relative expense of building or repairing vessels at the several navy yards- so much depends upon the quantum of labor performed by each individual, and upon the different periods of the year when it is required to be done. Still, however,

The ten sloops of war, built a few years since, cost, in materials and labor,

These sloops were all very nearly of the same size, and did not vary so essentially in their models as to occasion any great difference in the

of building them.

I am, with great respect,

expense

Sir, your most obedient servant,

JNO. RODGERS.

Hon. L. WOODBURY,

Secretary of the Navy.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, May 5th, 1832.

SIR: The enclosed return from Pensacola was received this morning, and is now forwarded, with a view to complete the returns and statements sent yesterday, under the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th of March past.

I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully, sir,

The Hon. ANDREW STEVENSON,

Your obedient servant,

LEVI WOODBURY.

Speaker of the House of Reps.

STATEMENT of the number and description of vessels of war which have arrived at, and departed from, the United States' naval station, Pensacola, from the 18th April, 1829, to the 1st January,

1832.

The schooners Shark and Grampus, and sloop Florida, were repaired at this yard; the other

1st Session.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

MEMORIAL

OF

MANUFACTURERS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,

OF BALTIMORE,

Praying protection in the manufacture of those articles by additional duty.

MAY 7, 1832.

Referred to the Committee on Manufactures.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:

Your memorialists, in behalf of themselves and the entire class of manufacturers of musical instruments in the United States, respectfully submit to the wisdom and discretion of Congress, some considerations for a change in the duties on the importation of these articles, tending at once to enhance the revenue, and to protect the capital, skill, and industry, so extensively engaged in this branch of domestic manufacture, and without any corresponding advance in the price of the article in this country.

Your memorialists, after a full and accurate examination into the state and condition of this branch of domestic manufacture, are enabled to represent that a numerous, respectable, and industrious body of skilful artisans, with a large capital, is employed in this country in the manufacture of these instruments, and, principally, of piano fortes. The number employed in the manufacture of piano fortes being reckoned at twelve hundred, and of organs, drums, fifes, clarionets, violins, guitars, and other musical instruments, at three hundred; that the profits of the domestic manufacture are already highly taxed by the existing imposts on the most costly of the materials, which now can only be procured from foreign countries; but that the principal oppression under which this branch of domestic manufacture labors, is a most unfair and injurious competition from abroad, and, more particularly, from Germany; that the injurious effects of this competition result from no superiority whatever in the mechanism of the imported article, which, at the best, is of no better, and, generally, of inferior quality to the same kind of instrument manufactured in this country; but these injurious effects result from an unfair and impolitic advantage which the existing tariff affords the foreign manufacturer and exporter, and of which they spare no artifice