The Manufacture of Salt [pp. 793-794]

THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT.
In Syracuse, the greatest market of American salt, the cost
to the manufacturer per bushel is three times as much; it is
six or seven cents, in spite of the richness of the brine, which
has eighteen per cent. of salt. Why then so incredible a dif ference? Because, according to the report of Professor Cook,
of 1854, (page 14,) in the present method of manufacture by
solar evaporation in Syracuse, about three-fourtrs of the
evaporating power is lost, whereas, in France, the whole
power is controlled and so used as to proportionally reduce
thi cost of the manufacture, diminishing it from six or seven
cents to about two cents.
Now, the old manufacturer, or new enterprising capitalists,
have in this question two certainties. The first is a loss of
about three-quarters of the evaporating power in Syracuse,
certified, not by me, but by Professor Cook, in his official
report to the superintendent of the salt springs. The second
certainly is, that a better method of evaporation could be em ployed in the United States, as it is in France, producing three
times more salt, or the same quantity three times cheaper. It
is also certain that the natural and improved method of evapo ration has always produced the best salt fbr provisions. Being
then superior, by the economy and by the quality of its
products, this method may be adopted, with immense profit,
in all American salt works, and especially in the large manu factures at Syracuse.
The profits of this improved method are so sure, that it has
had a triumphant success, even with sea water, on the French
coast of the Mediterranean and the Italian coast of the Adriatic,
the first sea water having three or four per cent. salt, and the
second only two and a half. The brine of Syracuse having
eighteen per cent. will give, consequently, a great deal more
facilities for the application of the French method and of my
improvements made in Italy; and it assures four or five times
as much salt, and proportionally cheaper than in France.
But, as in Syracuse, the labor costs twice as much as in
France-labor costing a dollar a working day instead of forty
or fifty cents-this increased cost will diminish a little the
economy of the French method; so that this method will be
not five or four times more profitable but only three or two
times, and will produce in Syracuse the bushel of salt for about
one cent. instead of six or seven cents as now.
With a diminution of five cents per bushel, the total saving
on the five or six million bushels manufactured in Syracuse
will be two hundred and fifty thousand or three hundred
thousand dollars a year.
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