[22] In 1783 Massachusetts had no fewer than sixty-three distilleries. In 1783 this state distilled 1,475,509 gallons of spirits from foreign, and 11,490 gallons from domestic materials. From 1790 to 1800 in the United States, 23,148,404 gallons of spirits were distilled from molasses; of this 6,322,640 gallons were exported, leaving a quantity for home consumption so large as to supply its own comment. Low grain prices, together with the difficulty of gaining access to the molasses markets, hastened a transition to grain distilling near the end of the eighteenth century, with the result that in 1810 Mr. Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, reported not less than 9,000,000 gallons of spirits as having been distilled from grain and fruit in 1801. Bishop, _History of American Manufactures_, vol. ii, pp. 30, 65, 83, 152; Clark, _History of Manufactures in the United States_, p. 230. [23] _Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society_, 6th ser., vol. iv, Belknap Papers, pt. iii, p. 440. [24] _Ibid._, p. 508. [25] _Diary of William Bentley_, vol. ii, p. 92: May 31, 1794: “The observation of holydays at Election is an abuse in this part of the Country. Not only at our return yesterday, did we observe crowds around the new Tavern at the entrance of the Town, but even at this day, we saw at Perkins’ on the neck, persons of all descriptions, dancing to a fiddle, drinking, playing with pennies, &c. It is proper such excesses should be checked.” _Cf._ also _ibid._, pp. 58, 363, 410, 444 _et seq._ _Cf._ also Earle, Alice Morse, _Stage-coach and Tavern Days_, New York, 1900. [26] _Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society_, 6th Series, vol. iv, Belknap Papers, pt. iii, p. 456. Jeremiah Libbey writes of the situation at Portsmouth, [N. H.?]: “The common allowance of rum to labourers here is half a pint per day, which has been the rule or custom as long as I can remember. There are several persons in this town that are endeavouring to abolish the custom by giving them more wages in lieu of the _allowance_, as it is call’d; but the custom is so rooted that it is very difficult to break it. The attachment is so great, that in general if you were to offer double the price of the allowance in money it would not be satisfactory to the labourers, and altho’ that is the case & it is the ruin of them and familys in many instances ... untill a substitute of beer or some other drink is introduced in general, it will be difficult to get over it”. [27] _Diary of William Bentley_, vol. i, pp. 167, 175, 217, 218, 244, 247, 248, 255, 256, 281 _et seq._ [28] _Autobiography and Correspondence of Lyman Beecher_, vol. i, p. 30.